After more than a few spring-like days of late, the icy bite of winter seems to have returned, but with the rather pleasant caveat of an abundance of sunshine. So, with plenty of winter sun about, it’s a great time to be outdoors and ‘getting your garden on’ – just so long as you rug up accordingly, of course!
Although, with some of those heavy duty garden tasks like cleaning up fallen leaves, pruning away spent flowers and growth or any diseased or dead branches on your trees and shrubs, you might find that the extra chill in the air is something of a boon. You might be digging some holes for some new bare-root trees or turning over some organics into your vegie or ornamental beds. This usually means working up a bit of a sweat, so a five-minute break in the crisp winter air is usually more than welcome.
Mid-winter is perfect for checking the health of your deciduous trees and shrubs. Without a leaf canopy – most leaves will have dropped by now or there’ll be very little left – you’ll have a clear view from the ground of any potential issues, especially with your larger tree specimens. Things like broken branches, which allow access to pests and diseases, crossing branches, dead or dying limbs can all be taken care of at this time of the year. Doing so now will encourage new healthy growth come spring and boost their overall vitality and longevity.
It’s tempting to just enjoy the sunshine when it’s available in winter but since we are almost halfway through the coldest part of the year – I know, right? – it won’t be too long before the spring flowers start to emerge and you’ll need to ready yourself for a new growing season. So maybe take a bit of time over the next few weeks to get some jobs done, at least enough to make life easier when the warmer weather does arrive. You could even do some fun jobs like planting out some new bare-root trees and shrubs for the year ahead, a garden job that is nearly always exciting.
July jobs to do now:
- Plant a tree for Tree Day!
- Weed and aerate lawns
- Health check deciduous trees and shrubs
- Pressure wash hard surfaces
