Winter Gardening

When it’s wet, cold and miserable, there are plenty of indoor jobs to be done to help towards an even better garden for next year.

Shelving in sheds and outhouses, help to make better use of storage areas.

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Removing clutter and again recycling unwanted garden clutter where possible.  I was at a garage yesterday and somebody popped by and gave the the owner of the garage a whole host of unwanted tools so that the garage could still put them to good use.

I think we are all guilty of throwing things away that could be used by someone else.

Fetch out old plastic flowerpots and do your best to recycle them, by offering them to local nurseries, educational establishments and plastic recycling places.

Planning, this requires reading around the subject.

Identify your winter weakness’s, these are the viewpoints in your garden that you wish were hidden from sight all year round, but they are now in full view during the winter months.  It is a good idea to, maybe create space for a carefully positioned and chosen evergreen, to permanently obscure the unsightly viewpoint.  This does not mean you have to cut a hole in the deciduous plant, in order to achieve this, especially if you have room for planting in front of it.

It is a great time of year to traverse heavy goods, in wheelbarrows and trolleys over, normally soft ground, while it’s frozen.

If you receive loose loads, compost and soil for example, then it is best to cover this with tarpaulins, to stop the weather from making the loads heavier when it rains or from frosts and snow .

Wrap up warm before you begin work as getting cold can easily lead to you pulling a muscle.

If you are intending to do some planting soon, then the minute you have a mild enough spell and the ground thaws, then it is best to mulch the area where the plants are to go as this will stop the ground from refreezing and made it a lot easier to plant, when you need to.

Make sure you get a good view of any winter flowering plants from windows in your house.  Consider viewpoints that look awful and maybe introduce a Winter plant into that location.

There is a massive range of winter interest plants and please read my article on winter interest in the article section of this website.

Good luck and any queries don't hesitate to use the forums to communicate.