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Leaves falling, wet and windy weather, cold and damp days and nights - winter is well on the way. It's time to put the summer garden to bed and bring on the next performers. | |||||
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Growing stops. Bare branches and empty spaces loom. Enter the fanfare of colours of muted tones of crimson reds, bright oranges, burnished golds and bronze. Autumn shrubs and trees... |
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| Preparing the garden for winter: | ||||||
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It's the end of the regular mowing season but the lawn may still need one or two cuts before the start of the next mowing season. The blades of the mower should be raised when mowing over winter and lawn edging is not needed until spring. Now would be to service the mower. |
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Apply an autumn fertilizer now to the lawn if not done earlier. Repair damaged lawn edges, sort out bumps and hollows, etc. Rake up fallen leaves. |
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| Wooden garden furniture
needs to be swept and washed with a very weak bleach solution, dried
thoroughly then oiled with a recommended oil (for each specific wood)
then covered with a plastic cover to protect the wood over winter.
Cast aluminium furniture doesn't require any oiling and can be left out over winter. There is a huge range of this maintenance free garden furniture to be found in the garden shop. |
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| Pots and containers....
• If the terracotta pots are too heavy to move then wrap them in thick plastic, newspapers, bubblewrap, blankets etc. during the most severe weather conditions. This prevents cracks and breakages. • Empty the remains of the summer annuals together with the compost. Wash and disinfect them. Dry thoroughly and protect from frost. • Plant up pots, baskets, window boxes etc. again using winter flowering plants and shrubs. check out which plants to use... |
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Now is the time to plant bare-rooted shrubs and to put away tender plants for next spring. |
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 Winter
is technically a quiet month for the gardener. So now would be
a good time to start making plans for your spring garden. Add structures
and interest to part or all of your garden. With so many different
and unusual structures on offer, it is only the imagination stopping
us all from becoming a Diamuid Gavin!!! |
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A
Beautiful terracotta pot with flared corners in a typically
Zen style. 
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