Gardening in Winter…

 

While most think that you can only enjoy your gardens during spring and summer, winter is not the time to hang up your gardening tools. In South Africa we are fortunate enough to have relatively warm winters, making winter gardening more enjoyable. And if you’re thinking of selling your home, making sure your garden is in good condition will give potential buyers a good first impression of your home. Here our our top tips to ensuring your garden flourishes during winter.

 

 

Most of us tend to think that you should only plant news plants during springtime to make your garden look as fresh as the season, however there are a variety of flowering plants you could plant during winter that will thrive giving your garden life. These include; Roses, Daisies, Pansies, Tulips, Strelitzias and Proteas to name a few. If you have green thumbs you may also want to plant some fruits and vegetables such as; apples, oranges, broccoli, and spinach amongst others.

 

It is important to remove and withered or dead foliage from plants and flowers, prune overgrown branches from your trees and shrubs. Not only will this give your garden a clean look and feel, it is also important for the plants health – which will help it grow better during the next spring/summer.

 

Winter is not the time to allow weeds to grow wild (they don’t seem to take the season off) so whether you want to pull them out or use an eco-friendly weed-killer, it’s always key to keep on top of garden weeds. While most leaves tend to fall during autumn, always rake up the leaves to keep your garden in tip-top shape.

 

Winter gardens (like summer gardens) need three basic things to survive and thrive – plenty sun, good soil, and water. Ideally plants need six hours of sun per day so ensure your plants are planted in a suitable spot to ensure they get enough sun during the day. Watering of your garden is still important, while not as frequent this should not be neglected. Watering can happen every 7-10 days. And we need not forget to take care of our soil, spreading mulch in your garden will help protect the soil caused by wind, cold or frost.

 

May your garden flourish this winter!