Autumn/Winter Gardening Maintenance Tips

The end of Autumn and the beginning of winter is a pivotal time for your garden. If handled correctly, your garden and plants will be protected and will flourish come spring time, but if you let your maintenance efforts slip during the colder months, you will be left with a muted or even completely ruined garden when others are starting to bloom.
Surprisingly, cold weather is a good thing for you garden! Without it, our climate and eco-system wouldn’t have developed in the way it has and you wouldn’t see the fantastic seasonal variances that make UK gardens special. The garden, whilst it may look completely dormant during the winter months, is going through significant changes that you just can’t see. Without the cold, spring and summer gardens would be less vibrant and impressive. Certain plants need a certain amount of what are known as ‘chill hours’ to bloom properly when the warmer weather arrives.
But that doesn’t mean you can simply leave your garden to deal with the cold weather over winter and expect it to survive. There are certain preparations and protective tasks you can be doing now to ensure you get the perfect spring and summer garden.

Clean The Patio – (for the last time this year!)

Algae and moss will want to continue to grow into the winter, so why give it a head start? Give your patio a good pressure wash and remove all the green you can find on it. You want to make it as difficult as possible for moss and algae to grow on it as it will be very slippery in winter if it turns green. If you want a more complete guide on cleaning a patio, read Primethorpe Paving’s patio maintenance guide.

Pruning Trees 

If you have fruit trees, this is an incredibly simple job everyone can do to encourage a good yield next year. Don’t be scared to trim back dead or diseased fruit tree branches! People are often hesitant to trim them back as they are worried that interfering with the tree too much will cause more harm than good. This isn’t the case – letting your trees hold onto to useless branches cost it vital energy. Remove them so the trees can focus its energy on the parts you want it to – the fruit!

Mulch Layer 

After the leaves have fallen in autumn, you can often put them to good use. As long as they don’t look diseased, you can use them as a mulch layer on your plants for some extra benefits through the cold weather. A mulch layer works to control the temperature – it provides a little bit of extra insulation the keep the temperature of the soil a little more consistent whilst they are dropping throughout winter. The mulch layer will also hold moisture to prevent the plants drying out. Finally, the mulch layer can also block out a good amount of the sunlight you do get during winter. While this may sound counter-intuitive, the lack of sunlight can help your plants sleep more deeply and conserve their energy for when it would be better spent. Blocking the sun also inhibits weed growth – not only will your plants have lots of stored energy, they will have less competition in spring which should give them a really health head start.

Caring for Birds Through Winter 

Birds are your most powerful weapon against bugs and pest. They should be encouraged to visit your garden all year round but should especially be looked after in winter to encourage them to return during the warmer months. You don’t want a barren winter to discourage them from visiting when you need them! They can’t store food like some animals so live day to day and benefit from every ounce of food they can find. You can install bird feeders for finches, but also install a bird table or ground feeding station for those birds that like to land to feed. 
A fresh supply of water is essential. You should be encouraged to place water out at regular intervals to ensure it is free of ice and snow – never think you can make it an easier job by using chemicals! In a perfect world you would replace any water that is outside with lukewarm water twice a day. 
Handy tip: to make sure the bowls are easy to clean out from ice/snow, float a tennis ball in the water to ensure there is a little hole in the surface which will make the ice easier to remove if needed.
Fix up nest boxes ready for nesting season. Maybe add a new box or two. Line the boxes with any autumn leaves you may have already collected to keep the boxes dry inside. Having the boxes there over winter help birds become familiar with them and they may even choose to raise a family there in spring. Who wouldn’t love that?!

Move Plants 

Late autumn/early winter is the perfect time to move any plants that need moving. If you do it now, roots will be settled by spring and will be ready to grow like normal. Waiting for spring to move them will make for a very slow start to their growth and they may fall behind any weeds that start to compete with them during this time.
For plants that need to be brought indoors, bring them indoors over a two-week period rather than all at once to prevent ‘plant shock’. You can move them into a heavily shaded area of your garden for a week before moving inside for winter, or bring the plants inside at night and place them back outside the next day, then repeat but leave them inside for a longer period each time before keeping them inside permanently after a couple of weeks.

Clean Your Tools 

Rust will ultimately be what ends the life of your tools. Now is the perfect time to inspect them for rust and if it is present, the best way to work on removing it would be to submerge them in 50% vinegar and 50% water overnight. Once they have been soaked, get hold of a light steel wool and rub the metal of the tools in a circular motion to get as much of the rust off as possible. You don’t want to rub to hard and scratch the metal work – the soaking should be enough to soften the rust so that a delicate scrub will do the job! 

Planning 

Above all, this is the perfect time of year to plan any of the jobs that you will need to do in spring. A good plan of action will make your life easier in spring. It’s the perfect time to plan what you’ll need to order and when in terms of plants and crops, so make sure you set a little time aside to plan your entire year in terms of gardening jobs. 
This is a difficult task to advise on as there a no real right answers, but spend time considering the flow of the space & sightlines to other areas of your garden. How are you going to make sure the focal points of your spaces are going to be properly in focus when spring rolls round? If you’re struggling to get inspiration or you simply don’t know where to start, this is actually the best time of year to hire a designer. You will likely get their entire focus, energy and attention as spring and summer are when they are at their busiest.