With the noticeable climate changes, garden seasonality can be misleading. One can no longer manage garden maintenance schedules by monthly jobs. What most gardening books and magazines say for each monthly task, can be now diluted and applied with a degree of relevance. For example reducing the lawn to a lower height during the summer might no longer be the right thing to do. It may be too wet or too hot and if the grass blades are too short, they won’t cope with the weather changes. Thus said don’t be tempted to cut your lawn in January or February. The sun is still quite low and despite warm weather fluctuations the lawn needs as much grass blade height as possible to absorb the little sun energy available. Cut it too soon too short and you will have a problem for the whole year. The same applies for the Autumn months. The other downside with mowing lawns too many times is that it compacts the ground which will then require remedial actions. Scarification, Aeration, treatments, top dressing you name it. The best thing to do is let it be from October until March. You might need to do a control cut on the highest setting on a dry Autumn day, however the last leaves for example and just level these nitrogenated patches from your dog. Save yourself some much needed money and be kinder to the environment. You will be surprised that by simply not mowing your lawn to death you might not even need any treatments or programmes to follow. It will look just as green and healthy as any other examples of treated lawns. But of course, must you need to revive and restore your lawn then treatments might be the right thing. Top dressing is often overlooked but it’s by far one of the best treatments you can do to your lawn. It’s like mulching the borders for plants. Remember grass is a plant too.
But enough about the lawns, enjoy the lasting Winter months’ silence before the gardeners start tuning their lawnmowers one by one. The important thing about undressing the seasons in your garden is that Winter or what’s left of it, is a very important season for gardening. You see when the plants are usually dormant you can carry out so much needed remedial work. For some plants it’s pruning, for others it’s transplanting and planting. You might want to set the scene before it wakes up or before it’s too late.
Use the winter wisely, don’t suddenly stop and pick up where you left it in the summer. Or try to do everything during the Spring garden clearance. Plants are very complex and demanding creatures. They are alive and just like humans are very sensitive. They respond better if you look after them better. So, in the Winter if say your Wisteria is out of control then remember to prune it in February for the second time or there about if the Winter has not been fully compliant with its terms and conditions! Some gardeners claim they had to do it twice for each cycle. I’m not sure what the RHS would suggest but we certainly are on new territories with the climate. But the most important thing of all enjoy what every task you choose to do and keep warm.
