Winter Wonderland: Important TLC Tips To Keep Your Garden Blooming This Winter

Winter is a difficult time of year for gardens. Some plants will find it difficult to survive through the cold weather and all the snow. Most of your flowers will die off until spring. It’s fair to say that your garden certainly won’t be looking its best from now until the beginning of March!

But that doesn’t mean you should simply neglect it for the next few months. On the contrary! In fact, if you continue to take good care of your garden, then it will look very smart and attractive, no matter how bad the weather gets. You just need to make sure that it gets all the TLC that it deserves.

Do you want to make sure that your garden continues to bloom through December, January, and February? Then read on! Here are all the tips you need to know to give your outdoor space the TLC that it needs!

Outdoor Furniture

Do you have some items of outdoor furniture in your garden? If so, these need to be dealt with as soon as possible. Any soft items such as cushions and pillows need to be taken inside. You may want to wash any covers before they go back outside in the springtime. As for all of the hardwood furniture, that can be left outside. Remember to treat it with a suitable product so that it retains its color. If you have any plastic furniture, you should store that inside somewhere. If you leave it outside, the bad weather could discolor the plastic.

Cover Your Ponds

If you have some ponds in your garden, they will need to be covered over. If you don’t, dead leaves will fall in the water from the trees. Other debris could enter the pond if there is a snowstorm. It is important to make sure that nothing gets into the pond, as it could upset the environment and wildlife in it. Make sure that you cover your pond in a clear netting so that you can still see the water through it. It is important to continually check the water, especially in cold spells. If you notice it has frozen over, crack it so that the fish in the pond are still able to breathe.

Lawn Care

Your lawn will be the part of your garden that suffers the most this winter. So it is important that you make sure you take care of it over the next few weeks before the first major cold spell sets in. Firstly, you will need to mow it for the final time this year. You should raise the blades on your mower so that it is cutting the grass around 25% higher than it does in summer. This extra length will help the grass survive through the cold weather. If it snows, you should try and get any excess snowfall off the lawn as soon as possible. Too much snow on the grass will prevent any sun getting through, which can make it incredibly difficult for the grass to survive. A battery operated snow blower will make this job easy. Be prepared to reseed your lawn once spring arrives. This will help you replace any patches of grass that didn’t make it through the winter!

Make Some Compost

Now is the perfect time to start a compost heap or bin if you don’t already have one! That’s because there will be a lot of leaves and cuttings from the end of autumn that you can add to your new compost. Over winter, there will be a lot more opportunities for you to get cuttings from your plants, shrubs, and hedges as well. If you are just starting to make your own compost, it is a good idea to get it going in a bin. This will allow you to mix it easier. Regularly mixing it will help get all the organic matter compost much quicker than if you had simply left it.

Help Local Wildlife

Your lawn isn’t the only part of your garden that is going to really struggle over winter. All of the wildlife that lives in your garden will also have a hard time during this season. There will be a lot of birds that will regularly visit your garden. As birds don’t hibernate through the colder months, you will need to help them through this season by leaving some bird feed out for them. You will be able to buy this in your local gardening store. It is also worth leaving out some food for squirrels that haven’t gone off to hibernate just yet. Inviting all this wildlife into your garden throughout the winter months isn’t just a good deed. It will also help to rid your garden of pests, as the wildlife will feed on them for extra food.

The Vegetable Patch

Do you have a little vegetable patch or vegetable garden? You will need to make sure it is properly tended for so that the cold weather doesn’t kill off all of your veggies. If you have any root vegetables growing in your patch, you should cover these with a thick layer of dry leaves or straw. This will keep them nice and warm throughout the winter. You will still be able to harvest them as and when you need them. Simply dig into the layer of straw! If there is a lot of snow forecast, it is a good idea to replace all the dry leaves and hay with a thick layer of old carpet.

Outdoor Buildings

Now is the perfect time to go into your sheds and other outdoor buildings and give them a good clean out. You should also clean all of your tools that are in these buildings. That way, they will be ready for the off once spring is here! If you have time, reorganize your shed so that you won’t have to try and climb over bits and bobs to get to whatever tools you need once spring is here!

Happy winter gardening!