The hour has been taken off, mornings and evenings are dark and the only time in the garden for most of us is a Saturday morning. The trouble is there are still jobs to complete before the worst of the winter weather.
Water features will need to be cleaned out with all the leaves that have blown in removed from the pond before they decompose. Decaying water lily leaves can be pulled off. If the oxygenating plants haven’t already been thinned do it now .If they are left unchecked they will choke the pond. Float a plastic ball in the water to reduce the risk of the surface freezing solid. As the ice expands it may damage the liner.
Dig over the vegetable garden and leave the soil rough. A few hard frosts will kill off a lot of soil borne pests and help break down the ground. Fruit trees and bushes can be mulched with bark to keep down the weeds and help retain soil moisture for growth starting in the spring.
Flower beds can be raked over to remove fallen leaves and debris. Take care where there are spring bulbs as their shoots will soon be pushing through the soil surface. Where they border the lawn, trim the grass edges to leave them neat for the winter.
Where necessary hand weed or apply glyphosate weedkiller before applying a surface mulch of compost or leaf mould. Cut back wall climbers such as Virginia creeper and ivy before they cover windows and escape into the roof space via the barge board or tiles.
Remove the dead leaves from the Australian cabbage palm, Cordyline australis before they blow all over the garden in a winter wind. Pull them off one at a time starting with the lowest layer. Bin or burn them as they take forever to decompose in the compost heap. Empty and clean out the water butt removing algae and debris. Don’t worry it will soon be full of rainwater again.
Clean the greenhouse glass, inside and outside to allow maximum light to penetrate. Replace cracked or broken panes. Wash the inside with a fungicide to kill disease spores.
Dig over the vegetable garden and leave the soil rough. A few hard frosts will kill off a lot of soil borne pests and help break down the ground. Fruit trees and bushes can be mulched with bark to keep down the weeds and help retain soil moisture for growth starting in the spring.
Clean the greenhouse glass, inside and outside to allow maximum light to penetrate. Replace cracked or broken panes. Wash the inside with a fungicide to kill disease spores.
