Ah! How lovely is this weather change… and sunshine! After what seemed like a year of rain and humidity, Summer has finally come to a close and Winter is on its way.

Autumn is my favourite time of year to spend in the garden. The cooler days, warm sun and lower humidity definitely makes for perfect weekends spent outdoors, soaking in some Vitamin D and getting your greenspace organised. Now is the time for a good seasonal overhaul!

Preparing your garden for winter is essential to ensure your plants survive the colder months and thrive again in the spring, filling your days with joy and colour. So let’s get into some of the great ways we can prepare and care for our plants this Autumn.

Clean Up

It’s not really exciting when someone says, “do a clean up” but when you can sit back and see just how the garden looks after up tidy up, you’ll understand when I say it is well worth it. It’s a wonderful feeling and it looks so good! Usually I start with removing any dead or dying plants, weeds, and debris from garden beds. This prevents pests and diseases from overwintering and gives your garden a clean slate for spring. Perished plants can make excellent compost as they still hold valuable nutrients, so be sure to make good use of them when able.

Mulch

Now that you’ve just de-weeded, you don’t want all your hard work undone. Applying a layer of mulch around your plants not only helps to suppress weeds but also helps protect plant roots when temperatures plummet. As winters here in Australia tend to be our dry period, mulch also helps retain moisture in the soil.

Trim and Prune

Plants such as roses love a good dead wood pruning in the cooler months of the year, thus Autumn is a great time to do a prune up. Trim off any dead or diseased branches from trees and shrubs to help them stay healthy and ready to reshoot in spring. Cut back perennials to ground level or to a few inches above to encourage healthy growth next season.

Protect Tender Plants

Some plants just don’t like the cold. If you have tender plants such as Alocasia, that won’t survive the winter outdoors, consider bringing them inside or providing them with extra protection. You can use frost blankets, cloches, or even wrap them in burlap to help keep them warm, how cute is that!

Divide and Transplant

Autumn is an excellent time to divide and transplant perennials. This helps rejuvenate overcrowded plants and gives them a fresh start in the spring. The cooler months here are also a good time for us Queenslanders to sow/plant European cottage garden annuals, bulbs and winter vegetable crops. Beautiful delphiniums, daffodils, many European herbs, Australian native and leafy greens (they get less attacked in winter) are great to sow/plant now.

Prepare Tools and Equipment

As many plants slow down their growth in winter, Autumn can be a good time to clean and sharpen your gardening tools so they are ready to get back into full swing in Spring. If you live in an area which snows or dips into the negative degrees, it’s a good idea to drain and properly store hoses and irrigation systems to prevent damage from water freezing inside them. Plastic also tends to be more brittle and subject to breaking easily so be mindful of this when handling plastic items such as drippers, and irrigation lines.

Plan for Spring

It’s time to dream big! Use the cooler months to plan your garden layout for the upcoming spring. Research new plants, make plans, order seeds, and sketch out any changes you want to make to your garden design. While its cool, autumn and winter is great for building new garden beds, installing that pond and doing all the hard yards because us Queenslanders know “Spring” doesn’t last long. By the end of September, it can begin to get hot and humid making anything labour intensive a grueling task. So, get in early with all those hot and sweaty tasks before they get a whole lot hot and sweatier!

Feed the Soil

Get gross feeding my friends! In one of our previous posts “Creating Garden Beds That Thrive“, we talked out ‘Gross Feeding’ and what we mean by this is to get all the dry manure (chicken, cow, goat, horse), you can get your hands on, and mix it up with kitchen scraps, old spent veggies or herb plants, worm soil, mushroom compost, etc. to make what we like to call a, “Gross food concoction” for your plants. It can take time for good microbes, worms, beneficial bacteria and fungi to establish, so starting in autumn give our little friends some time to get to work in your soil. Adding compost or organic matter to your garden beds helps to replenish nutrients, improve soil structure and yes help our little helpers to establish themselves which are crucial for nutrient uptake, disease and pest resistance, as well as deal with environmental stresses such as drought. Your plants, come spring will love you for it.

Protect Wildlife

As we mentioned earlier, autumn and winter here in Australia is usually our drier months and plants tend to slow down their growth and flower less often, if at all. Thus, this can be a tough time for wildlife, especially those who feed on flowers and young shoots. Making fresh water, shelter, and native plant food sources available for birds and other wildlife can give them help in your garden during the winter months. Consider leaving seed heads on plants for them to feed on and/or plant native plant food sources in your garden. We do not recommend actually feeding wild animals as this can create dependency, please see the Queensland Government Website regarding feeding wildlife.

By following these garden and plant care tips, you can ensure that your garden stays healthy and vibrant throughout the winter season, ready to burst into life again come springtime. Happy Gardening!