How to Protect Your Garden Over the Winter Months

The coldness of winter has started to affect many of our general moods about the great outdoors in a less than “great” way. The long, warm, sunny days of the spring and summer months have now passed and have been replaced by the colder and shorter days of the winter months which, in turn, discourages is from working in our gardens. Although it is now tempting to stay indoors with a cup of hot chocolate and a cozy, warm blanket, the gardening isn’t over until the first frost hits! By starting to plan your Spring garden now, it might just help you keep away those winter blues. So, before you put away those gardening tools for good, do these simple tasks in your garden to get a kick start in the spring!

1. Plant those bulbs!

Spring may be a whole season away but did you know that the early flowers that come out in the spring need to be planted now? Ideally before the ground freezes to the point of becoming a block of ice. Tulips, daffodils, and many more spring flowers need to be planted in the fall in order to develop strong roots so that they can bloom after the snow has melted. Therefore, it would be a good idea to select, purchase and plant the flowers that you want in your garden now so that when spring jumps back into our lives, your ready to sit back and watch the magic.

1. Turn the soil!

Yes, it’s no surprise that gardens are full of nutritious vegetables, juicy fruit, beautiful flowers and teeming with wildlife. So, with all these colourful distractions it’s easy to forget your gardens crucial supporting character. It’s brown! It covers the ground! It's every worm home! Yes, it’s the lovable soil! Although it may not win any beauty prizes, the soil is always the winner when it comes to the miss congeniality award as its the building block for an amazing feature in your garden. However, like any animal who can’t migrate south for the winter, your soil will have to withstand the cruel, cold and lonely months that are up ahead. Show your soil that you are grateful for its hard work by giving it one last hug for the season. You can show this love to your soil by turning over the top layer with a pitchfork and then blanketing it with a fresh layer of manure. This process will allow your soil to soak up the necessary nutrients that it will give in turn to your spring plants as well as protecting it from the frost.

1. Cover those perennials!

Although every garden is different and reflects the creativity and personality of its gardeners, you’re bound to find a few plants that are perennial. Perennial plants are plants that only need to be planted once as they will come back year after year to produce flowers, fruit or vegetables. Some examples include flowers like roses, herbs like mint, and trees of any kind. So, why not give a holiday gift to these loyal and longtime friends by giving them a winter care present? Make sure to wrap up the bare trunks of bushes and trees in order to give them the strength to survive the cold months and they will give you a bountiful harvest next season as a thank you!