Your winter garden checklist

Orla McGoldrick

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There’s no need to put your gardening on hold in winter. In fact, it’s the perfect time to prepare for the new gardening year ahead and tackle any of those other lingering tasks.

Help the wildlife

Birds and other garden creatures really struggle to find food at this time of year. Give them a helping hand by leaving food and shelter readily accessible in your garden.

Keep the birds well-fed with nuts, seeds and fat balls. Be sure to put out fresh water, too. Hedgehogs will appreciate piles of leaves and logs for shelter.

Pruning plants

Roses

Trim back bush and climbing roses aggressively in late winter. This will help create healthy growth and vibrant summer blooms. Many types of roses can be pruned in winter, including shrub roses, hybrid teas, and climbing roses.

Apple and pear trees

For best fruiting, apples and pear trees should be pruned from November to mid-March. Pruning forces energy into the remaining buds and promotes growth there. Shape your tree like a wine glass during pruning, ensuring evenly spaced branches for the best results.

Fruit bushes

Blueberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and redcurrants all benefit from a good prune this time of year. Try to remove old wood year by year and trim the remaining healthy, young branches into a goblet shape.

Get digging your beds

Get ahead this winter by preparing your beds now. Dig them over now to allow upcoming frosts time to work their magic to improve the soil structure. If you have clay soil, now is a particularly good time to do this. If you have sandy soil, however, hold off until spring to prevent moisture loss.

Plan ahead

While the garden hibernates, you can use the downtime to plan next year’s projects. Prep ahead for any hard landscaping projects planned in the spring, when the ground unfreezes (we’ve got more on that in this issue!).

Draw up your ideas for successional planting in 2024. Think about ways to guarantee year-round interest and a plethora of vibrant colours and scents in your garden. Now’s also the time to plan for any bigger projects you might want to complete in the spring – such as a gazebo, garden room or new patio.

Here’s how you can plan your garden in the winter to enjoy in the spring… Find out more