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Whether you’re swapping out sweet peas for pansies or you’ve decided to start your own project with parsnips, leeks, and carrots, find out the best tips in our guide to protecting your outdoor plants this winter.

Surviving the cold

With the UK rarely seeing above two hours of sunshine a day through December and January, gardening throughout the winter months might require a bit more grit.
However, there’s still plenty of room for creativity and new growth: read on for some practical steps to keep you busy in the garden while you wait for spring.

1. Insulate with mulch

Using a layer of mulch across soil can help prevent your beds from drying out or being taken over by unwelcome weeds. Natural materials can be used to cover the surface, and we’d recommend starting this process in late winter to trap in moisture from wet weather and protect plant roots from freezing.

2. Cover with a cloche

Protect the plants you’ve been working hard to plant and nurture with a garden cloche this winter. Thanks to its compact size, a cloche is like a portable polytunnel, making it the perfect protector for a veg patch or flowerbed growing in limited space.
If you’re growing in a patio or raised bed, garden cloches are an ideal solution to protect your plants from harsh weather, birds, and pests.

3. Bring potted plants inside

Some of your more delicate flowering plants could be more vulnerable to the cold conditions. If they’re easy enough to pick up, why not shelter them inside a greenhouse or your home? Provided they have access to direct sunlight, moving them indoors will ensure they’re protected from the worst of the weather.

4. Plant in raised beds

Giving plants a few inches of height could significantly help them to survive over winter. A tiny bit more warmth makes a lot of difference, and they’ll also have a bit more protection from pests crawling on the ground.

5. Prune dormant plants

Pruning not only helps to promote stronger growth in the new season, but it could be a fun activity for a sunny afternoon once the temperatures start to drop. Grapevines, roses, wisteria, and different types of fruit tree all benefit from being trimmed back. Why not pick up a new pair of gardening gloves to protect your hands from sharp shears?

If you invest time to protect your plants over winter, you’ll be rewarded with your garden bouncing back in full bounty as spring comes around.

If not properly taken care of, your garden can die off in the winter. That’s because, as the temperature drops, it might affect some plant species biological processes.  It is also a time when perennial plants are developing their roots, and in need of nutritional care. As such, winter garden preparation is a necessity, if you want to keep your garden looking glam all year round. Luckily, preparing your garden for winter is not difficult. To make it easier for you, here is how to prepare your garden for winter.

Prune the Trees

Most trees can withstand the winter weather, even without your intervention. However, they won’t be as aesthetically appealing, as you would like them. That’s why you should consider investing some time in pruning them. Pruning doesn’t just add to the aesthetic appeal of the plants, it can help them stay healthy all through winter. That’s because, it removes diseased branches, thereby, preventing any diseases from spreading.

Get rid of Dead Vegetation

Just like pruning can trees from diseases in winter, the same goes for the other vegetation in your garden. As such, just before winter, get rid of all dead vegetation. Dead, infected vegetation, can lead to the spread of diseases such as late blight. This can easily obliterate your garden, if left unchecked. However, if you are sure that the dead vegetation is healthy, you can always use it to make mulch for your garden.

Protect Plants that are not Frost Resistant

Unlike trees that can withstand frost, some plants would die off if left exposed. To protect them, you can move them into greenhouses just before winter. In the greenhouse, you can wrap their trunks in horticultural fleece, and also add some mulch to the root area. This will keep them alive, for replanting later along. This saves you from having to buy new plants later along, which would be more costly than preserving the ones you have.

Get Rid of Weeds

Invasive weeds such as the Himalayan blackberry can kill your garden. They can even be more dangerous in winter when you don’t have the time to watch your garden all the time. As such, you need to completely get rid of these weeds before winter. It is also important to note that, weeds cannot be used as mulch. You would only be risking regrowth that would ruin your garden without your knowledge. For complete weed removal, spray the garden with the right herbicide, even after manually removing them.

Get the Lighting Right

Just because winter is coming doesn’t mean you let your garden lose its aesthetic appeal. You can improve how it looks by playing around with the garden lighting. Make sure the lighting matches the structure of the garden, and the more colorful flowers. By playing around with lighting, you are guaranteed a beautiful looking garden all through winter. Besides, with the right lighting, you have the motivation to keep checking up on the garden from time to time.

Although we’re making a slow approach to lighter evenings and brighter mornings, it can still be hard to look out upon a withered and wintery backyard. When the trees are still spindly and dark, it can cast a bit of a shadow over other plants that don’t really make an appearance until spring.

There are, however, things you can do that keep your backyard looking optimistically bright all year round, and maybe even a bit Scandinavian. Choosing objects and ornaments that give your backyard character can make sure that the colder months don’t suck the life out of it.

Metal Backyard Furniture

If you’re the type of person who likes a brisk sit outside with a coffee, then metal frame backyard furniture might be worth considering, if only for its low maintenance. As anyone who has un-stacked a soggy and soft wooden chair after a rainy season will know, sometimes wooden furniture sometimes needs a bit of looking after.

Placing a metal or stone ornament in the center of your outdoor table will also pull it together and keep it looking stylish throughout the year. Metal outdoor furniture also tends to come in classic designs that have a certain vintage appeal, so your backyard will be timeless all year round.

Stone Ornaments

Stone ornaments are always reminiscent of grander and more regal backyards, so placing them either side of a patio or next to key features such as a pond can make your humble back yard fit for royalty.

Perhaps you do yoga outside in the morning, or maybe you want something to look at that isn’t withered –stone ornaments dotted throughout the backyard will look elegant all year round. Yoga enthusiasts and those who like a bit of peace to stroll out to might want a stone Buddha head next to their pond for a true zen backyard feel.

Clay Features

Clay pots with designs cut out make for great tea-light holders if you enjoy taking a hot cup of cocoa or glass of wine outside in the winter months.

If your tastes are a little unconventional and when you say you want your backyard brighter, you mean much brighter, there are clay features in a spectrum of vivid colors. Hot pink and electric blue backyard gnomes are a key example of this, with even a sunshine yellow one thrown in for good measure.

Glass Ornaments

Glass ornaments handing from your pergola or trees will also glimmer all year round, provided you give them a little TLC every now and then. A hanging dragonfly under any pergola will catch the sunlight in the summer months and brighten up the backyard in the drearier months.

Hanging ornaments from trees isn’t just a Christmas pastime, either. Hanging fused glass birds and decorations from your trees will make a cheerful addition, even when the branches are completely bare. For those who want larger feature pieces, items such as church windows or glass flowers can make for striking stand-out features. Hunting round landscape stores and Etsy is a brilliant place to start hunting for statement feature ideas.

Evergreen Plants

This is where having a backyard that keeps all year round really comes into its own. Although it’s always wise to have seasonal plants, as these add variety throughout the year. If you only choose evergreen plants, you’ll miss the appearance of snowdrops in early spring, the sunshine yellow of daffodils and fruit blossom.

That being said, there are some sturdy plants who manage to keep their head above the water all-year round, which means your backyard will keep a deep green hue to it. Common laurel and privet look bright and leafy all year round, spindle or ‘Silver Queen’ has a wintery white hem to its leaves which will look appropriately festive in the colder seasons. You can also get the best of both worlds with shrubs like English lavender, which not only blossoms in the summer but keeps its pale blue leaves throughout the year.

Outdoor Cabins

If you want to spend time in the backyard but don’t quite have enough northern spirit to withstand the cold, then an outdoor hut is the perfect compromise. Shepherd’s Huts are a more expensive alternative to the common backyard shed, but loans with no bank account might be an option for those who are budgeting for a bigger project. A look through any local manufacturer’s website will give you some inspiration for what to put on the inside. Putting a table and chairs can make it a close-to-home getaway for a romantic dinner, a sofa and coffee table could make it the perfect reading nook, and even a bed could turn it into a guest house. For those on a tighter budget, opting for a small summer house could be turned into a year-round house with some comfy chairs and bright interior decorations.

LED Lights

LED lights now come in a range of styles and even power-sources, with many being solar powered if you’re looking to reduce your electricity bills. LED lights not only keep backyard parties going all night in the summer but in winter time, they transform the backyard into a magical place, particularly at night.

Whether you want a string of solar lights to hang from your patio, a trail of them following your backyard path or a light-up sheep to entertain the kids, there are many to cater for a wide range of tastes.

The key to keeping your backyard looking lively all year round is mostly to do with careful selection and balance. Don’t leave out your seasonal favorites, but instead pair them with shrubs and bushes that will stay perky, even if it’s -10 and raining. In the same way that a puppy isn’t just for Christmas, a backyard shouldn’t just be for the summer. Reading the paper on a brisk morning or just going outside to appreciate one of those rare crisp but sunny winter’s days should be enjoyed and never lamented.