A Few Things You Should Do In Your Garden Before The Winter
Are you getting ready for the winter? You need to take the time to prepare your plants for the cold weather. Keep reading for some useful tips.
You should inspect your plants carefully at least a month before winter starts. If some of your plants do not look very healthy, you will have to keep them inside during the winter. The same is true for fragile plants. Plants such as ferns, hickory, winter green, irises, azaleas or holly bushes should survive the winter. If you live in a cold area, choose your plants carefully so you do not have to move everything inside during the winter.
Find a warm place where you can keep your plants. If you only need to keep two or three plants inside, you could turn them into house plants for a few months. If you have more plants that need to be protected, you need to prepare your garage or your shed. If you can afford to, consider building a greenhouse. Regardless of where you decide to keep your plants, make sure exposure to sun rays is optimal and do your best to maintain a constant temperature.
Once you have found the ideal spot for your plants, you should purchase pots large enough for the root systems of the plants you want to keep inside. Use a shovel to cut a large square around the root system of each plant and transpose it into a pot very carefully. Do your best not to damage the roots and choose a quality earth to fill the rest of the pot. If a plant keeps growing during the winter months, you might have to transplant it into a larger pot.
Food will be hard to find for small critters until the end of the winter. This means your plants could be at risk if you do not protect them. You should warp some wires around the trunks of your small trees or invest in tree-guards. If you live in a windy area, you should install some screens in front of your shrubberies. Do not trim your plants or use compost anymore; any new growth will not survive the first frost.
If you do not want your garden to look bare during the winter, you should plant some mahonias, some daphnes, winter jasmine or Christmas roses. Pines also stay green during the winter. Plant these flowers a couple of months before the winter so they have time to take root before the first frost. If you plan your garden carefully, it could look just as colorful as usual during the winter and change again when the spring comes. Make sure your winter plants get plenty of compost and do not water them if it is cold enough for the water to freeze.
Plan your gardening activities carefully so you have enough time to prepare your garden for the winter months. You could then spend your winter making some plans to add new plants to your garden when the spring comes.
With just a little work, you can maintain your garden during the winter. Use the tips in this article to help you do so.