Keeping Your Garden Safe Over Winter
Keeping your garden safe and protected during the winter can be a hard task for any gardener. With the unpredictability of the British winter especially. It can be hard to know whether to prepare for snow, slight frost or just lots and lots of rain.
One way to prevent your garden from dying completely during winter is to ensure that you choose the right type of plants for your garden in the first place. If your garden is particularly exposed to the elements, make sure you choose plants that are tough and hardy so that they can withstand the weather. This will help make sure that you still have a garden to come back to when winter is over.
Evergreen plants in your winter garden
You may think that evergreen plants don’t need protecting over winter, but you’d be wrong. The best way to protect plants is to spread a layer of mulch around the base of these plants. Allowing the evergreens to get moisture when they need it and helps to reduce the frost builds up around them too.
Cut back your plants?
It is often tempting to cut back plants ready for spring. But doing this before the winter is over can have devastating effects on your plants. Cutting back actually exposes the plant to the stem and roots, where it is freshest and most new. Exposing the plant to the elements and making it less likely that it will survive the winter at all. It may look awful for a while, but leaving the dead ends on your plants over winter may actually help make sure that they thrive when winter is over.
Winter garden potted plants
When trying to keep your potted plants safe. It is important to make sure that the pots you have are frost proof and not damaged at all. If they are damaged, try to change them for new ones if possible as the cracks in these pots could get worse over winter, possibly causing the pot to fall apart altogether. With a shed or greenhouse, it can be a good idea to move any potted plants that you can into the shelter. Make sure that they will be safe and protected, no matter what the weather.
SNOW!
If, in the unlikely event that your garden does get snow this winter, try to avoid walking across the lawn. While the image of crisp footprints in the snow is very appealing, it will actually do more damage than good. It sounds dramatic, but walking across a snowy lawn can ruin the turf, leaving it susceptible to diseases – it’s a lot to prepare just for a pretty photo, isn’t it? If you have trees, try to shake the snow off the branches gently where possible as it will help to ensure that the branches aren’t damaged by the weight.
These are just a couple of tips for keeping your lawn and plants safe during the winter period. There are plenty more that you can find with just a little research. Whether you’re a novice gardener or pro, check out whether what you do over winter is the best possible. Giving them a fighting chance at making it through until spring.
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