You don’t HAVE to keep growing over autumn and winter, so if you’d rather give your garden and yourself a rest until next spring then these are some good steps to take:
- Pull up old plants and put them on the compost heap. The more you can compost, the better.
- Empty the compost from pots and containers onto the compost heap too, and put them away somewhere sheltered for the winter.
- Assuming your raised beds etc are relatively weed free, you can top them with well rotted manure or compost and then cover them with black polythene for the winter. This should give you a lovely, warm soil for planting into next spring.
- Remove garden debris. A good clear up before you give up for the year will make all the difference in terms of pests and disease which are always on the lookout for a nice warm home. A quick rake up of fallen leaves, tidy up empty pots, remove old plants and so on.