The days are shorter and the temperatures lower but there is still so much that can and needs to be done in the garden during the winter months.
Winter planting
All those in season edible and ornamental winter plants can go in now.
Prepare the soil well at planting with Rocky Point’s ActivGrow Soil Improver and Cow Manure Plus. Before or after planting apply your mulch of choice; Rocky Point Sugar Cane, Lucerne, Cypress, and Tea Tree, all make great options.
In the edible garden don’t forget to keep practicing successive sowing and planting to ensure continued harvests throughout winter and coming into spring.
Weeding, Tidying & Fixing
Whilst weed growth has slowed down, it’s a good time to remove as many as possible that are still hanging around. Keep an eye out for lawn bindies too.
The garden is like an outdoor room really and just like the inside of your house, it needs a yard tidy up here and there too. Mend broken trellises, fencing and complete any painting jobs. Do your spring garden clean up in winter and you’re ahead of the game!
Garden Machinery Servicing
If you’re handy, you may very well be able to do this yourself. New filters, sharpening of blades, cleaning the whole machine down. If you’re not, now’s a good time to book your mower, whipper snipper, chainsaw and the like in for a service.
Keeping your machinery in good condition means it will run more efficiently and last longer. You will also hopefully avoid any break downs or unexpected repairs during the busy season.
Sorting out the seed box
Are you guilty of having packets of seeds all over the place, or a box of seeds that is all mixed up and possible completely out of date? Now’s the time to sort out your packet of seeds.
Whatever is out of date don’t throw it away! Create your own seed surprise mixes of flowers and edibles and find a spot to sow the mix. You never know what might come up.
Tool care
Cleaning and sharpening tools means that they are at the ready for the busier seasons. Cleaning not only your hand tools but your empty pots too is one way to ensure that there are no insects and/or viral, fungal or bacterial diseases harbouring on them, just waiting to spread to plants around the garden.
Give your garden shed a jolly good sorting out too.
Planting Plan or Big Garden Makeover
In the veggie patch start thinking spring seeds and ordering them online. This way you can get a jumpstart on the next growing season.
When it comes to big garden plans, winter is a great time to plan and draw up designs, create new garden beds, amend existing ones, put in edging, and even plant them out. This way the plants are in and settled before the warmth of spring and summer heat arrive.
Irrigation Installs
Are you always running from one garden to the other during spring and summer to try and keep the water up to your plants? How about this winter you install a watering system? An efficiently running irrigation system can actually save you water, save your plants and of course save time and money.
You can have this done professionally or you can have a go yourself, they really are pretty straight forward to install. You can even have them on a timer, so that they come on automatically. (Just don’t forget to turn them off if it’s raining).
Potted Plants Revamp
Potted plants, whether indoor or out, need to be re-potted every so often for maximum growing success. Potting mix doesn’t last forever and loses its capacity to hold water, runs out of fertiliser and will generally break down and sink in the pot.
Choose a good quality potting mix such as Rocky Point Premium Potting Mix or Coco Pro. Repot toward the end of winter, so that the warmer weather is just around corner, and you will see your newly re-potted plants bursting with new growth.
…or maybe just sit back, relax, and catch up on some gardening reading.
Flick through some gardening magazines or a few of those gardening books beside the bed you’ve been meaning to read. It’s perfect weather to cosy up somewhere toasty!
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