With the changing colours of the trees, cooler temperatures, and shorter days, autumn is the perfect time to assess your landscape design and get your garden in shape for the rest of the year. Read on for 5 easy autumn maintenance tips that will help your garden survive winter and thrive once spring arrives.
Prune and Trim
With winter approaching, pruning your trees, and trimming your hedges is an important part of autumn garden maintenance. This will help to ensure your garden survives throughout the cooler months and promotes a healthy regrowth of flowers and fruit in spring. It’s also a good idea to trim back perennials. They begin to die during autumn, so trimming them now will help to promote new growth in the spring and prevent disease from setting in during winter.
Mulch and Fertilise
Autumn is a great resting period for your garden, so it’s the ideal time to restore and replenish the soil with compost, mulch, and organic fertiliser. Fertilising your plants and flowers during autumn will give them the best chance for spring regrowth by encouraging plant cells to thicken, improving water and nutrient retention, and increasing resilience to infections as temperatures drop and the air becomes moist.
Adding a generous layer of mulch will help to retain moisture from increased winter rainfall and provide protection to plant roots from the cooler climatic conditions ahead. Mulch breaks down over time, so adding it now will also help to boost the quality of your soil by supplying vital, invigorating nutrients.
Prepare Your Lawn
Winter can wreak havoc on lawns, but there’s a few things you can do in autumn to help it survive a long cold winter. Get weeds under control, give it a good mow, and then feed your lawn with slow-release lawn food. This will help to develop a strong root system that can withstand frost, and soggy wintery weather.
Clean Up Fallen Autumn Leaves
The beautiful colours of autumn leaves add a warm and pleasant ambience to your garden, but while they may look nice, fallen leaves can actually cause significant damage to your garden and leave it in a state of disrepair. Fallen leaves can smother budding plants and grass, restricting sunlight and leaving them unable to grow properly. You can either rake up the leaves and dispose of them in your green bin, or you can transfer them to a compost bin and take advantage of the nutrient-rich matter that is left behind once the leaves have decayed.
Protect Your Plants From Frost
Before the temperatures really plummet, it’s important that you take steps to protect your plants from frost. You can use frost blankets, burlap, or other protective materials from a local garden centre, and you can also move potted plants indoors or to a sheltered outdoor space. As mentioned above, adding a layer of mulch around the base of your plants can also help insulate the soil and protect the roots from freezing.
If you need more information on autumn garden maintenance, or even just a general chat on seasonal landscaping Mornington Peninsula locals should get in touch with the team at Bittern Garden Supplies. We’re always here to help, and as trusted local soil suppliers, Mornington Peninsula homes and business can rely on us for sand, soil, and mulch deliveries at affordable rates. Call 5983 9779 now.
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