Winter Drab To Winter Fab

Autumn tips to prepare your garden for Winter

Photo – Your crops have been harvested, and the gorgeous summer colour has faded from your borders – but don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s all over until next spring. Autumn is a busy time in the garden, clearing away the decaying vegetation of the summer and preparing the garden for the cold winter months ahead. Let the big clear up begin!

Tidy Borders

Dig up annuals and add them to the compost heap. You can replant your beds with winter bedding such as pansies, bellis daisies and wallflowers for a colourful display next spring.

Autumn provides an ideal opportunity to move poorly placed plants, and divide overcrowded perennials while the soil is still warm.

Remove Greenhouse Shading

By September, the days become shorter, and light is increasingly valuable resource. Removing the shade paint in your greenhouse will maximise the sunlight available to your plants. A bit of scrubbing with some hot water will bring the glass up sparkling clean. Pay attention to any gutters where trapped leaves will prevent rain water escaping from the roof of your greenhouse. Use this opportunity to replace any broken or damaged glass too.

Spring clean your greenhouse in autumn

Since you are already cleaning the outside of the greenhouse, it makes sense to tackle the inside as well to help reduce overwintering pests and diseases. Remove the plants before sweeping out any plant debris. Disinfect the greenhouse paths and staging, and the inside of the glass too. Ventilate your greenhouse well over the next couple of days to dry it thoroughly.

Clear out compost bins

The autumn clear up of borders and vegetable plots always generates a lot of plant material for the compost heap. Autumn is an ideal time to clear out last year’s compost and use it around the garden to make room in compost bins for this season’s garden waste. If your compost isn’t quite ready then turn it to improve decomposition, and create a new heap – you can never have too much compost!

Plant evergreens

Evergreens form the backbone of the garden, providing structure and year round interest, so the more evergreens in your garden, the better it will look in winter! With warm soil and cooler conditions, autumn is the perfect time to fill those gaps in your borders.

Net ponds

Decomposing leaves can turn your pond water foul and block filters on pumps. Save effort later on by catching leaves before they fall into your pond. Simply spread a fine meshed net across the pond and pin it down with bricks.

Maintain garden equipment

Before you store your lawn mower at the back of the shed, it is well worth sending it for a service to ensure that it is in perfect condition when you need it next spring. Shears and secateurs need sharpening, spades, forks and other tools will benefit from a good wash. Dry them thoroughly and oil the metal parts to prevent rust. Wooden handles can be cleaned and protected with linseed oil.

So get cracking and make your garden a Winter Wow.

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from Fennel and Fern http://www.fennelandfern.co.uk/blog/2016/11/24/winter-drab-to-winter-fab/