10 To-Do’s in your Winter Garden

It seems like your garden is sleeping in winter. But spring is coming and you should start working now to make your garden ready for the warmer seasons. Everything you do now will make a big difference come spring.
1. Start an investigation

Winter is the best time to give your garden a good site check. Take some photographs to analyze your garden’s flaws and attractions. Use the rainy days to make decisions about new projects like water features, a new dock or pergola.

2. Remove things you don’t like

Don’t hesitate to get rid of unwanted features in your garden, especially if you have recently moved into a new property. You have the freedom to make it feel like home.

3. Start big projects now

If you are planning to install new features like a terrace, pool or entertaining area, start them now. Then you can enjoy them when the blue skies and warm sunshine of spring are arriving.

4. Get your outdoor furniture in good shape

Now is the best time to freshen up your outdoor furniture. As it is exposed to the elements, the furniture needs some maintenance at least once a year. Use a sunny winter’s day to wash down tables and chairs with soap and hot water, oil the hinges and check for broken fittings. Oil your wooden furniture. Touch cracks in painted metal furniture to avoid rust.

5. Shop for new or secondhand stuff

Check out the winter sales for outdoor furniture, barbecues and garden accessories. Also have a look in secondhand shops or online auction sites for interesting and unusual pieces, like planters, sculptures, and colourful pots to give your garden the little bit of an extra wow factor.

6. Tidy up garden beds and attack weeds

Clean your garden beds from old flowers and leaves from autumn-blooming perennials and remove plants that are not doing well. Weeds like to flourish between pavers and cracks in concrete. Dig them out now to save you a lot of work later in the season.

7. Replace soil and top up mulches

Give your plants new soil so they will be looking gorgeous when spring sun is enticing you to stay in your garden. Top up the mulches now to help retain moisture in the soil as weather warms up.

8. Prune and feed roses

Pruning is most important if you want healthy, nicely shaped rose plants that produce abundant flowers. Always use clean and sharp tools to avoid damages and diseases. Feed your roses with a good rose fertilizer or mulch plants with well-rotted compost.

9. Plant vegetables

There is nothing more satisfying than harvest your own vegetables and herbs. Now is the time to plant broccoli, carrot, lettuce, beans, onion, beetroot, radish and pears and you will have plenty to eat in summer.

10. Sow seed for summer annuals

End of winter is a good time to sow seed and plant bulbs for flowering annuals like sweet peas, alyssum, calendula, pansy, lobelia, marigolds and zinnia, daylilies.

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