With autumn upon us, many of us abandon our gardening to-do lists. However, with this easy guide to essential garden maintenance – we can make the most of the remaining daylight hours and prepare our gardens to be in tip top shape in spring.
Keep your garden clean
As the golden leaves start to fall, think about moving them into a compost bin or a composter. Not only will this keep your garden clean, it will save you valuable space in your bin over winter and double up as a DIY fertiliser. If you have a lot of organic garden waste, try a worm factory compost to speed up the break down process.
Revive your lawn
Believe it or not, autumn is the perfect time to grow a new lawn. Revive your lawn by adding to your existing grass if it has become patchy, or renew it with a whole new turf. Any effort you put in now will result in a flourishing, soft spring lawn next year!
Protect your plants
Although easily overlooked during the cold, wet months, you need to protect your potted plants from becoming waterlogged. A simple and cheap solution is to add pot feet to your existing pots to allow drainage. Otherwise, if you're looking for something more cost-effective, you can just prop your pot up on some bricks or wood. The most important thing is that the water can drain out properly.
Tidy your baskets
Another use for your compost bin – while you're tidying the rest of your garden, don't forget your hanging baskets and container plants. If you take good care of them, through feeding and pruning, these robust plants should still bloom for a while during the winter months brightening up those cold days.
Plan ahead for next spring
Now is the ideal time to start planting the trees and shrubs that you would love to see in your garden in the spring. By planting them early, their roots will be established enough during these final mild months so that they can thrive in spring. Use that homemade compost that has broken down over winter in the spring to boost your garden into flowering action.
For more winter gardening tips, head to Mano Mano.
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