Winter Gardening Jobs To Protect Your Garden
Winter is officially here, and while the cold temperatures and shorter days make it difficult to get outdoors, there is still work to be done in the garden. After spending all year perfecting your garden and achieving the landscape of your dreams, you do not want to stop working now.
The changing seasons can be a difficult time for your garden without the proper care. Winter gardening is essential to support your soft and hard landscaping throughout the frost and ensure it is easy to bloom once more come spring.
As a leading landscaping company, Landesigns understands the importance of winter gardening. We help homeowners achieve high-end garden transformations and know how much work this can take. Winter gardening is a way to prolong these results and ensure your garden remains a safe, attractive, and healthy environment throughout the seasons.
Using our experience, we are sharing some of the most important winter gardening jobs you should be doing to protect your garden design and support your landscape. The work you do now will pay off in the spring and create a vibrant return.
The Importance Of Winter Gardening: Top Benefits Of Seasonal Care For Your Garden
Before you dive into winter gardening, you need to understand the benefits it provides. Garden maintenance is a year-round task and one that has different requirements based on the season. While garden parties and outdoor events have come to a stop in the winter, there is still work to be done this season to keep your garden in prime condition.
Winter gardening is essential for your outdoor space because it offers benefits such as:
- Protected Plants: Winter can be a tough season for soft landscaping, such as plants, flowers, and lawns. The work you do during this season, such as mulching and frost protection, can keep your plants safe, ensuring they conserve energy and continue growing as needed. The work you do for your plants in the winter will determine the success of your garden during the new blooming cycles of spring and summer.
- Maintains Garden Design and Structure: Winter gardening includes general upkeep, such as cleaning and clearing debris, which ensures your garden looks good throughout the season. Although you may not be spending much time outdoors this season, you still want it to look good, and winter gardening can help with this.
- Supports Wildlife: Many winter gardening tasks can contribute to biodiversity and help local wildlife throughout the season. Wildlife, such as birds, insects and hedgehogs, need support now more than ever and with some winter gardening, your landscape can become a healthy habitat, offering food and shelter.
To learn more about the benefits of winter gardening and what your garden needs from you, see our post Seasonal Gardening Hertfordshire: A Calendar for Homeowners.
Essential Winter Gardening Tasks To Start Now
To ensure that your landscape remains attractive and healthy throughout the harsh conditions of winter, you need to maintain a consistent maintenance routine.
Some of the most important winter gardening tasks to include in this routine include:
1) Clearing Leaves And Debris
This is an ongoing winter gardening task and something you have likely been working on since autumn. Keeping your garden clear of fallen leaves, branches, and other debris is a way to prevent mould, rot and stains. This task should continue throughout the season to avoid these issues.
Fallen leaves and organic debris can cause rot issues, leading to poor plant and lawn health. For hard landscaping, rotting leaves can stain your patios or pathways, leading to permanent marks that hinder the overall visual appeal of your garden.
By making this a regular part of your winter gardening, you can keep your landscape neat and pest-free as the season progresses.
2) Protect Delicate Plants
Before the worst of the weather sets in, you need to protect your plants. Plants are one of the most important elements of garden design, as we explore in our post Don’t Forget the Plants: Why Soft Landscaping Matters in Garden Design, and need to be cared for to thrive this season.
The most sensitive and vulnerable plants, such as new growth or seasonal flowers, should be covered to ensure they withstand the frost and freezing temperatures.
Container planting and flower pots can be moved indoors, or into a greenhouse or similar sheltered spot for the most protection. Even a sheltered corner of the garden that is not exposed to the wind can be beneficial for most plant types. For those which cannot be moved, such as border or flower bed planting, use frost covers.
Fleece sheets, cold frames or even mulch can be an effective way to keep your plants safe during the winter weather. Mulch is one of the easiest and most affordable options for plant care this season. Using wood chips or compost can protect the soil, maintaining suitable temperature and moisture levels throughout the winter.
When using organic mulch, make sure to leave a gap between the material and the stem or trunk of plants to prevent rot. To reduce the amount of work needed to care for your plants this winter, and beyond, see our post Low-Maintenance Gardens: Attractive Landscapes Without The Effort for inspiration.
3) Winter Lawn Care
Your lawn is often the centre of attention during the spring and summer months. The care you do now will ensure it returns to its former glory once the warm weather returns.
A large portion of your winter gardening needs to be dedicated to the lawn, if this is an integral part of your garden design. As we have mentioned, removing leaves and debris from the lawn can prevent rot and mould issues. Additional care can come in the form of aerating, before the first frost, and applying a winter-specific lawn feed to the whole area.
You must avoid walking on water-logged or frozen grass, as this can damage the lawn from the roots, leading to bare patches or dried-out turf.
It is recommended to aerate and feed your lawn early in the season and leave it as the weather gets worse. Keep up with the debris and leaf clearance, taking care to avoid traffic during the frozen or heavy rainfall.
4) Tree And Shrub Pruning
For several tree and shrub species, pruning is best done during the winter dormancy phase. When the leaves have fallen and the tree is no longer actively growing, you can cut back the branches to prevent damage, disease and ensure a neat, even appearance.
When pruning trees and shrubs, whether this is part of your winter gardening routine or at any other time of the year, make sure to always use clean, sharp tools. This not only makes the job easier, but also prevents cross-contamination, which can lead to disease across your plants.
A lot of trees can benefit from winter pruning, such as maple, apple, plum, and cherry trees. Now is the time to shape your trees how you desire and ensure they conserve energy, ready for their spring and summer blooms.
Landscaping companies can help with this task, ensuring safe and efficient pruning. To determine whether Landesigns is the right choice for you, see our post Landscaping Companies Near Me: How to Find the Best Local Experts.
5) Wildlife Care During Winter
While you are performing your winter gardening tasks, there are several ways you can support local wildlife and enhance biodiversity. Just because you may not be spending much time in the garden this season does not mean the landscape is barren. Wildlife creatures such as insects, birds, and hedgehogs will continue to use your garden for food and shelter.
During your winter gardening, while cleaning is an important task, make sure to leave some areas for wildlife. While fallen leaves can result in mould and rot, having a dedicated corner in the garden of branches, logs, and leaves can be very useful for wildlife. Hedgehogs and insects will use these areas as shelter, especially during the coldest temperatures.
Additional wildlife support can come from adding bird feeders and water bowls throughout your garden. Alternatively, leaving some seed heads and plants in your flower beds, despite the winter pruning taking place, can provide essential food for a range of creatures this season.
Wildlife care does not have to take a lot of time or money, but it can be a fun part of winter gardening and a way to ensure your landscape remains full of life even on the cold, dark days.
Conclusion
Winter gardening is an essential part of your landscaping calendar, as the work you do now determines the future of your outdoor space. Winter gardening, such as clearing debris, pruning trees, and covering plants, will ensure that your landscape remains healthy and attractive throughout the season.
By protecting your garden design now, you can rest assured that you will have a vibrant bloom come spring.
Landesigns is a leading landscape gardener, offering gardening services all year round. We can help you achieve your dream outdoor space with our high-end landscaping and provide ongoing support to ensure it withstands the test of time.
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FAQs
Can I plant anything in winter?
Yes, some plants can thrive when planted in winter, such as bare root trees, like crabapple or beech trees, as well as hardy winter perennials like hellebores, dogwood, and hostas. See our post Designing A Colourful Garden This Winter: Top Plants for Winter Interest for more ideas on winter planting.
Is winter a good time for pruning?
Many trees and shrubs can benefit from pruning during the winter when they are in their dormancy, as it makes the task easier to do. You can remove dead or damaged branches and shape the plant to how you desire effectively.
How can I protect delicate plants from frost?
The most delicate plants need to be protected from the frost through coverings. You can use fleece, mulch, or cloches to protect plants in flower beds or borders. Alternatively, you can bring pots into sheltered areas such as inside your home, greenhouse or even move to a sheltered corner of the garden with minimal wind exposure.