The chilly signs of the approaching winter are upon us and as the garden edges towards its winter slumber there’s plenty that can be done in preparation for the months ahead. Doing garden jobs over the winter is, of course, still a viable option with the help of those nice, crisp winter days when the sun is still shining and the rain stays away. All the same, if you have the urge to get a bit of the work done now then you’ll certainly benefit from doing so before spring arrives.
Hedges and lawns should get a last-minute cut over the next few weeks before the growth they’ve put on will diminish almost to nothing. Giving them a tidy up now will likely see them right through to the spring when growth begins anew. With lawns, remember to stay on top of winter weeds, restricting any competition your lawn may have so, come spring, it’ll give it the best of starts.
Leaves will continue to fall from deciduous trees this month and likely into next, so try and make use of this free garden bounty, either as freshly laid mulch or collected into piles for compost or as a good soil conditioning leaf mould. Placing leaves into large garbage bags with some holes poked into the sides is also a very good way of accelerating the breakdown into leaf mould.
As the trees and shrubs in your garden wind down for the winter, you can ease off on feeding them until just before spring. And if you’re planning on planting any bareroot trees and shrubs over the winter months, then prepare those planting holes now. Fill them with a good amount of organic material such as compost and manures and a handful or two of pelletised fertiliser, perhaps one with some added benefits for your soil. Plant your bareroot trees into these pre-prepared spots when they arrive and come spring your new additions will have a ready-made source of nutrients to draw upon.
Existing evergreen trees can also have a good prune before winter arrives but hold off on any deciduous trees until they lose their leaves and go into dormancy. It’ll also be much easier to spot any potential health problems on deciduous trees and shrubs once the trunk and branches are completely visible.
A quick tidy up around the place and a general bedding in of everything for the months ahead will allow you to stroll around the garden on those aforementioned crisp, sunny winter days with a steaming cuppa in your hands as you make plans for the return of the warmer weather.
May jobs to do now:
- Order bare-rooted trees to plant over the winter
- Pressure wash slippery paths, paving and decks
- Clean up any fallen leaves
- Divide evergreen perennials
