Preparing your garden for Winter

23 October 2017

With Autumn well and truly upon us and winter fast approaching, it’s time to make sure that those last few gardening jobs get done before it gets too cold. Here is a brief guide to what gardening tasks need doing in Autumn.

Raking Leaves

This might start to seem like a pointless task, with the wind blowing down more leaves as fast as you’re raking them up. It’s important to clear leaves from your lawn regularly though, as otherwise they will deprive your grass of light and make it easier for moss to grow or for brown patches to form. You can also use what you rake up to make homemade leaf mould, which is a brilliant soil improver.

Lawn Care

Early November is generally your last chance to mow the lawn before it gets too cold. You shouldn’t cut the too short as you want it to make the most of any sunshine. If you haven’t booked in already, now is the time to ensure you have your late autumn lawn treatment, this will help to protect your grass against the elements.

Cutting Hedges, Bushes and Shrubs

You should give your hedges one last prune back to help prevent decay from the damp weather to come. Cut them back as much as possible without creating unsightly holes and clear any tree leaves from the hedge.

Bushes and shrubs need to be cut down before they start to decay. You can usually tell it’s time to cut them back when they go yellow or start drooping or going to seed.

Climbing roses should also be pruned at this time of year.

Mulch Beds and Borders

Add mulch to your garden beds and borders to improve the soil structure and texture. This will help your plants to be stronger over the next season.

Harvesting

If you grow vegetables or fruit this is the time to harvest. As well as harvesting your potatoes, courgettes, apples, pears, etc you can also collect the last few seeds to sow again next year.

Planting and Sowing

Autumn is the time to sow hardy annual flowers in the garden and winter hard green manures in vegetable patches, as well as to do any transplanting work while the ground is still warm from summer but nice and moist from Autumn showers.

It is also a good time to plant up Autumn/Winter container plants and to plant spring bulbs to bring plenty of colour to your garden over the next couple of seasons. Plant bulbs at a depth of about twice or triple their height with their tip facing upwards.

Make the most of this time to prepare your garden for Winter and Spring and you’ll be able to take a well earned break during the festive season knowing that your garden is ready to survive the cold and delight you with colour when the weather warms up again.

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