A lot of gardeners wonder how they can care for their more delicate plants throughout the winter months. Keeping your plants in good health over the winter requires a special set of skills. Your gardening practices must change with the seasons for optimal results.
In general plants are fairly well adapted in protecting themselves against the weather changes that come with the seasons. However as a gardener you can undergo certain actions to help out your plants with seasonal changes. This article will outline some of these actions and give you advice on how to keep your garden ticking in winter.
One thing is for certain; your garden is not going to keep its summer beauty throughout winter. Trying to retain this is a futile task and a waste of your time. However it can still be slightly and appealing to the eye.
You just need to be smart with how you maintain the garden over the colder months.
Actions you should follow:
• Continue planting throughout winter with appropriate plants. However do not force plants into an unnatural habitat. In other words only plant when the ground is soft enough to dig up naturally.
• Add some mulch from your autumn decay to the soil. This will help protect roots from the colder weather.
• Add a small amount of compost so that nutrients are not lost over the winter months.
• If there is an anticipated big freeze then water your plants before this happens. What this will do is provide the plants with water before all accessible water in the ground is frozen. It will also give the roots some extra protection against frost damage.
• Protect your potted plants with heat retaining material. You can purchase special material to place over the base of potted plants to help them retain heat. Doing this in conjunction to moving the plants closer to your house should help their winter health.
Actions you should avoid:
• Avoid using fertilizer during the winter months as this will confuse plants. Fertilizer encourages flowering and new growth. However during winter plants want to be in a dormant state and just survive through the cold.
• Don't over water your plants. Keeping plants with a healthy amount of water is fine, but plants generally require a lot less over winter.
Overall winter gardening is mainly common sense, following the advice in this article will see your garden come through winter in top condition. For keen gardeners who want to see their garden thrive in all seasons attentive care is necessary.
In general plants are fairly well adapted in protecting themselves against the weather changes that come with the seasons. However as a gardener you can undergo certain actions to help out your plants with seasonal changes. This article will outline some of these actions and give you advice on how to keep your garden ticking in winter.
One thing is for certain; your garden is not going to keep its summer beauty throughout winter. Trying to retain this is a futile task and a waste of your time. However it can still be slightly and appealing to the eye.
You just need to be smart with how you maintain the garden over the colder months.
Actions you should follow:
• Continue planting throughout winter with appropriate plants. However do not force plants into an unnatural habitat. In other words only plant when the ground is soft enough to dig up naturally.
• Add some mulch from your autumn decay to the soil. This will help protect roots from the colder weather.
• Add a small amount of compost so that nutrients are not lost over the winter months.
• If there is an anticipated big freeze then water your plants before this happens. What this will do is provide the plants with water before all accessible water in the ground is frozen. It will also give the roots some extra protection against frost damage.
• Protect your potted plants with heat retaining material. You can purchase special material to place over the base of potted plants to help them retain heat. Doing this in conjunction to moving the plants closer to your house should help their winter health.
Actions you should avoid:
• Avoid using fertilizer during the winter months as this will confuse plants. Fertilizer encourages flowering and new growth. However during winter plants want to be in a dormant state and just survive through the cold.
• Don't over water your plants. Keeping plants with a healthy amount of water is fine, but plants generally require a lot less over winter.
Overall winter gardening is mainly common sense, following the advice in this article will see your garden come through winter in top condition. For keen gardeners who want to see their garden thrive in all seasons attentive care is necessary.
If you are looking for winter maintenance equipment such as salt spreaders or grit salt then check out SGM who are leading suppliers of year round groundcare equipment.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_McAllister
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