As winter starts to bite, it’s time to batten down the hatches and make sure the garden is shipshape ready for the bad weather to come. Here are some of the jobs you can be getting on with this month.
General tasks:
- Wrap tender plants with hessian wrapped around a thick layer of straw to protect stems from frost damage.
- Plant bare-root hedging as soon as you get saplings home: if it’s too wet or frosty, heel them in temporarily till conditions improve.
Ornamental garden
- Plant small trees for autumn interest. Good choices are the Chinese dogwood, Cornus kousa, or berrying trees like Sorbus ‘Joseph Rock’.
- Plant tulips in borders and containers to fill the garden with spring colour: you’ll find loads to choose from at our garden centre here in Athlone.
- Shorten long rose stems by about a third so the winter gales can’t pull them around and loosen the plant’s roots.
Kitchen garden:
- Keep overwintering brassicas covered with netting to prevent pigeon damage – hungry birds quickly strip unprotected plants.
- Pot up chives to keep indoors on a well-lit windowsill for winter use.
- Finish harvesting late-maturing apples and pears to wrap in newspaper and store in crates for winter.
