Advice on Getting Garden Winter Ready
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Any advice on protecting my plants over winter?
My son was given 2 dwarf apple trees and I have some herbs, strawberry plants and chillies that never produced chillies in a greenhouse guess next year will have to plant them earlier
I found this I
To protect smaller trees, put stakes in the ground around the tree and drape it with a sheet, burlap, fruit tree frost blanket, plastic, or other cloth during the day before the freeze. Make sure the cover goes all the way to the ground. A cover is used to hold heat around the tree
To be on the safe side I put things that are in containers in the greenhouse . The risk is not to the foliage but to the container freezing solid around the roots .
Strawberry plants will be fine in a frost , hope you have made yourself extra plants by rooting some of the runners ?
I had a good crop of chillies this year (still producing in the greenhouse ) , they never come back a second year , so I'll start seeds off in March ready to go in the greenhouse in April/May .
I am currently emptying and cleaning my greenhouse and will put my containers in it just in case we have a really longlasting deep period of frost - and it starts them growing a few weeks earlier in the Spring .
Most other tender plants in the garden can be protected by covering in horticultural fleece . TBH over the years I have rarely lost plants due to frost - but you never know .
Golfforall I was considering whether worth getting a compost bin for the chilli plants
I put six inch mounds of compost over my cut down dahlias (rather than dig up the tubers) and over my peonies to protect them over winter.
Some tender container plants I put in the shed and cover the compost with straw (I use cheap bags of pet straw from The Range).
Bigger container plants like fuchsias go clustered together against a south facing wall of the house which retains more heat from the sun during the day over the winter, and is slightly warmer than elsewhere in the garden at night. Of course the central heating from inside the house helps too. It's not perfect, but I rarely lose them. I put lots of tulip and daffodil bulbs in pots against the south wall too. They seem to flower earlier, and then in the spring I move them to where there's gaps, or to wherever I want a splash of colour.
Alan Titmarsh I understand is doing a Winter garden programme though I don't know if he's done it or still to show it. However, I'd say if you are worried about your trees, make sure they have lots of fertiliser and fee them, and put hessian around it to protect it. The strawberries I'd put straw around and maybe floss over the top. If you can bring stuff inside do so.
CaroleBallard I can't bring anything inside except maybe the herbs most in greenhouse
Imnotcheap Is there any way to cover it, either with fleece, packing materials, or perhaps doing a temporary cover, using sticks, or a frame? It doesn't have to be a structural masterpiece, just something to keep them warm and out of the cold and wind? Even a plastic box weighted down would suffice as long as you water them.
We have an apple tree in a half barrel and it doesn’t need anything doing to it over winter. Yes, chillies need a long growing season.
Imnotcheap they should be fine, as will most herbs. The herbs will probably die back then come again next year- mint,sage, chives, parsley etc, but Basil is tender.
Imnotcheap they are hardy and should be fine. Keep them dampish but not too wet as that's when the cold affects them.
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