Top 4 Winter maintenance ways to ensure your garden flourishes

Winter is the time to plan and prepare for the next growing season. There are several tasks you can do to keep your garden growing well through the winter months.

May in South Africa is when temperatures begin to plummet, damp with the occasional mild autumn sunshine. Take full advantage of the bright, sunny days now so you can get ahead with preparing your garden for winter.

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Four tasks to keep your garden growing

Organise your garden shed

When it’s not too cold and just the beginning of winter, it can be a great time to start organising your gardening supplies. Clean out the dirt you’ve brought in with all your garden supplies. Clean all the necessary supplies to keep them well-maintained. Add more shelving if you can to keep tools more organised. You can even take time to sharpen and oil your pruners, hedge shears and shovels.

Protect your vulnerable plants.

Adding a layer of mulch to protect frost-prone plants can be another way to keep your garden thriving in winter. With a good layer of mulch, the roots of your plants are less likely to freeze. You can move potted plants to a sheltered area indoors or around your patio. By insulating the plant’s roots, you increase the likelihood of your plants surviving winter.

Maintain bird baths

If you have installed a pond or bird bath in your garden, provide a freshwater source for any available birds over the winter period. Usually in winter, many animals need extra help. It is important to maintain your bird baths to prevent them from freezing over.

Prune a few shrubs/trees.

Winter is an ideal time to prune your trees and shrubs. This helps your trees grow healthier when it’s time for regrowth. Most tree and shrub plants enter a dormant period, and by pruning them, you are giving them a better start in spring. When pruning, it is important to remove dead branches and any diseased parts of trees.