Early season snow fall at South Downs Nurseries
Our weather is shifting due to climate change, bringing with it hotter, drier summers and milder, wetter winters—although this past summer defied those trends! But whatever the weather, if you’re brave enough to face the British winter head on, you’ll find there are lots of things that can be done in your garden while it hibernates. Preparing your garden now will pay dividends come spring and summer.
Planning for the Future
Start by taking stock and plan for the year ahead. Does your garden have a mixture of trees, shrubs and perennials? Is it full of interesting things to look at in all four seasons? Does it need a bit more pzazz in places? Think about the structure of a garden by considering its layers. Start not from the ground but from the sky and work your way down.
Height & Canopy
Trees will block out a nosy neighbour, provide shade in the heat of summer and mitigate the temperature during a heatwave. They are also beautiful and great for wildlife. Deciduous trees are excellent choices for small to medium gardens. This is because they often have gorgeous blossom and new foliage in spring, provide shade in summer and vibrant colour in autumn. But in winter, their silhouettes don’t block the light. Some even have beautiful bark that stands out in the colder months. Silver birches for example have white bark that shines out in the low winter light and Prunus serrula has gorgeous shiny rich copper coloured bark, that you will want to stroke every time you go past.
You can also provide height, winter interest and summer shade with an arch or pergola. Grow a climber up the posts and across the top to create a private little sanctuary for you and your family. The image below shows the apple tree arch at South Downs Nurseries. It has a stark winter beauty, gorgeous spring blossom with lots of pollen for bees, shade in summer and apples to harvest in autumn. It would be easy to replicate something similar in any garden. The low evergreen hedging and dried grasses provide more winter structure and interest. This area in summer is full of gorgeous colour with perennials and flowers. The arch and hedging become the frame that shows them off to their best.
Shrubs
For the shrub layer chose a mixture of evergreens and deciduous plants. In summer the evergreens provide a backdrop for your blooming summer splendour. In winter they provide interest and structure. Too many evergreens can make a garden feel dark and oppressive, not enough and it will feel very bare in winter. About 30% evergreen provides a good balance.
Think of the evergreens as punctuation marks, with exclamation marks (cones) or full stops (balls) that can be scattered through the glorious colours of summer. Choose shrubs that can be shaped and trimmed into hedges, balls, or cones, like Taxus baccata (yew), Ilex crenata, and Euonymus ‘Green Rocket.’ All of these examples are unaffected by Box Moth caterpillars. Deciduous shrubs are excellent for adding spring vibrancy as they burst into leaf. Most will also offer beautiful flowers and many have fantastic autumn colour. Choose deciduous shrubs that can offer interest across three or four seasons. Examples include Cornus, Hydrangea quercifolia, Euonymus alatus and Viburnum plicatum, and if you have acidic soil – Japanese Acers, (blueberries) or Enkianthus.
Give these shrubs the room they need to grow. Planting small specimens is more cost-effective and also plants will settle in much better than when planting large specimens. Underplant with bulbs and corms such as snowdrops, winter cyclamen or winter aconites and mulch well with bark.
In the first few years while they are growing you could also sow some summer annuals in the surrounding space.
Perennials & Grasses
In the spaces you have left, is where you drop in your spring and summer perennials. Create good-sized clumps by planting in threes and repeat them through the borders or planting area, like this area around a bench which repeats gold and orange roses with blue agapanthus. This adds a rhythm to the garden and creates cohesion between different types of shrubs and trees. The terracotta pots complete the scene by echoing the roses in the foreground.
Whether you love a bright multi-coloured effect or calmer tones, there will be a wide variety to choose from. Remember to select some for early summer and others for later summer colour. Long flowering perennials such as geraniums, penstemons, phlox, nepeta, salvias and dahlias will provide a long season of interest for you and the pollinators.
Bulbs & Corms
In any gaps between plants there is always room for a few bulbs to start your season off with a colourful explosion. Daffodils and species tulips are excellent for borders and will reliably flower every year. Crocus are brilliant for spreading through a lawn and snowdrops winter cyclamen, Anemone blanda and Eranthis hyemalis will create gorgeous carpets under deciduous trees and shrubs in winter.
My top tips for a beautiful garden year round are firstly to ensure you have interest across all these different layers when planning your garden or making alterations. Secondly don’t plan for summer and forget to leave any space for winter interest. By starting your planning with the tree layer you can build winter interest into the backbone of your garden. Thirdly visit your local garden centre once each month to see what is looking its best at that time. This spreads your plant buying costs over the year and ensures you have some interest for every month of the year in your garden.
Keep Planting
You can continue to plant deciduous shrubs including roses and trees so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. So if you complete the first stage of your planning you can go ahead and make a start with planting. Prepare the soil beforehand and dig a square hole. Water the plant well before and after planting to make sure the soil settles into contact with the roots. Air pockets can cause roots to die off.
Remember to factor in a tree stake for any tree over 150cm (5 ft) and particularly if the tree is going to be in a windy garden or on a slope. One third of the stake should be in the ground, but a minimum of 40cm deep. The stake should be tied to the trunk one third of the way up from the base.
Keep Weeding!
With warmer winters the weeds are going to keep growing, so you will need to keep weeding. Weeds will also be easier to spot whilst your perennials have died down out of sight. Get to know the most common weeds that grow in your garden, so that you can identify on sight whether they are perennials with tap roots or annuals that can just be cut off at the surface. Perennial weeds need to have the whole root dug out. If they snap off they will just regrow. Don’t compost those roots as they will continue to grow in your compost heap.
As it gets closer to spring, make sure that you don’t start pulling up any perennials that are starting to show above the surface, like peonies or hostas, thinking they are weeds. If you are not sure wait a week or two.
Be Ready for Frost & Snow
Just because winters generally are getting warmer doesn’t mean we won’t have any frost or snow. At the beginning of winter place patio pots in a group somewhere sheltered for protection and up on feet.
If you have greenhouse or cold frame space, use it for the most susceptible plants, but remember to ventilate them on milder days. If you are in a cold spot, lift dahlias and store in dry compost in a frost free place. If you are happy to risk leaving them in place mulch any tender plants left in borders with some compost or bark to protect their crowns and shallow roots.
Wrap tree fern crowns with straw and fleece or hessian.
Follow the link to see our video on how to wrap a tree fern to protect the crown in winter.
Be prepared with some fleece ready to throw over tender plants outside and in the greenhouse. It might be the roots that need protecting, so for some plants wrapping the pots may be more beneficial than wrapping the foliage. In mild weather remove the fleece from foliage to prevent plants from sweating and rotting, but be ready to replace them if needed.
You can browse our selection of plant warming fleece covers on our web site.
If it does snow, use a soft broom to knock the snow from conifers to prevent the foliage splaying out. Branches of trees and shrubs can bow and break under the weight. Also sweep it off the top of greenhouses and cold frames to let light in.
In frosty weather keep off the lawn to prevent damaging it. Clear paths and if you use rock salt, try not to let it wash into the soil as it can damage the soil and plants.
Essential Cleaning & Maintenance
Clear the gutters of sheds and green houses of built up debris. This ensures water can flow freely and prevents dirt falling into water butts. It is also a good idea to empty water butts and give them a scrub to prevent water-borne diseases. There will be plenty of rain to fill them again before they are needed next summer.
Deep clean the inside and outside of your greenhouse and cold frames. Choose a mild day so that any overwintering plants can be safely placed outside for a while. Make sure to get into the little gaps between panes where algae and grime can accumulate. Take the opportunity to check the glazing is intact and not loose. Any panes that need replacing should be done now. Brush down any shelving and clean out any used pots from the previous season. You may find a whole bunch of snails have moved in, so it is a good opportunity to dispose of them. By removing the algae, moss and grime, you will let in more light and help control pests and diseases too. Doing it now will make sure that you have an ordered working environment in time for the busy growing season ahead.
Once your greenhouse is clean you could use it as a bright place out of the cold, to work on maintaining your tools and machinery. Take apart cutting tools like secateurs and sheers where you can (you could take photos of the process so that you can put them back together correctly afterwards) and clean them up. Remove dried on sap with wire wool or a scouring pad using penetrating oil or a water displacing spray such as WD40 to loosen the grime. Sharpen the blades and reassemble applying some oil to the central pivot.
Hand tools should be brushed down with a stiff brush or with water if they are very muddy, dry with an old towel. Wooden handles can benefit from a light sanding over if there are any snags or splinters. Then apply linseed oil to the wood. Metal tools with steel blades may need to be rubbed with an oily cloth or piece of kitchen roll to prevent rusting.
Clean machinery of grass clippings, sap and debris and sharpen blades or arrange for a professional service. Many garden tools are now powered by Lithium-Ion batteries and it is important to store these correctly over winter to avoid any potential damage or ‘deep discharge’. If this happens they become unusable. Lithium-Ion batteries continue to slowly discharge when not in use. Deep discharge occurs when the entire battery capacity is depleted. This usually happens when batteries are stored low or empty of charge and then discharge themselves even further.
Charge batteries to about 50% before storing. Place in a dry, warm place where they cannot absorb water, which causes corrosion. So if you are storing your machinery in a shed where temperatures could fall very low, keep the batteries in the house at room temperature. They should not be touching metal objects such as screws or nails and be out of direct sunlight. Periodically check their charge and top them up if they have fallen very low. For those that have battery indicators 40 to 60% charge is ideal.
With a bit of winter work, your garden can be set up for a stunning, low-maintenance spring and summer. So wrap up, get outside, and enjoy the seasonal beauty that gardening brings—even in winter. There’s something truly rewarding about transforming your garden across every season, and as each year unfolds, you’ll see the difference these thoughtful winter efforts can make. Here’s to a beautiful, thriving garden in every season!
By our resident horticultural expert
