One of the things that I hear quite often from friends and family is that they find Winter creeps up on them and they regret not doing any preparation work in the garden to ensure that it still looks its best during the Winter months.
It is essential that you prepare your garden for Winter, not only to ensure that it looks good, but also preparation for Winter means that the work you will be required to carry out to ensure a successful Spring will be reduced because you will have to do less rescue work for example with less hardy plants after having ensured they survive the Winter unscathed.
The right time to start doing this preparation work is when you find the weather forecaster starting to talk about the possibility of frost more often than not. In the UK this will tend to be around the end of October.
Before getting to work in the garden its worth taking a step back and reviewing how happy you were with your garden over the previous year. Work out what you enjoyed about your garden and what you think could be improved. At this time of year it is the perfect time to think about moving things around into areas of the garden where they may work better or even remove things altogether if they didn't work. You can also start planting bulbs ready for an explosion of colour in the Spring.
Another thing you need to ensure you do is tidy things up in the garden. Make sure you do the weeding and look out for diseased leaves which should be removed. Try and resist the urge to prune too much though. If you have bulbs in the ground that are less than hardy varieties then you need to remove them and let them dry in the sun for a while before storing them in the garage or shed to protect them from the Winter frosts and snows.
Another great tip, if you don't have one, is to start a compost bin at this time of year. Throw in any cuttings you have as well as dried fallen leaves (avoid any diseased ones though) and by the time next season comes around again you will have a fantastic compost ready for use.
Before Winter really sets in and the ground freezes solid, it is a good idea to give it a good watering as even though snow may lie on the ground for a while, it could be a significant time before it melts and so this can lead to drying out of the ground.
Finally, take the time to clean all your garden tools. Do the sharpening and oil any moving parts that require it. Make sure they are all in top condition and then store them in a suitable location. That way, there will be no frustrations around finding the right tool or other tools not working properly when next season arrives.
It's not all doom and gloom if you don't do all of this garden preparation work for the Winter but if you do carry it out, come Spring, you will be very glad you did.
