Winter. The time of cold temperatures and cold germs waiting around every corner. The time when the sun sets at 3 in the afternoon, and you’re left wanting to go to bed earlier than ever. The time when you go to work in the dark and come home in it too – the differences between the seasons just don’t seem to stop! All in all, winter can be a pretty bad time for those of us who are conscious through it (seeing as we haven’t unlocked hibernation yet!).
And it’s not just us that feel the temperature dropping and the air becoming dry, despite all the rain that tips down. Your outdoor space will too. The winter can have quite a few nasty and annoying effects on the world around us, and whilst a lot of it is just the natural scheme of things, it doesn’t mean we have to like it! So to make sure that your backyard is still a living and breathing and functional space, feel free to read on for a few tips on restoring it to its former glory. The spring will soon be here, and you should get your preparation in!
It’s picturesque on the surface, but what kind of sludge could be waiting for you underneath that snow, just for you to slip and fall in?
Start with the Lawn
The lawn is going to be the main place you’re noticing the winter taking effect, seeing as there’s probably a lot of mud patches, browning and otherwise discolored grass blades, and a lot of dead leaves just littering the entire area. It’s not a pretty sight, and it’s one you hate with a passion, and you’re shaking your head just thinking about all the work you’re going to have to do come the summer.
Well, you don’t have to put up with a lawn like this for much longer! First of all, let your grass grow out, which it’s going to be doing a lot now that the worst of the winter months are over. Mowing nasty sights like this away whenever you get the opportunity to just spoils the roots of the grass, making them slower to recover and less likely to grow in the healthy way you want them to. So when spring first shows its face, make sure you’re not immediately mowing your lawn down. Give it a couple of weeks first.
But once you decide on when to mow, and you go at it with the highest setting you can crank up on the strimmer, it’s time to spread out some fertilizer. If you have a particularly patchy bit of lawn, this is going to be the best option for you. You’ll be filling the soil up with plenty of essential nutrients that luscious, green grass needs to grow. Just be careful about the kind of fertilizer you use – you want something that’s low in phosphorus and has some slow releasing nitrogen in it.
Fix Up the Bedding
The next area of the garden you’re going to want to tackle is the plant beds and planter boxes you’ve tried to keep covered over the wet and windy season. After all, these are the
If you haven’t done so already, you’re going to need to cut quite a few of your plants here back. Any normal flowers or fruits and vegetables you have on the go are going to need a good trim, to make sure they’re still healthy to grow out at the start of spring this year. And the more you cut away, the more mulch you can whip up from their dead petals, stems, and leaves, to cover your beds in for better protection against the rest of the winter weather.
If the winter didn’t freeze you out this year, you can now take the time to put some bulbs into the fresh ground you’ve cultivated so far. Just make sure you remember to go out and water these flowering bulbs, seeing as there’s no freezing weather around to keep them sufficiently and adequately moisturised for the beginning of spring to bring them out.
Check Out Your Pool’s Pumps
Now onto the more hardy of your garden’s installations, to make sure the winter didn’t break down their systems and make them unsafe to use. If you’re lucky enough to have a swimming pool in your back garden, you’re going to want to check out the pumps and pipes that power it. You may not have it currently filled, but you’re going to want to fill it to the brim in the next couple of months or so. Do the legwork now to enjoy the fruits of your labour later!
Whilst you’re at it, why not get yourself a proper inspection of the systems behind the magic that is a swimming pool during the mid-year humidity? If you’re not an expert, you might never know when you need water pump repairs, and that could cost you a lot of money down the line. Save yourself some pennies now whilst you’ve got both the time and the January Sales to do so.
Make Sure the Shed’s Held Up
Another piece of hardware you’re going to have to check out. The shed in your garden keeps all your tools and equipment neatly in one place, and you need to know if it’s been frozen out this year. Maybe the wood itself was of a lower quality than you were informed, maybe you just accidentally left the door open one night. It’s time to take inventory. The shed door itself will be the main target of the weather, and the lock may have completely frozen over the past couple of months you haven’t kept an eye on it.
The winter might have done some real damage to your garden – it’s time to make sure you’re safe!
This is a collaborative post.
