Maintaining your garden is important for a variety of reasons. It keeps your space looking neat and presentable as well as keeping it as healthy as possible. By trimming, mowing and watering you are going to feel the benefits for your mental health as you tend to your greenery. Here are some tips for keeping your garden looking its best throughout the year.
Lawn care
For many gardens, a lawn takes up the majority of your space so it should look luscious and green to make your garden look inviting. Mowing your lawn regularly throughout the year will help to promote green growth. You should invest in a self-propelled lawn mower to help you get the job done. Remember to keep your mower maintained properly too to prevent the blades from going dull.
If there are areas of your lawn that are regularly walked over, spike the area with a fork to aerate it and let the oxygen permeate the ground. Dig the fork into the ground to about 10cm and gently rock it back and forth slightly. Repeat this process across the area at 10cm gaps. This will help to prevent bare patches in the summer and mussy puddles in the winter.
Plant watering
Plants tend to lose water through their leaves, so their roots must have enough to keep them going. As the warmer weather will evaporate water quicker you will have to water your plants more in summer than in winter. When looking to water in winter wait until the ground has thawed before adding more water as this may cause you to overwater and damage your plants.
The optimal time of day to water differs with the seasons as well. In summer it is wise to water late in the evening as your plants will be able to soak up more water in the cooler night. In winter the opposite is true as you want to avoid the added water freezing overnight.
Pruning and trimming
Pruning and trimming your plants is essential for garden maintenance. Many plants will happily grow unchecked until they have become an unruly mess which will take a lot of effort to sort out. Simply trimming back shrubs and bushes will keep them in a tidy shape and encourage more fruits and flowers to grow.
If you have flowers in your garden you should consider deadheading these regularly. This is where you remove dead or dying flowers from your plants. This will encourage the plants to keep flowering throughout summer and even into autumn. Deadheading will also help plants to direct their energy into flowering next year rather than seeding.
Protection
The British weather isn’t always conducive to keeping gardens protected and healthy. The cold and windy spells can damage trees and shrubs as well as garden helpers like trellises.
At the first sign of frost, you should begin wrapping your plants. You can use materials such as horticultural fleece to make sure they are properly protected.
Another protection method is to think carefully about the sites you are putting your plants. For example, putting plants that flower early in places where they are not exposed to the morning sun can protect them as rapid thawing can result in bud drop and blackening.
