With winter just around the corner, ice and cold weather is on the horizon. We will no doubt be taking refuge indoors with a cosy hot chocolate and the heating on, but if you love your garden, you’ll want to ensure that it’s well cared for in the winter too. Below, you’ll find a few helpful tips on how to care for all your outside areas during this frosty period.
Get raking
When it comes to the outside of our home, the driveway and garden paving should be one of your top priorities as we head into the cold winter period. The first thing you need to ensure you do is to remove leaves, twigs and any kind of debris regularly as this will help to prevent your paths from becoming slippery, which could prove dangerous to you and others while making moving around and driving onto the driveway much easier.
Get sealing
Because the winter can be harsh, and this year it’s expected to be much harsher than usual, it’s important to take extra care with your paving, walkways and driveways to ensure they don’t get damaged. Therefore, you should look into protective sealant to help prevent decay and cracking from constant use. This will only need to be done once every five or so years as well.
Store everything away
Make sure you store tools and garden equipment like lawnmowers away for the winter. They need to be away from the harsh weather, ice, snow and rain to avoid becoming damaged, rusty or even completely unusable by the time the spring comes around. I recommend looking for wooden sheds for sale and putting everything in there. A good, solid wooden shed is perfect for keeping everything dry and warm enough to stop any damage.
Get wrapping
When it comes to those plants, you’ll need to take extra care to stop the cold from destroying them altogether. Any pots you have that contain shrubs as their roots should be wrapped to stop cold damage in its tracks, meanwhile, newly planted woodland plants should be covered with fleece or environmesh to help keep them safe.
Don’t be use harsh chemicals
When it comes to keeping our pathways clear, you’ll need to stay away from any kind of corrosive material. This is because they can have a detrimental effect on driveways and paths, counteracting any help you give them and speeding up the decaying process. Therefore, de-icer materials featuring rock salt should be avoided, while ones with calcium chloride as the main ingredient are a much gentler option.
Watch out for wildlife
Throughout the spring and summer, your garden is probably a hive for wildlife. However, in winter, conditions get much harder for those outdoor creatures. An important factor for keeping your garden alive, now it’s your turn to care for the wildlife. Make sure you leave out food for birds and even water baths to help keep birds clean. Meanwhile, if you have fires, check out for hedgehogs who may hibernate in masses of leaves and twigs.
And there you have it, a few helpful tips to ensure that your outdoor areas stay safe and protected throughout the winter months, no matter how harsh the cold gets this year.
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