How to Get your Garden Ready for Winter

With temperatures plummeting and memories of summer barbecues fading fast, our gardens are set to be out of action for a frosty few months.

But before you take shelter with a hot chocolate next to the fireplace, you need to ensure your garden is ready for winter. Otherwise, when the sun makes an appearance again come spring-time, you’ll be setting yourself up for a particularly gruelling to-do list.

Continue reading, below, to find out which winter garden jobs you should prioritise in December.

1.   Install non-slip paving

Before you think about how to save your favourite flowers from the frost, you first need to ensure that your garden is safe to use during those colder months.

We’re talking about the ice-rink patios of winter that make stepping outside a perilous task always. The solution? Install winter paving with non-slip properties.

Our porcelain paving, for example, is perfect for preparing your garden for winter. Not only are these practical pavers designed with an anti-slip texture to keep you sure-footed in the frost, but they are also highly resistant to the dread sub-zero temperatures of a British winter.

You can find out more about the different non-slip properties for your winter garden by reading our anti-slip tile slip rating guide.

2.   Trim trees and prune shrubs

While your garden shedding its greenery signifies a sad goodbye to the warm weather of summer, it offers the perfect opportunity to cut your trees and shrubbery into shape.

With no leaves or foliage blocking your view, you can better see the overgrown, dead or damaged branches that need to be culled. This is important to prevent branches rubbing together and creating wounds or deformities that can fester over the frosty season.  

Don’t worry, you typically only need to this trimming and tidying once to get your garden ready for winter as most trees and shrubs go dormant during the colder months.

3.   Remove any unsightly weeds

Now we know it is always rock bottom of everyone’s to-do list, but weeding is an essential winter garden job.

If left to their own devices, the weeds will germinate throughout the autumn and winter months, giving you a colossal weeding job come spring-time. Plus, by removing the weeds before the frosty weather sets in, you’ll be treated to a neat and tidy winter garden every time you gaze out of the window.

4.   Protect your vulnerable plants

As well as getting rid of those invasive weeds, you also need to protect the precious plants that will inevitably suffer in the cold weather.

A greenhouse or a conservatory is ideal for this task, offering a warm, sunny refuge for the delicate flowers, such as cannas and agapanthus, which can’t survive in a winter garden. If you do not have access to either of those facilities, you can purchase a horticultural fleece to get your garden ready for winter, a special cover that insulates your plants against the frost while still letting the essential water, light and air pass through.

5.   Add mulch to your flowerbeds

You can also take precautionary steps to ensure your hardy plants thrive in the frost this winter by adding mulch to your flowerbeds and pots.

Mulch is a combination of organic residues, typically grass clippings, leaves and shredded bark, that is spread over soil to help regulate temperatures. In your winter garden, adding a layer of mulch to your flowerbeds will protect plant roots against the cold snap, while also introducing growth-encouraging organic material into your soil.

Even in the summer months, mulching is a good habit to get into to keep your plants hearty and healthy in the heat.

Got all your winter garden jobs lined up for December? All that’s left to do is buy the right tools for each task. Head over to the Simply Paving website to shop our collection of winter paving today!