Winter Gardening
As we draw past autumn and into the winter period, there are various jobs we can all ways be doing to improve our garden. One really helpful thing to do if like most properties you struggle to keep on top of the leaves falling everywhere is construct (or have Keep It Green construct one for you) a mulch/composting area, this way you can take all the leaves you have that drop and pile them up inside of a timer structure best made out of timber sleepers to make yourself a lovely big pile of leaf mould/mulch for your borders! Leaves hold so many precious nutrients into this if you pile them up effectively taking something you have that you do not want and once its had time to break down you will have some lovely mulch for your borders acting as a weed suppressant layer to keep those pesky weeds at bay!
Something else to bear in mind is that if like the team here at Keep It Green you love Dahlia’s for there beautiful summer colours its now time to bring them in from the cold and protect them from the frost! Once you start to see the foliage blacken on the leaves this is the sign that its time to bring them in! If you have a green house its best to cut the tubers down t 3/4 inches above the ground and then pot them up with fresh compost to keep them in good health ready to go back into the ground in the spring!
If your a lover of exotic plants such as the banana plant i.e. Musa Basjoo you are best wrapping their trunks in straw or hessian, again this is best to do before the first frost to ensure they are kept happy and healthy throughout the winter period!
We prefer to do it slightly earlier but if you are still wondering what i could plant in my garden to give a pop of colour fear not, you still have time in November to plant daffodil bulbs in your garden and other spring flowering bulbs this will give you a beautifull spray of colour in your garden when spring arrives!
If you have a green house now is the perfect time to carry out some routine maintenance to this structure; replacing the glass before the winter weather sets in is a must! Also give it a good thorough clean out inside, wash the glass and the staging with horticultural disinfectant to kill off any overwintering pests and diseases! Also if you use parrafin heaters to warm your green house please make sure you have some form of ventilation in place!
If you have a pond now would be a good idea to put a net over your pond, this way you can ensure minimal leaves fall in and there fore cutting back on the maintenance needed on your pond! As well as cleaning out your water butts and let the autumn rain fill them ready for next years watering needs!
Finally make a plan for next year and review how this years show of flowers went, what would you have done better? Could you have done with more bedding plants, colour and variety in your garden? The beauty of a garden is it should be ever evolving and changing with the seasons and with the times. Make the most of your garden this winter by following these simple steps!
And dont forget Keep It Green Garden Maintenance Limited are all ways here to advise you or help you to design,build and maintain the perfect garden for you!