Blog: Things to do in your winter garden

Hello and Happy New Year to you all! I hope you have enjoyed the festivities and are making the most of a surprisingly mild January to kick off 2020. As I said in my last blog, I will be here each month to offer hints and tips for maintaining your garden. Although there is not a great deal of growth for a lot of plants in these winter months, there is still some work to be done in and around the garden.

Lawn Care

Although your grass is more than likely dormant and not growing, there is still some maintenance work that can be done. Here are some tips for lawn care in the winter.

• Allow the lawn to rest in winter, only cutting when essential and not cutting as short as you would in summer and in times of dry weather.
• Clear all debris such as fallen leaves. 
• Try and stay off of the lawn in a frost. Damaged grass will not repair itself until it's growing again in the spring.
• Try and aerate your lawn. This can be done with a spiking tool or fork. Aerating can help with compaction and helps build healthier root systems and, in turn, healthier lawns.
• Worm casts (fine soil brought to the surface) are best left to dry out and brush off with a hard brush.

Now is the time for planting or moving shrubs in your garden. With a lot of plants being bare, it is the perfect time to move or get rid of problem plants. Try to avoid this task in a hard frost as this could shock the plant (if moving). Don’t worry about the mud and mess, as it is likely this is already the case anyway in these wet months. Planting roses can happen now, but try to avoid planting new roses where there are existing roses as this can lead to replant disease. If you haven’t already, turn over your soil ready for spring and remove any weeds from beds ready for mulch.

Furniture

Now could be the time to repaint garden furniture, sheds and fences, but make sure to do this in dry weather. You could install other landscaping tasks now too, implementing stepping stones or adding decorative gravel to simplify areas.

In these cold and sparse months, it is always worth mentioning winter is a time of extra need; try to leave out water and bird feed for all the birds looking for somewhere to get a bit of food throughout the colder months.

As always, feel free to send in any questions if you need any tips or information regarding specific projects in the garden, I will always try to answer and help where possible.

Thanks

Scott