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Preparing for Winter: Garden Maintenance tips

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The positive impression a great garden leaves on people visiting a home is something seldom equalled. Great gardens say as much about a home as the house does.

However, the fast-changing environment of a garden means gardening and maintenance go hand in hand . This is especially the case as we enter winter. The high-growth levels of a garden mean that you keep a landscape garden, landscaped you have to work on the area during the summer, while also prepare it for the colder weather. Nevertheless, it’s not as hard as it seems as you see from our basic gardening and maintenance tips to ensure your garden looks great throughout the year.

Plants

Some smart planting can make sure your garden remain bright all year round. Though, plants have certain needs and requirements, with a little know how it can be possible to keep everything in check. The simplest advice for landscape garden maintenance is to know what’s growing and how you should look after it.

Lawns require looking after and mowing is not often enough. During warm weather, grass needs water, and also needs care if you have had a specifically cold winter. Make sure to care for grass during summer, so it heads into the colder period of the year at its strongest.

Trees

Trees also need gardening and maintenance and pruning, dead wooding and keeping their shape is important, but also tough and often a danger without the right tools. Tree surgeons maybe your answer in such a scenario and help you ensure your tree stays healthy. The winter can

Decking

Decking is also something that needs to be maintained. Look into painting, or varnishing the wood and cleaning it with detergent. Even if, it’s not a plant, this is all part of good gardening. Weed the area around and clean any grime, or stains with your garden tool hire. Make sure that it is treated before winter as it can off be hazardous and slippy come colder weather.

Furniture

In a similar manner to that of decking, garden furniture can also be treated roughly by the weather. Cover them with waterproof covering, if they can’t be placed inside in the winter. Clean and look after them when the spring comes to make sure you get the most from them.

Fencing

Fencing is also something often overlooked, however requires a good check after winter to guarantee it is perfect. Replace any broken fencing and look after it, as a good, solid fence can really add aesthetically to your landscape garden.

Following these gardening maintenance tips now will warrant a healthy attractive garden come about later in the year.

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Cormac Reynolds writes for Best At Hire a UK company that provides garden equipment for rent.






Only gardening dabbling

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At this time of year (north of the Tropic of Cancer anyway) gardening usually slows down.  This is not without its compensations.  Keeping up does become less hectic.  Still, most of us do not want to really hibernate so what do we do to keep the show rolling forward?

For those of us with a large garden there is always something to do even it is just trying to keep it tidy by gathering up leaves and broken branches.  This is also the time of year to put most of any new spring bulbs into the ground.  For those of us with a small garden or a balcony a little thought can go a long way.  At this time of year we tend to be short of fresh items.  Growing a few herbs can do so much to liven up a meal without much effort.  Some of the hardier items can still be kept out of doors but others really must be kept indoors.  One word of caution, be very wary of bringing pots indoors if they have been left outside.  Insects tend to leave eggs in and around food that we like to eat.  Once the eggs come into the warmth they hatch and the resulting plague can be most unwelcome!  Of course going the other way has fewer problems and one really has to be wary of the frost in the spring.

One can have a splash of colour very cheaply by planting pansies, roses, gardenias or azaleas, in containers with compost out of doors.  These items can easily be obtained from your nearest gardening centre or even your local florist.  Throw in some cheap spring bulbs such as narcissus or daffodils and one can have a boost of colour just as the other plants are beginning to fade.

One can be a real enthusiast and start from seeds but if you are starting out it is more reliable to buy seedlings.  Nowadays just about every supermarket sells growing herbs such as parsley and basil which are beyond the seedling stage in pots.  If one wants the plant to keep on growing through the winter one should “pot up” into larger containers with good quality compost.  The plants should thrive on that for a few weeks if they are watered and have sufficient light but if you want them to thrive into the New Year and beyond you will have to give them some fertiliser.  Do harvest quite often as this helps the plant bring forth fresh growth.  Uncut and some of them will become a bit stringy.  With a bit of luck the plants will still be healthy at the end of spring and can be put into the ground outdoors for the summer!

Article written by London Florist – Flowers24hours.co.uk

 

Sowing, Growing and Gathering Vegetables

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Whatever vegetables you plan to grow, you are bound to choose some of those key crops that are to be found in most vegetable gardens. These include seasonal favourites such as runner beans for summer, leeks for winter and purple sprouting broccoli for spring. Most gardeners with a vegetable plot will grow a few potatoes and some salad crops also. The most important thing to remember is that there is always more than one way to achieve a successful crop, but it is useful to have some guidelines to get you started.

This article will give you some basic ground rules to follow in order to sow, grow and gather your favourite vegetables; and it helps you to decide which varieties to choose.

Beans, Broad

There are many different varieties of broad bean on offer but they are not nearly as widely grown as French and runner beans. Broad beans are highly nutritious and are packed with protein.

Sow

The seed of some varieties such as ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ and ‘The Sutton’ can be sown in the open ground I autumn. Sow seeds 20cm apart and 5cm deep. The seeds will germinate and the plants should overwinter, although occasionally young plants can be wiped out by extremely severe weather, particularly if the soil is heavy and wet.

Sow in November and stand them in a protected spot outdoors in late January or February. Plant out when the soil starts to dry out and warm up in early March.

Grow

Broad beans success in most soils provided they are well drained and not too acidic. If necessary, add lime in autumn every couple of years as a precaution.

Gather

Early sowings usually produce a worthwhile crop of beans in early summer. Pick them when young. The beans should just be showing through the pods.

Carrots

Although readily available and cheap to buy, carrots are worth growing for the wonderful flavour of young roots pulled fresh from the garden. They are not difficult to grow, but they are quite choosy about soil. If you cannot grow carrots in the open ground, you can certainly achieve beautifully tender roots in a container, box or raised bed.

Sow

Carrots can be sown directly into the open ground at any time from early spring through to early summer, according to variety. If you are growing carrots in rows, the seed should be in 2cm deep and the rows 15-20cm apart. The seedlings need to be thinned about 5cm apart for the roots to develop fully.

Grow

Do not add manure or garden compost to the soil in the autumn before planting, as lumps of organic matter often cause the roots to fork or become distorted. Simply apply a general purpose fertiliser about a month before sowing the seed and fork thoroughly into the ground.

Gather

Carrots are usually ready to harvest between 12 and 16 weeks after sowing; however, on light soils they can often be left in the ground for much longer.

Potatoes

The potato is our most popular vegetable, a staple of our diet, despite its relatively recent introduction from South America, in the 16th century. It owes its success largely to its versatility: chips, roast, mashed, boiled or salad potatoes – something to suit every taste.

Sow

Seed potatoes are actually small tubers that have been certified as virus-free. They are normally produced in colder parts of the UK such as Scotland, where there are far fewer virus spreading aphids.


Seed potatoes are available from January; this is the best time to buy them because you have the widest choice and you can control their storage conditions until it is time to plant them. Buying early allows plenty of time to chit, or sprout, the potatoes before planting in mid to late march. They usually take around six weeks to sprout.

As soon as you have bought your seed potatoes unpack them, lay them out in trays and store them in a cool place. When you are ready to chit them in late winter, place the tubers in egg boxes, or trays filled with crumpled newspaper, with the ‘rose’ end facing upwards. This is the end with the most eyes or growth buds. Do not worry if both ends of the tuber look the same; varieties vary and some produce more shoots than others, stand the potatoes in a cool light place to allow the shoots to develop.

 Grow

Potatoes are heavy feeders and they need a good supply of nitrogen in the soil to produce a worthwhile crop, mainly because the tubers are actually swollen stems rather than roots.

Dig the ground it autumn and add plenty of well-rotted manure. Plant out in mid to late March and be prepared to protect the emerging shoots with fleece.

When the shoots are 10-15cm high they should be earthed up. This can be done with a draw hoe, the back of a rake or with a border spade.

Potatoes need lots of water as they grow. If the soil is too dry the tubers will fail to develop.

Gather

Potatoes are usually ready to harvest once the flowers have faded or the flower buds have developed and dropped.

This article was written by gardening lover Yasmin Holloway. For more great gardening advice visit http://www.gardenhealth.com/

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