Turn off the water to outside taps and lag the pipes and taps against damage from freezing weather.
Clean algae from cloches with soapy water.
Remove pumps and filters from ponds and store them for the winter.
Wash pots and trays with a weak disinfectant solution.
Get strimmers and mowers serviced before you need to use them, we take ours to Ashley Mowers.
Empty compost heaps that are ready to use as mulch and spread it on the garden or bag it up for use later in the spring.
Patio and Container Gardening
Tip out Lily bulbs that have been in their pots for a few years and divide them up. Replant in fresh compost with plenty of drainage ‘crocks’ at the base of the pot.
Make sure that spring bulbs in containers do not go short of water as they start to shoot away.
Keep evergreen plants in a sheltered part of the garden away from cold winds and leave the containers wrapped in bubble wrap until the weather warms up.
Bulbs and Perennials
Continue to clear leaves and flower stems from perennials and add them to the compost heap. Leaving them on your borders can encourage slugs.
Use a sheet of clear plastic supported on four short canes to protect fleshy leaved alpines from excessive wet weather or snow. Weight the sheet down with a stone.
Spread mulch over your borders before spring bulbs start to appear through the soil.
Trees and Shrubs
Spread mulch of rotted garden compost or well rotted manure on your borders to improve the soil.
Winter prune summer flowering shrubs by removing some of the old growth to the ground on established plants.
Tie in branches of columnar shrubs and conifers so that falls of snow do not break them or bend them out of shape.
Sowing and Planting
Plant bare root trees and shrubs into well prepared soil if the weather is favourable.
Visit your local garden centre and look at the range of flower seeds available. Start to plan your requirements and buy popular varieties before they sell out!
Lawns
Rake up and compost any leaves that have been blown onto the lawn.
Avoid walking on the lawn when the grass is frozen and avoid walking on areas of grass where bulbs are planted – their shoots will be just below the soil surface.
Wildlife
Clean out nest boxes and make sure you put them up as soon as possible – many birds will be scouting for places to breed already!
Continue to feed the birds especially with suet and other fatty foods as well as peanuts from a feeder. These are all high energy foods.
Break ice on birdbaths and drinking stations daily.
Be careful not to disturb over wintering insects such as Ladybirds, which may be lodging in hollow plant stems, as you tidy your garden.
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