6 Tips to Prepare Your Garden and Pond To Outlast Winter
The warmth of the summer has gone, the days are cold and the nights colder still, it won’t be long before winter shows its face. It’s time to get your garden tidied up and prepare it for that first winter’s frost so that it can last until spring.
When is the best time to tidy the garden for winter?
When to tidy the garden for winter? Hmm, it’s an important question. Doing a thorough tidy-up in autumn, before the cold weather arrives is the ideal time. When the leaves have stopped falling from the trees, it’s time to tidy up and get your garden ready for the harsh weather. One of the first important jobs is to tidy up the fallen leaves. However, this is not the only important activity. Below you will find tips on how to look after your garden yourself, but if you do not have the time, please note that you can always seek the help of a trusted professional gardening Harrow.9
Why do trees lose their leaves in winter?
Deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves) lose their leaves to enable the tree to conserve energy throughout the winter. Losing leaves also protects the tree from blowing over in heavy winds. Losing their leaves is an active process, it doesn’t just happen, and is controlled by plant hormones.
At the beginning of autumn, trees prepare to lose leaves by growing a special layer of cells between the tree branch and the leaf stem, the abscission layer. This layer stops the leaves from receiving essential nutrients and so they die and fall from the tree. Without leaves, plants go into a state of dormancy which allows them to survive through the winter. This “sleeping state” is reversed as water and light again become available and new leaves grow once more.
How to prepare your garden for winter
As well as clearing fallen leaves, there are lots of other simple tasks that will make a big difference to the look of your garden. So, how to prepare your vegetable garden for winter, or any other garden follow the 6 steps below.
1. Trimming Hedges
Hedges not only look good in your garden but they help protect it during harsh weather. They act as buffers against strong winds and heavy storms. Trimming your hedges during autumn will make the garden look much tidier and you won’t have to do it again at the start of Spring
2. Pruning Trees
Maintaining the shape of your trees is an important job. Pruning them in the autumn means they will look good right through to the spring.
3. Mulching and Soil Care
Soil Is composed of many different things both alive and non-living. Microorganisms and Fungi have their homes in healthy soil and they impact plant growth by helping plants get the right nutrients. Without these tiny organisms, your garden wouldn’t survive. Cover exposed areas with mulch, it will protect the soil from freezing.
4. Wrapping shrubs in burlap for winter
Certain plants are especially vulnerable to the winter cold. If you want them to last until spring, wrapping shrubs in burlap for winter is an important job. They need to be wrapped to protect them. Wrapping your shrubs keeps them warm, protects them from moisture loss, and protects them from damage caused by ice. To wrap you just need to bind the branches with twine and cover the shrub with a burlap sack.
5. Wrapping trees for winter
When your trees are young, they have thin bark, so they need a bit of extra help to make it through the cold temperatures of winter. Wrapping your trees for winter is an important preparation. To wrap your tree Use a white commercial tree wrap, don’t use brown paper tree wrap, or black coloured tree guards as they will absorb heat from the sun, which will damage the tree bark. Wrap newly planted trees for at least two winters and thin-barked species for up to five winters or more.
6. Preparing Ponds for British Winters
The only thing you can predict about a British winter is that it will be unpredictable! Because of this, it is difficult to set a definite approach to preparing your pond for winter. The best thing to try to do is to be ready if there is heavy ice to stop your pond from freezing over. As that is the main hazard for your fish.
How to keep ponds from freezing in winter?
One method of how to keep ponds from freezing in winter is by using floating devices. Floating devices are commonly used to step ponds from freezing over, such as: floating saltwater bottles, ping pong balls, and floating ice preventers
How do fish survive winter in ponds?
Ponds in winter Uk based are often deep enough that for the whole pond to freeze is unlikely. For ice to freeze on the surface, all the water below it must first cool to 4° C. Some fish may burrow into soft sediments at the bottom and go dormant, but most fish simply school in the deepest pools and take a “winter rest.” In this resting state, their hearts and metabolism slow down and their need for food and oxygen decrease significantly.
What should I feed my fish over winter?
Winter fish food for ponds is not necessary. Fish slowly stop feeding through the winter as the temperature drops, once the water approaches 4 degrees centigrade, the fish are no longer needed to be fed.