Your garden in winter provides a beautiful landscape to escape to not only for your health, both in body and mind, but also to make sure that you keep up the maintenance and look ahead to preparing your outdoor space for the months and the year ahead.
Pruning
One of the jobs that you should take on this season is pruning. While the plants are dormant this is the best time of year to prune back the deciduous plants in your garden. Pruning fruit trees will allow you to clear out some of the branches so that you can harvest more easily next year and for many of the other plants – such as Wisteria, by trimming these back you will ensure a better regrowth next spring. Later pruning in January and February is perfect for your roses! Winter months are also a great time to plant trees, as long as the ground is not frozen.
Bed Prepping
Clear and tidy up your plant beds, keeping on top of the weeds and preparing the beds for spring planting. It’s fine to plant next year's spring flowering bulbs up until December.
Winter Wildlife Care
Keeping plenty of herbaceous perennials in your borders at this time of year will ensure that your garden friends, such as insects, have somewhere to hide and wait out the harsh weather. You can keep your little family members busy by creating bug hotels. A corner of old logs and leaves makes a perfect hiding spot for our hedgehog friends.
Keep your birdfeeders filled and somewhere for our feathered friends to take a drink if needed, this incudes making sure the water sources are not frozen over too.
Wrapping Up Warm
Consider your outside taps and pipes and insulate these if you can. Consider plants too – which may not fair as well over the winter months, you can wrap these with fleece or bubble wrap to make sure they survive another year.
If the weather isn’t friendly, there are still plenty of jobs indoors that you can occupy yourself with. Prepare and plant vegetables such as peas ready to sow out in early spring. Organise seeds or mull over a few gardening brochures and websites and plan ahead with what you’d like to grow in the warner months to create a garden you love.
Or simply take some time out in your garden space, there’s plenty to enjoy in the colder months, so grab a cosy blanket, a hot drink, and breath in the fresh air.
