How To Prepare Your Garden For Winter (Part One)

Hey Guys,
I hope everyone is doing well.

I'm sure by now that everyone has noticed the change in the season, the temperature is dropping, daylight is getting shorter and shorter which can only mean one thing... Winter will soon be here, it probably already arrived for some parts of the world.

So that got me thinking, when the annual growing season comes to an end, how do we go about preparing our gardens for winter, there's not much activity in the garden over winter so we need to shift our focus on getting things ready for the next growing season, so that's what I'm going to be talking a little about today.

As fall turns to winter, it's the perfect time for getting those more maintenance-orientated tasks done so that you can have the best possible start to the new growing season the following year.

So let's dive right in:

1: Up-Root Annual Flowers: I know this one may sound strange but it will save you a lot of time over the winter, getting this job done early means spending less time out in the garden when the weather turns really cold. Annual flowers bloom amazingly during warmer months, bringing with it colour and vibrancy to your garden. I know it's hard but uprooting these flowers at the end of the growing season really will help you get the most out of your growing season, if this job seems a little too daunting, consider using perennials and evergreens as alternatives.
2: Garden Tidy Up- When November turns into December, your main focus in the garden will be tidying things up that are left over from the growing season. Remove everything you don't want left in your garden and add it to your compost pile. When it comes to perennial flowers, cut those back to soil level. One thing to avoid is over-digging, your soil will appreciate the time to be left alone over winter as they need time to recover from the growing season.
3: Protect Your Plants- Tender plants need to be tucked up and safe and warm for winter with a layer of protective insulation. When it comes to preparing your garden, you can use horticultural fleece to add a layer of insulation around tender plants. As for any potted plants you have in your garden, when winter comes any plants you're worried about can be brought inside.
4: De-Weed Your Garden- Many of us know by now just how big of a problem weeds can be if they're left unchecked and allowed to grow wild (I learned this one the hard way!) so it's best to thoroughly de-weed your garden at the beginning of winter so that when springtime arrives, you're not faced with a mammoth task of de-weeding wild untamed weeds.
5: Add Organic Material- Mulching can protect your plants during winter and is a good eco-friendly gardening method if you choose the right materials. Covering your garden beds with thicker organic material such as mulch or wood-chips can help prevent plants from freezing whilst reducing soil erosion from winter rainfalls.
6: Protect Your Garden From Water-logging and flooding- Flooding and waterlogging can have a devastating impact on your garden so it's vital to be prepared as the risk of heavy rains increases during winter. To prevent plants from rotting and dying during heavy rain, improve your soil through year-round cultivation or as an alternative, consider planting in raised beds if flooding is a huge problem for you.

Thank you for reading,
Until next time, 
Kim