The Seasonal Shift – How to Take Care of Your Garden Year-Round

Maintaining a healthy and vibrant garden all year-round takes a lot of hard work and planning. As the seasons shift, so do the needs of your soil and plants. This is why it is so important that avid gardeners do their research about how to tend to their gardens during the various seasons of the year. From drip irrigation to sunshine, what your garden needs in spring greatly differs from what it needs in winter, and knowing how you can adapt your gardening for the seasons is key to maintaining it all year round. In today’s article, we have a look at exactly what you need to do in each season to take care of your garden throughout the year. Read on to find out more!

Spring Gardening Tips:

• Now is the time to plant bare-rooted plants such as your roses and soft fruit.
  
• If you have any bulbs, tulips or daffodils in your garden, it is important that you remove wilted flowers and seed heads in Spring. Tease the buds out and replant them about 6-8cm apart from one another.
  
• Spring is the best time for lawn treatment. Always apply lawn treatment on a relatively sunny and dry day, and thoroughly water after 2-3 days.
  
• Spring is an amazing time for vegetable growers. If your soil and atmosphere is still a little brisk, we recommend using a heated propagator.
  
• As soon as your seeds are up, it is important that you transfer them to a cooler and turn them daily.  

Summer Gardening Tips:

• Now that the sun is out and in full force, it is important that you water your plants in the early mornings and late evenings to ensure that water doesn’t evaporate too quickly. We highly recommend using irrigation hoses and soakers in warmer months.
  
• If you’re looking to keep your ecosystem moving, we highly recommend planting wildflowers such as Sunflowers which don’t just look amazing but will keep the bees happy.
  
• Light mulch is important in Summer, in order to prevent flower beds from overheating.
  
• Keeping your grass at a longer length during the Summer months will aid in keeping the ground moist.
  
• It is important that you weed your garden at least once a week in Summer.
  
• To further protect your plants, you can purchase shade covers from your local garden centre which will ideally block out at least 50% of sunlight. 

Autumn Gardening Tips:

• Autumn is prime time to clean the garden up and prepare for the next Spring. It is also the best time to plant new shrubs and trees as the soil is full of moisture which means the tree will remain dormant, thus reducing the effects of transplant shock.
  
• Remove any weeds or dead plants in Autumn.
  
• Prepare flower beds by removing debris and leaves. A leaf blower is very helpful if you have a lot of dead leaves all over the place.
  
• Removing plant debris, dead plants and leaves is very important in reducing the number of pests and plant disease in your garden.  

Winter Gardening Tips:

• When the weather starts to dip, it is important that you protect your flowering plants with a frost cover.
  
• Never use plastic to cover your flowering plants as it produces an oven effect when the sun is occasionally out in Winter.
  
• Avoid fertilising in Winter as you want to halt new plant growth which can be detrimental to your garden.
  
• You can relax with the watering as your plants will not need as much water in dormancy as they would in Spring and Summer.
  
  

Tending to your garden year-round and ensuring it is in its prime health is simple when you ensure that you are giving your garden what it needs in accordance with the changing seasons. We hope that this article has given you some insight into how you can take care of your garden throughout the year.