Winter Gardening
If you are anything like me, you think of winter as a time to stay indoors rugged up in jumpers and blankets, next to a heater, cuddling your pets and watching movie after movie on Netflix. It’s a time to snuggle up and keep warm. Spending a whole lot of time outdoors or in a gym are not on my must do list. But, as the saying goes, “Summer bodies are made in winter. This is as true for your garden as it is for your actual body.
Winter is the perfect time to Spring-clean your garden. All the hard yard work you get done this time of year can make for a more luscious, healthy and enjoyable garden for Spring and through Summer. So, what exactly can you do in the garden in the cold?
3 Winter Gardening Jobs:
The Clean Up: Winter is the time to clean up around the garden. This means those jobs no one really loves doing but will ultimately leave you with a tidy garden and a larger spread of plants blossoming through in Spring. These jobs include: – Raking up dead leaves, twigs, sticks and bark. If left on the garden these can suffocate your plants and stunt growth later on. – Pressure-clean paved areas and / or polish timber decking. Autumn and winter can make those outdoor entertaining areas wet and slimy. Now is the time to get rid of the debris and slime so it is ready for the warmer months and you are not rushed cleaning it all up before your guests come over. – Clean out gutters. After Autumn, your gutters are going to be full of leaves, sticks and other gunk that has been blown about and is not wet and clogging up your gutters. Get it all out now before it becomes a serious problem!
2. Pruning, Planting & Transplanting: Winter is the perfect time, believe it or not, to prune, plant & transplant. – Don’t hold back when pruning! Get rid of those tree branches over hanging the house or pool that could cause damage in the winter winds and storms or create unnecessary build up in the pool filter or house gutters. While pruning pull out weeds and make sure that you don’t forget to cut back those invasive plants. – Now is also the time to start a Vegetable garden! Replace your herbs and summer veggies with things like Cabbage, Carrot, Beetroot, Radishes, Peas and Broccoli. These are the perfect veggies to cook on a cold day or put into that warming vegetable soup! Yummy! – Fruit trees, other larger trees and roses are also ready to be planted or transplanted in winter. As these plants are deciduous their roots and tops become dormant in the winter months, being planted now means less damage and stress on the plant and less stress on you as they will be a whole lot less thirsty in these colder months.
3. Cheer up the Garden: While it is true that a lot of the garden will look quite sad and dead during winter there are some fun little tricks you can use to brighten the place up! – Have some pot plants filled with Pansies & Polyanthus that you can put on your window sills, scatter through the garden and put on the outside table. They help to bring some fun and colour to your gloomy winter garden. – Buy some outdoor heaters to bring people outside by creating a welcoming & comfortable area. – Have some native Australian plants or succulents around the garden. These are easy to take care of all year round and will continue to add colour and life to your garden in winter.
The outdoors should always be a welcoming area and with these simple tips you can create a space that you can enjoy and want to be in even in those colder winter months. I don’t particularly love gardening but these jobs only take as long as you want them to and if you do them now there is no crazy rushing around as Spring hits to get the garden ready.
Enjoy your garden this winter!