We get asked all the time.. is it OK to plant in Winter?? ..YES OF COURSE!!
Winter is actually our preferred time of year for getting out in the garden and planting for many reasons.. here are just a few along with some handy tips for gardening in winter:
- The weather is not too hot and there are far less bugs to contend with as you work! (always a HUGE plus in my book!)
- Being a cooler time of year with more consistent rainfall, when planting in winter there is far more opportunity for the plants to ‘settle in’ with far less risk of getting the heat stress that comes with the warmer weather.
- When plants are put in place and the gardens tended to in winter, whilst they won’t put much new growth on over the winter months, the rewards come spring will be far greater as they will be ready to go with new growth just as soon as the birds start tweeting!
- It’s a great time to add mulch in winter (wood chips/sugar cane/eucalyptus mulch etc). Mulch has many great purposes. One it looks great and can really uniform and freshen the look of your garden, secondly adding mulch in winter will help keep the soil temperature constant to aid growth, it acts as a means to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
- Winter cutting back – If you haven’t already done so, now (winter) is the time to prune deciduous trees and shrubs. Plants like roses, hydrangeas, and stone fruit should be pruned to retain shape ready for next seasons growth. If any of these plants need to be moved now is the time to transplant as the plant is dormant you have less chance of damaging the roots plant.
- Weeding and preparation for spring – Why not add compost, weed areas and plan your spring. Planting now is just as effective for most plants as in spring. Plus as mentioned above, it’s not too hot!
Whilst the above offers some great reasons to get out in the garden this winter, there are a few things you can do to ensure your planting at any time of year is a great success:
- Address any drainage issues. Trying to plant the wrong types of plants for the wrong area, whether it be for light, wind or drainage conditions, will no doubt end in disaster for your plants at any time of year.
- Spend some time on good soil preparation. Particularly in the Port Stephens area most properties are full of ‘sandy soil’ or in some cases more sand than soil
Combatting this is easy check out our post on Soil Preparation!