Preparing for Winter | A How To Guide

It may seem early to be thinking about winter, but the first frost will be on us before we know, and there are plenty of jobs that are much easier to do while the weather is warmer. So get ahead, and get yourself sorted out in plenty of time for winter.

Garden jobs

It’s time to clean off any shading that you applied to your greenhouse back in spring. Right now, your plants need all the light they can get, especially if you’ve got tomatoes in there, but also for your tender plants when you need to overwinter them. And while we’re on the subject of the greenhouse, keep the door closed or ajar at night now, to keep the plants warmer. It’s a bit early to be putting your tender plants under cover just yet, but keep it in mind if the temperature falls, as you may need to do it in a hurry!

For the same reason, to let in more light, it’s a good time to clean the roof of your conservatory, before it’s too cold to be messing about with water outside!

Treat your lawn to kill off any moss, and give the grass a chance to grow over winter, but don’t feed it any more with summer feed, as this will encourage soft growth that will be damaged by frost.

Jobs around the house

Now is a good time to get your boiler serviced, before everyone turns on their central heating, and boiler engineers are swamped with work. You might also want to test your central heating, and bleed any radiators that don’t seem to be working properly.

Jobs in the garage and driveway

If you didn’t clean your patio and driveway at the start of the summer, it’s probably a good idea to clean them now, to avoid any moss and algal growth building up. If you leave these, your patio and driveway will be slippery in the wet, and you could fall. While you’re at it, it would be a good idea to clean any paths too, especially if you use them in the early morning or evening. If you don’t have a pressure hose, then rent one and do the job properly. If your paths tend to get very slippery, then it might also be worth applying some algae remover.

Check up on your supplies for winter. Make sure you’ve got some rock salt or white de-icing salt in stock, so that you can apply it before or after frosty nights. And you might also want to check your snow shovel isn’t broken and that you have some gardening gloves that will keep your hands warm while you spread salt!  More info on how to de-ice your drive.

Here is a quick check list that you may find useful to print out.