Five Winter Garden Jobs That Save You Effort in Spring

A few short jobs between now and February that will make spring gardening much easier - no digging, no heavy lifting, and everything fits a twenty-minute stint.

Winter looks like the quiet season, and mostly it is. But there are a few jobs that are much easier now than in spring, and they all fall into twenty-minute chunks you can do, be sure to wrap up too.

None of these involve heavy digging or lifting. If your back complains, work from a kneeler or a stool, and do one job per session rather than the lot.

1. Sweep leaves into a pile, not a bin

Fallen leaves are not litter - they are the cheapest soil improver you will ever get. Rake them into a wire ring or a bin liner with holes punched in it, leave them somewhere out of the way, and by next autumn they will have turned into crumbly leaf mould that costs nothing and does more for your soil than anything sold in a bag.

Also use to spread some now over bare beds as a winter blanket - the worms will pull it in for you. Half an hour of raking saves an afternoon of weeding in spring.

2. Clean and sharpen your tools once, properly

The moment to sort out secateurs, spades and hoes is when you do not need them. Scrub off the mud, dry them, oil the hinge, and sharpen the cutting edges with a cheap file. Blunt tools are harder work and bruise the plants. Sharp ones cut cleanly with less effort, which is the whole point.

While you are in the shed, empty the watering can, store the hose indoors, and check the handle on your spade - a wobbly handle is the kind of thing that turns a small job into a bruised knuckle.

3. Prune apples, pears and currants while they are dormant

Dormant pruning is easier than summer pruning - no leaves to argue with, and you can see the shape of the tree. Cut out dead, damaged or crossing branches, and thin out the middle so light and air can get in.

Do not prune stone fruit - plums and cherries - in winter, they are prone to silver leaf disease. Leave those for summer. And do not prune evergreens too hard now as the frost will finish them off.

4. Check pots, raised beds and drainage

Stand pots on feet so water drains rather than freezing in the base. Check raised beds for loose boards and tighten or replace anything that wobbles before loads of spring compost make it worse. Clear leaves out of gutters and drains so winter rain runs away instead of pooling on the patio.

5. Order seeds and bare-root plants now

Every year the same thing happens - everyone remembers the garden in March, and the varieties you wanted are sold out. Seed catalogues and bare-root fruit trees are at their best - and their cheapest - in the dead of winter. A ten-minute order now is a spring garden booked in advance.

A useful rule - pick varieties described as "tolerant" and "vigorous" rather than those with award names. You want plants that cope with a wet, windy British spring, not a medal for looks.

What not to do

Do not walk on wet soil - you will compact it into a brick, and that is the one thing you cannot undo in spring. Do not work in frost either, frozen ground breaks tools and ankles. And do not force the season - the garden is resting, and so should the gardener.

New to this? The raised beds guide and the composting guide cover the two projects most newcomers start with.

Photo: Scott Wylie, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.