Winter Gardening: How to Grow Resilient Plants and Protect Your Garden.

While winter gardening might sound like an uphill task; it is one of the best ways to make an active approach to your garden, even in the cold days. Possibly most plants go into hibernation during this season; however, there are plenty of cold-loving plants that are resilient and thrive. With a little planning over what to cultivate and how to safeguard it, summer would not be the only season to look forward to. Therefore, let’s look at the best plants to grow in winter. Also, discover some helpful precautions for keeping your garden healthy throughout the winter season.

1. Winter Gardening’s Allure

First, since winter offers limited activities to pursue; winter gardening provides a great way to make good use of the otherwise less active months. Instead of letting your garden sit idle, you can cultivate plants and vegetables that thrive in cooler temperatures. Furthermore, winterizing the garden in preparation for spring only strengthens it for the upcoming season.

If one knows the way around winter gardening, there are great benefits. While summer often encourages active gardening due to favorable weather; winter’s colder temperatures create opportunities to grow a different variety of plants.

2. Best Plants to Grow in Winter

Winter is not favorable for all plants. However, certain plants are winter-hardy and can thrive outdoors despite the cold. Unlike indoor plants, which we highlighted in the article Guide to Best Indoor Plants, these outdoor varieties thrive best in a winter garden. Here are some of the best options to consider:

• Leafy Greens: Kale, spinach, and Swiss chard are never in short supply during winter. Indeed, they are frost tolerant and grow well, even in low light conditions. You can harvest these greens a little at a time, allowing you to enjoy fresh greens for several weeks.
• Root Vegetables: Winter crops include carrots, beets, and turnips as they do well in winter. Given the shortage of seasonal vegetables, plant these seeds in the late autumn and they will be in bloom come winter. Their roots use the cold temperatures to their advantage, growing sweeter as it becomes colder.

• Winter Herbs: You should sow thyme, parsley, or chives in winter, as they flourish during this season. Sow them in containers or beds and they will add flavor to your winter dishes.
• Winter-Flowering Plants: You can plant pansies and violas in winter, as these varieties bring cheerful flowers to the garden. Also known as the Christmas Rose, hellebores bloom in the coldest months and prefer to grow in shady spots.

All of these plants, help to ensure that the garden remains lively, active and visually appealing throughout the winter season and even after

3. How to Prepare Your Garden For Winter

No matter how hardy the plants may be, protection is still essential. As highlighted in my article “How to Create a Beautiful Garden in a Small Space”, even smaller gardens require careful planning and protection. Here are some of the important strategies that can help keep your garden secure:

• Employ Mulch for Winter Protection: Mulch serves as a protective covering blanket for the plants that helps the roots of the plants from frost and extreme cold. A layer of mulch used around the base of the flowers helps in moisture retention and temperature control of the soil.
• Shield Vulnerable Plants: Frost cloths or garden cloches are used as a layer of protection for plants from frost. Those who do not have these materials can cover the plants using old bedsheets or tarpaulin on cold nights.
• Trimming and Cleaning: Thus, trimming plants that have died branches and leaves will alleviate the occurrence of pests and the spread of diseases. For blooming plants thinned in spring, care should be taken so as not to reduce their ability to thrive.
• Raise the Plant Jars: For the pots used for planting the plants, they can be elevated by using risers or bricks to enhance drainage of the pots. This is used to also avoid the freezing of water around the roots.
• Lay off Watering for a while: It is advisable to water the plants only when it is the time of drought otherwise, the ground should not be watered too much as well. Freezing of the soil can also lead to root damage, which is why the correct soil consistency should be moist, but never soggy.

Conclusion

To conclude we can say although winter gardening is an uphill task, the effort is most certainly worthwhile. With the right choices, such as winter-hardy vegetables and varieties that flower in winter, you can rejoice in the beauty of a garden in the cold months. So, protect your garden with mulch, frost covers and correct hydrating and you will notice the difference.

Whether it is the delicious greens or the spectacular flowers that you have got in mind, winter wintertime comes as a perfect season to let out your creativity and grow beauty. So, let’s enjoy this time of the year and make winter gardening an enjoyable and fruitful part of your calendar.

Which winter plants or tips do you find the most useful? Let us know in the comments so that we can motivate each other to become better gardeners regardless of the season.