Winter Gardening Ideas to Prepare you for Spring…
One of the benefits of winter is that you get to spend more time indoors on yourself, rather than nurturing your outside space. Virtually nothing grows in the winter season so you can almost forget you have a garden. It’s a little different in the Spring though. From February onwards everything seems to be shooting up from the ground and before you know it, you have a jungle on your hands. So now is the time to start working on little bits of your garden to get maximum results in the summer.
Having a neat and healthy lawn is one of the quickest ways of making an overgrown garden look a little tamer. It’s a good time of the year to lay down grass seed and take care of any problem areas, so invest in a little nutrient rich feed formulated for lawns. Check out if you have any bald patches and shake plenty of grass seeds then give a really good soaking to help kick start the seeds into life. Put on far more than you need because hungry birds are going to make the most of this free food source. It may be worth investing in a scarecrow of some kind.
If you have a large lawn then it might be worth upgrading your mower or getting a new blade for your existing one. This will save you time and if you go for a ride on, is going to make the job 100% more fun and is a great hack to entice your teenagers to give you a hand! Get your edges neatened up with a good strimmer and you are well on your way to having a dream lawn.
Most of your prep work to the beds should have been done before winter hit. However there will still be plenty to do. The wind seems to bring in mess from every angle so get stuck in and clear your beds. It’s the perfect time to lay some compost ready for planting or to help feed the established plants you already have. If you have your own composting bin then that is fantastic, however you can buy some from your store or, even better, find a local farmer who has a little ‘waste’ to get rid of. Horse manure is fabulous for the garden and it doesn’t smell too mad. Your flowers will thank you for it!
It’s the perfect time to plan what you want to plant this year. Especially if you have a vegetable and fruit plot in your garden. You may already be enjoying the last of the winter crops so take a moment to consider late spring and summer. Potatoes are incredible straight from the ground and really simple to maintain. Raspberries benefit from climbing or running, so set these up now ready for the season ahead.
If you have a good autumn routine, most of your work in Spring will be about preparation. Just clearing the decks and tidying the edges should be all you need to do to have your Garden tamed again and ready to bloom!
