Essential Plant Care over Winter

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Plant Care over Winter 

Planning & Prep: A Warm Cuppa and a Think

When it gets too cold or wet for gardening, a warm cuppa and some gardening inspiration or future planning are good alternatives.   Winter is the perfect time to reflect.

Think about what you can do differently next year, and what areas would be better suited for certain plants.   If I have several of the same plants, I like to put them in different positions to see where they are happiest.    I use trial and error frequently—it’s all very well getting told to put a plant in indirect light, for example, but even that position might have other variables that make it perfect or completely unsuitable.

Getting the Garden Ready

Here are the essential outdoor tasks to tick off before the worst of the cold sets in:

• Add Mulch: This protects and feeds your plants through the colder months.

• Pruning: Winter is the preferred time to prune fruit trees because the sap is not moving.   I often prune the watershoots (those long, unusual branches that tend to go straight up) on my espaliered fruit trees in late summer, well before they get too woody and hard to cut—it suits my wrists better!   My goats certainly appreciate the pruned branches to munch on.

• Lift Dahlias: I don't do this very often, but I have dug mine up this year and will be selling some later.

• Planting: Sow hardy annuals and get any bare-rooted roses and fruit trees planted.
  
  
  

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Tree Crop Sale Tip

If there is a Tree Crop Sale in your area (like our great Hamilton Tree Crops Sale Day), I suggest you try to attend.   It's a fantastic opportunity to get interesting fruit trees at a very reasonable price, often from a local grower, meaning they are already conditioned to your area.    If the heavens are in my favour, I will have a stall again this year!

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Brr, it's cold outside.

We, humans, do not always appreciate the coldness of winter.   But .... 

• Some plants benefit from a crisp chill so they to perform their best.      Tulips, peonies, and grapes.   

Even the Zygocactus (Christmas, Easter & Thanksgiving cacti) flowers better if given a true winter.    A cold snap and reduced daylight hours, just like nature provides. 

• Bug killing.   Harsh, frosty days can benefit your garden by killing pests and diseases in the soil.   This results in the breakdown of the life cycle of some pests.
• If your plants have been attacked my powdery mildew over summer, caused by humiditity, then winter will give your plants some relief.

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How to prepare your plants for Winter.

Whether your plants are out in the garden or potted up, you still need to consider the seasons and how they will be affected by winter weather. 

 Cacti and Succulents   

There are lots of succulents that can be left outside over winter.   Often, it is the wet, waterlogged soil that causes more winter issues than the actual cold weather.   Do research on your particular plant to see what it requires over winter. 

Over winter, generally they can be grouped into:

- No protection                                        - Some protection                             - Keep dry

- Keep warm and dry                              - Give some water. 

Grouping your potted plants accordingly is a good way to organise them.  Some are winter growers, but that does not necessarily mean they need watering.

My own Cacti

My cacti are housed in an old tunnel, which is well-ventilated.    There are numerous methods that Cacti growers use when putting their cacti to rest over winter.

Some of the Euphorbia I might water occasionally on a nice warm day, but only a small amount, very seldom.

It is wise to underwater plants, especially over winter.  But sometimes they do need a bit, or else the roots may shrivel and die off.  Pour a small amount down one side of the container.  Next time, choose a different side to pour a bit down.

Frost.  Or to prevent it from harming your plants. 

• If your plants do get frosted, do not panic. 
• Move them if you can.
• Cover them with frost cloth on frosty nights. 
• You can also use a frost protection spray, but I have never bothered.
• Leave any damaged growth until the frosts have finished.

 Indoor plants

• Maybe your indoor plants can be moved, so they receive more light over the winter period. 
• Or at least moved somewhere where they get more warmth.

I do not do either.  My plants get put somewhere, and generally, they stay in that position, only getting moved when I reorganise them.    

Depending on how you heat your home, your indoor plants may also struggle with the lack of humidity over winter, if using heating that is drying.

• Check that your plant is not sitting directly below air conditioning or near heating.

Some people will suggest you need to invest in heating for your plants or extra lighting, but you don’t need this for most of your indoor plants.    It's better to choose plants to suit your environment.

Our house only has a fire for heating, so we only get warmth in the evenings; during the day, we do not light the fire.   But most of my plants live out in my tunnelhouse, where the extremes are between 0° and 50°C     And they do not get heated at all.

• I do not fertiise my plants at every watering, but I do continue to fertilise some plants over winter.
• If you use cover pots or drip trays, please check that the plants are not sitting in water.    Even more important during winter when the evaporation is slower than in summer.

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Winter Chores

A cold, frosty day can still turn into a great, beneficial day spent working on your plants.   Washing pots, deheading, pruning, checking for bugs and diseases, weeding, and topping up the soil levels are all chores you can do on a nice winter's day.   When the weather starts to warm up again, you can begin to repot any plants that need it.

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