A word in Winter
Winter is upon us. With it, some deep frosts and (hopefully) some drenching rains. The perfect time to curl up inside your house, under a blanket, with a fresh cup of tea, and hibernate.
The plants in our gardens will be doing much the same! New growth largely slows down as the plants retreat inwards to conserve their energy and make it through the dark cold days. And even though the weather outside may be soggy, muddy and at times bone-chilling, there are many things that can be done in the garden at this time of year to set up for a productive springtime garden.
Whilst plants are slumbering during the Winter months, it is a good opportunity to observe them and plan for some ‘renovation’ pruning. This is a fairly hard prune aiming to condense the plant for a good spring flush, and for fruit trees, to shape them so fruit is accessible and the fruiting wood is maintained. Given that winter is also often wet, it is also a good chance to reduce dead wood in your bushes, and remove some interior foliage to improve air flow, thus reducing the chances of wood rot and disease in your plants. Late Winter, generally after the worst of the frost, is a great time to prune and deadhead your native grasses, so they can put on some vibrant green growth come Spring.
Another benefit of the Winter season in the garden is the space to get on top of some weeding. Similarly to how plants' new growth slows, many fewer seeds will be sprouting in the garden. Weed seeds can be blown in, brought by birds or dropped by undesirable plants, creating a seed bank in your garden if not managed properly. Winter gives the opportunity to pull out the weeds you may not have gotten around to clearing during Summer and Autumn, and hopefully disrupt some of that seed bank development. It's also the perfect time to put a nice fresh blanket of mulch on the garden, after the weeding of course! This will help suppress any weed seeds that may want to pop up in Spring, and has the added benefit of protecting the roots of your plants from the frost, like a warm blanket.
For many local natives, early Winter is a great time to be planting and getting established. This gives the plants time to set down roots and get used to their new digs before Spring rolls around, where they can instead use the Springtime energy to put on large flushes of foliage growth in their first year. As such, it’s the perfect time to think about some infill planting, or to get cracking on creating those new gardenbeds in an unused area of your yard. If you need help sourcing or advice on local plants, just reach out and we can help with some recommendations or with putting together a plant list.
Sometimes the chill of Winter can diminish the desire to be out in the garden with your hands in the soil. Between the short daylight hours, work days and the rough gardening conditions, it’s understandable when it falls to the wayside. We’re here to help! If you need assistance with some fresh planting, mulching, or a hand with a weeding and pruning blitz to clean out the cobwebs before Spring, please send us an email or fill in our online form and we’ll face the Winter gardening challenges for you.
See you soon with our thermal gloves, jackets and a fresh thermos of tea!
Tim and Jacob.
