With the winter season creeping upon us, you may be missing the flourishing flowers of your spring garden. However, the biting coldness doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for your garden. In this article, we’ll discuss a few winter gardening tips and tricks which can help keep the ball rolling until spring returns. Read on to discover more!
Clear Your Snow And Ice
Ensure you sweep heavy snow from your shrubs and trees and allow any ice to melt away naturally. Prune limbs are often damaged by snow and ice and usually break to avoid tearing the bark. Moreover, walking on frozen lawns can actually damage turf grass, so it’s worth walking on any paths you have to prevent this. Last but not least, cover icy paths with sawdust, sand, or birdseed for traction – using salt can injure plants.
Prune Your Plants
In winter, plants are dormant, making it a great time to prune them since they are unlikely to attract insects or transmit disease. Try to wait for a mild day to prune your plants and enjoy the fact that bare branches can make it a lot more straightforward to see what actually needs to be trimmed. Some plants, such as hibiscus, bloom on new growth, so pruning them later on in winter can also help encourage a better bloom when spring rolls around.
Checks Your Seeds
If you have leftover seeds from the previous year’s planting, you should sprout a test sample before reordering what you’ll need when spring comes. Check your seeds by wetting a paper towel, putting a few seeds on it, and rolling it up. Keep the towel warm and moist and check for germination in around seven days. If you find that less than half of the seeds sprout, you need to order some new seeds. After all, this will prevent you from wasting valuable time and money on bad seeds in the long run.
Consider The Wildlife
It isn’t just you who is affected in winter – thus, you should think of the birds that visit your garden. Offer essential nourishment to the wildlife via birdfeeders and birdbaths – after all, their natural food resources could have been buried in a winter storm. So, by providing fresh water and stocking up feeding stations, you can attract wildlife and protect them from winter’s harshness. This might also be a great time to start planning to plant shrubs, trees, and vines that will generate wild food sources and habitats for the birds you’d like to attract within the coming year. Also, you could put up a birdhouse in your garden to encourage nesting when winter turns into spring.
Prepare Your Beds
Ensure you prepare your perennial beds for the spring regrowth, which takes place at the end of March. Clear the beds by getting rid of dead foliage and weeds, and then recover your plants at night in case any damaging frost creeps up on them!
Additionally, loosen the winter mulch from around your plants and separate your summer and fall perennials. Ensure your ornamental grasses are cut back to ground level, remove old growth via mowing, and add seeds to the thin or bare spots ready for the next year ahead.
Grow
Just because it is winter doesn’t mean the growing has to stop. Floating row covers and cold frames will help fulfil your desire to grow and get a big head start before spring. Ensure you follow any package instructions for the correct time and place to sow your seeds, regardless of where you are actually planning to plant (indoors or outdoors). When your seeds start to sprout, you need to allow your plants to receive enough light to provoke stocky growth.
Key Takeaways
There are several things you can take from these winter gardening tips, including the fact that you can always do your bit for nature. Whatever season it might be, you can help the environment thrive!
Furthermore, society may be able to benefit the ecosystem more than you initially first thought. By looking after plants and the biodiversity in gardens, millions of households across the world could change our overall approach to winter gardening.
Finally, any individual has the power to change our environment for better or worse. By taking on these gardening tips, you can help our ecosystem thrive a little more today!
With the winter season creeping upon us, you may be missing the flourishing flowers of your spring garden. However, the biting coldness doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for your garden. In this article, we’ll discuss a few winter gardening tips and tricks which can help keep the ball rolling until spring returns. Read on to discover more!
With the winter season creeping upon us, you may be missing the flourishing flowers of your spring garden. However, the biting coldness doesn’t mean you can’t do anything for your garden. In this article, we’ll discuss a few winter gardening tips and tricks which can help keep the ball rolling until spring returns. Read on to discover more!
Clear Your Snow And Ice
Ensure you sweep heavy snow from your shrubs and trees and allow any ice to melt away naturally. Prune limbs are often damaged by snow and ice and usually break to avoid tearing the bark. Moreover, walking on frozen lawns can actually damage turf grass, so it’s worth walking on any paths you have to prevent this. Last but not least, cover icy paths with sawdust, sand, or birdseed for traction – using salt can injure plants.
Prune Your Plants
In winter, plants are dormant, making it a great time to prune them since they are unlikely to attract insects or transmit disease. Try to wait for a mild day to prune your plants and enjoy the fact that bare branches can make it a lot more straightforward to see what actually needs to be trimmed. Some plants, such as hibiscus, bloom on new growth, so pruning them later on in winter can also help encourage a better bloom when spring rolls around.
Checks Your Seeds
If you have leftover seeds from the previous year’s planting, you should sprout a test sample before reordering what you’ll need when spring comes. Check your seeds by wetting a paper towel, putting a few seeds on it, and rolling it up. Keep the towel warm and moist and check for germination in around seven days. If you find that less than half of the seeds sprout, you need to order some new seeds. After all, this will prevent you from wasting valuable time and money on bad seeds in the long run.
Consider The Wildlife
It isn’t just you who is affected in winter – thus, you should think of the birds that visit your garden. Offer essential nourishment to the wildlife via birdfeeders and birdbaths – after all, their natural food resources could have been buried in a winter storm. So, by providing fresh water and stocking up feeding stations, you can attract wildlife and protect them from winter’s harshness. This might also be a great time to start planning to plant shrubs, trees, and vines that will generate wild food sources and habitats for the birds you’d like to attract within the coming year. Also, you could put up a birdhouse in your garden to encourage nesting when winter turns into spring.
Prepare Your Beds
Ensure you prepare your perennial beds for the spring regrowth, which takes place at the end of March. Clear the beds by getting rid of dead foliage and weeds, and then recover your plants at night in case any damaging frost creeps up on them!
Additionally, loosen the winter mulch from around your plants and separate your summer and fall perennials. Ensure your ornamental grasses are cut back to ground level, remove old growth via mowing, and add seeds to the thin or bare spots ready for the next year ahead.
Grow
Just because it is winter doesn’t mean the growing has to stop. Floating row covers and cold frames will help fulfil your desire to grow and get a big head start before spring. Ensure you follow any package instructions for the correct time and place to sow your seeds, regardless of where you are actually planning to plant (indoors or outdoors). When your seeds start to sprout, you need to allow your plants to receive enough light to provoke stocky growth.
Key Takeaways
There are several things you can take from these winter gardening tips, including the fact that you can always do your bit for nature. Whatever season it might be, you can help the environment thrive!
Furthermore, society may be able to benefit the ecosystem more than you initially first thought. By looking after plants and the biodiversity in gardens, millions of households across the world could change our overall approach to winter gardening.
Finally, any individual has the power to change our environment for better or worse. By taking on these gardening tips, you can help our ecosystem thrive a little more today!