Throughout the year, it’s good to keep up with the maintenance of your garden. Whether it’s locking it down for the cooler months of the year or nurturing your plants and shrubs in the spring so that they thrive in the summer.
Protecting and preparing your garden for the new year is important because, for some parts of the world, the cooler months will well and truly roll in. Not all plants may survive and if you’re not keeping up with general garden maintenance, you may end up making more work for yourself than desired.
With that being said, here are some helpful tips to protect and prepare your garden for the new year.
Cover your garden beds with mulch
Mulch is a great way to protect your garden beds, especially during the cooler months of the year. Mulch is made up of organic and inorganic materials and is made in such a way as to improve your plant’s health and to protect them from harsh weather conditions.
Consider mulch as a duvet for your garden beds so that they stay nice and cozy during the fall and winter.
Mulch is easy to get but you also might want to make your own mulch depending on what you have available when it comes to garden waste. Be generous with the mulch application and make sure all areas are covered so that it provides optimum protection for those months when your plants need it the most. You can always top this up where needed.
Check for any pests
Pests are a common problem within homes and around them too. There are a number of ways in which you can avoid pests, like packing away open food containers and ensuring your trash is locked away and out of sight from pests.
However, it’s always good to check for pests when preparing your garden for the winter. Pests can appear at any time during the year but will likely try and hop onto your plants and shrubs in an attempt to stay warm during those cooler months.
If you have a pest problem, especially if it’s an infestation problem, then you’ll want to get it seen to in order to avoid any further problems from occurring.
Remove weeds and dead plants
Weeds are something that can sprout from anywhere and everywhere in your garden. It’s always good to try and find ways to stay on top of these when it comes to tackling the garden’s maintenance.
The same goes for dead plants and their impact on the rest of the garden. If you’re just leaving dead plants to rot and decay, then it might spread into your healthy plants and the soil that you have hopefully made so nutrient-rich.
Stay attentive to all of the weeds and dead plants in your home garden and try to tackle these whenever you can. The more you can pull up and get rid of, the better it’ll be for both the health of your garden and its appearance over the cold months.
Cut back shrubs and overhanging tree branches
To help protect your garden, it’s worth making sure you’ve cut back all your shrubs and overhanging branches.
With overhanging branches, these tend to pose the biggest danger to your home, especially if they end up snapping off and hitting the property. It’s always good to stay on top of cutting back your tree branches and removing any trees that could pose a threat to your home in the near future. Often enough it only takes a bout of bad weather to cause catastrophe.
Cutting back shrubs will help reduce to risk of pest problems, so this is something to be proactive about before the winter months roll in.
Cover up your crops
Covering up your crop is worthwhile, especially when you’re looking to protect it from any wildlife that might roam in your garden during this time of year. With the right netting and structures, you can protect your most dainty of crops and plants.
It can also be handy to cover these crops to help reduce the risk of little ones and household animals from digging around these areas and damaging the plants.
Refresh your soil and add compost for soil enrichment
The soil around your garden is something to be mindful of when it comes to protecting your plants and ensuring they thrive and continue to stay healthy during the cold months.
Refreshing your soil by troweling up the fresh soil underneath and replacing the harder soil on top is helpful. You should also look to add some compost where possible to enrich your soil and make it the perfect breeding ground for all of the crops that you’re looking to grow during the warmer months.
Again, you can always make your own compost from the food scraps you have around the home. There are a lot of food scraps that can be used as compost. These include:
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Grass clippings
- Coffee grounds and paper filters
- Tea bags
Pressure wash surfaces to protect your property
Finally, if you’ve noticed the exterior walls of your home or the patio surfaces are looking a little worn and tired, then you might want to use a pressure washer on your surfaces. This can be helpful to protect your surfaces by removing all of the dirt and debris that collects on the surface of your walls.
With an electric pressure washer, you can keep your surfaces clean so that it doesn’t damage your surfaces. There’s a lot that your pressure washers can do in order to clean the home so it’s worth running it around your exteriors and for any surfaces that can deal with the tough pressure that these washers deliver.
Protecting and preparing your garden for the new year is something to get on top of before the winter months hit. These tips should help you achieve that with success.