For most people with a garden, winter is a time to put your feet up and avoid all the common maintenance tasks you’ve been doing throughout the summer. You see it as an opportunity to relax, with the lack of sunlight and warm weather meaning grass doesn’t grow as quickly and you’re unlikely to be outside that often.

However, it’s still important to do a few garden maintenance tasks in the winter. Why? Because it helps you keep your garden in the best possible condition for the spring months next year. Neglect your garden now and you’ll have more to do when March/April roll around.

Keeping that in mind, here are the winter garden maintenance tips you should follow:

Tidy everything up

Firstly, start by tidying your garden and making it look as neat as possible. Regular garden maintenance throughout spring, summer and autumn is the easiest way to maintain a neat and tidy garden. However, for whatever reason, you might neglect this task and have a garden that’s full of weeds and bordering on being overgrown. Now is the perfect time to have a proper cleanup! Places like https://www.sheridanskips.co.uk  let you hire skips that help you keep all of your garden waste while you clear everything out. By the time you’ve finished, you should have a garden that’s in a perfect state to remain neat and clean all winter long!

Protect your plants

If you have any plants that still grow through the winter, you should start protecting them now. Cover them in cloches or other materials that stop the cold from getting to them. A bit of bubble wrap works well here, and you can always bring some potted plants indoors if you have enough space. The cold air can stop plants from growing and cause a lot of them to die, undoing all the hard work you put in throughout the year!

Add compost to your beds

Adding some compost to your flower beds now will help the soil become a lot healthier in the new year. Basically, it ensures the beds have a whole winter full of nutrients and goodness seeping down into them. This is a simple little hack that will help you grow things a lot better when the weather improves and the cold goes away.

Help the wildlife

A lot of natural wildlife around your garden will struggle during winter and look for food or shelter to help them during these cold months. You can prepare your garden by putting out bird feeders or leaving a section of your garden a little bit untidy. Going back to the first tip, don’t throw all of your garden waste out after tidying and clearing it out. Put some leaves or logs/branches in a little corner – this can be a lovely home for hedgehogs, keeping this endangered animal safe throughout winter.

There you have it; the winter garden maintenance tips you need to follow right now. It’s not too late to get started – head outside now and apply this advice to your lovely garden area.