Winter Garden Preparation
Gardening in the winter months is a great way to get exercise and some fresh air at the same time. Sometimes you can feel trapped going from one room to another and not really getting the fresh air. For me it is the perfect time to reflect for the coming year and how the current year has gone. It is my reflection time of the year.
I struggle to get out during the summer, I am just not a lover of the sun, it makes me too hot and limits the tasks that I can complete or want to do. Therefore, the colder months make so much sense to me to get out in the garden and get the jobs done.
I will even do wood staining in the cooler months, obviously not when it is raining or damp but before, this makes so much sense to me, I have the freedom to move and complete tasks without taking breaks because of the heat of the sun.
The Beauty Of The Winter Garden
It is still possible to see the beauty of the garden during these colder months, I enjoy the natural colours, the leaves falling, I have decided it is my favourite time in the garden. There are things I wish I had completed, my patio, I have yet to finish, but I am fine with doing the jobs as I have the time and the money for the projects.
I don’t have many winter flowering plants, if any this year, and for me that is fine, I look more for the structure of the garden; I like it to look functional and ordered and for me that doesn’t mean loads of flowers but I do hate weeds.
Gravel Areas
I have a small front garden and what was grass is now stones, this was purely for the dogs to do their business. It gives them a place to go and it’s contained. They don’t go into the back garden because I just don’t want dog pee or poo everywhere.
However, I do have a dilemma that I struggle with constantly and that is the smell of dog wee. It is quite strong and it offends my nose and I worry about what people will think about me and my dog pee, smelly front garden. For some reason when it rains more I can smell the pee more strongly and nothing seems to work. Living in one of the wettest areas means there is a lot of rain and a lot of smell.
The only option is to spray surfaces with a bleach solution to reduce the smell, but I then worry about the dogs walking on the solution before it is dry and walking it into the house and bleaching my carpets.
My Winter Gardening Plans
I am hoping to get a few jobs complete this winter:
- the garden shed needs staining
- A couple of fence panels need looking at before there damaged beyond repair
- Complete the plans for the new patio, I might even persuade the other half to get the edging laid for this too
- Tidy up some of the borders, they are looking a bit flat, we have had a lot of rain.
- Cleaning out the gutters once the autumn leaves have fallen is important, to prevent blocking of the drain pipes
Therefore, while the summer months look pretty in bloom, the autumn and the winter brings the weather to allow me to complete some important garden maintenance projects that the hot summer weather didn’t allow me to finish.
