Things To Do in Your Garden This Winter

During the winter months, the garden may look dull, dead, and like there’s not a whole lot going on. However, even throughout winter plants, nature and wildlife are all still there. Plants may be dormant, but they can still be alive and just conserving their energy waiting for spring. Animals are hibernating and may even be in your garden so that are things you can still do in your garden during the winter months. There are even crops you can grow in the winter and still get a harvest from.

Check Your Equipment

One of the things best to do as you go into the winter months is to check all of the equipment that you use for gardening. Make sure your spades, rakes and garden Forks are in good condition and don’t need replacing. Make sure your lawn equipment and lawn mowers are working. If they aren’t you can look for parts to fix your lawn equipment or just replace them if you need to. Also, check where they are kept. Make sure there are no cracks or leaks that can let moisture in during the winter months and ruin them or see if you can get covers to go over them and keep them in good condition for when spring comes around again.

It doesn’t just apply to gardening equipment, but if you have play equipment for your children, it is always best to cover them and make sure that the frost and harsh Weathers don’t ruin them or crack them. You don’t want to get around to springtime and realise you have to replace your children’s slide or trampoline because it’s been ruined by the cold weather. if you have smaller equipment, your children use and you have a garage or shed you can always pop them in there to be protected from the weather and cold.

 

Plant Your Winter Crops

 

Certain trees and bushes can be planted throughout the winter months, as well as things like strawberries stay in the ground and develop a root system, conserving all their energy ready to thrive when the warm elements return. There are certain flowers you can plant during winter like snowdrops, crocuses and Winter aconites. You can also plant things like winter lettuce, spinach, carrots and parsnips as well as potatoes, and veggies harvested for your Christmas meal. If you plant things like carrots and parsnips during the winter, it’s always best to put some mulch or straw around the plants as this can stop the grounding frozen beneath and make it easier to harvest when the crops are ready. You can also grow things like kale and cabbages during the winter, but it’s always best to protect them with some netting or Gardening mesh to make sure that birds or animals don’t eat them all before you can get to them.

 

Look After The Wildlife In Your Garden

During the winter lots of animals like to hibernate, and some of them may even borrow into your garden. The common ones are rabbits and hedgehogs as they borrow underground, so you may not even realise they’re there until you see some babies running around in the springtime. The best thing to do when you prune your bushes and trees is to throw them away. However, any foreign leaves, twigs or branches on the ground can be left as animals may use them for their nests. Even smaller creatures like queen bees will borrow and hibernate over winter ready to create their Nest in the springtime. Another simple way to look out for wildlife in your garden is simply by having a birdbath and keeping freshwater in there so that when lakes and other sources of water freeze over, they have a place where they can have a drink. The same goes for bad food. Try and make sure you have some out there that they’re able to get and eat during the cold months.

 

Plan Ahead

If you are an avid gardener then you could also start to plan what you want to plant over the next year. You could plan them month by month on when things need to be planted as well as a layout plan of your garden and what you want to go where. Different plants need different spacing to grow properly but some plants can go together and help each other like marigolds and tomatoes for example or strawberries and peas. As they grow at different rates and heights they go well in close spaces.