5 ways to prepare your garden for Winter

1. Add mulch or compost to garden beds to help protect from frost

The cold of Winter can often damage the soil of your garden beds. As there are living organisms in your soil, avoiding as much frost or snow that is directly on your soil is best. Before the chilly nights start, adding a layer of compost, mulch or pea straw to your garden beds will help keep extra warmth in over Winter. This will help prevent soil erosion and weed development. Come springtime, worms and healthy micro-organisms will still be living happily in your soil.

2. Turn off your watering systems

Many states have their own restrictions to try and conserve as much water as possible over winter. Please check with your local water authorities regularly when coming into new seasons. We also recommend turning off any automated watering systems over winter and removing batteries where needed. Excessive watering of plants over winter can lead to root rot and expose your soil to chances of freezing subsurface.

If you have a tap timer, we recommend either reducing the watering time or turning it off completely.

In really cold climates, we suggest that you remove the battery and make sure there is no water left inside the tap timer. If you live in an area that gets frost – we recommend taking off the tap timer completely and storing it away for the meantime. Water left inside the tap timer can expand when it freezes, resulting in the internals cracking.

If you have a smart tap timer, such as a WX1 Tap Timer, we suggest that you remove the timer from the app before removing the batteries, as the tap timer will be listed as ‘offline’ if left on the app. You can still continue to use the smart socket that is included with the Wi-Fi Hub, but you’ll need to pair the WX1 Tap Timer back onto the Wi-Fi Hub once the new season starts.

If you have a Smart Moisture Sensor and wish to use this over winter, you can simply remove the WX1 Tap Timer off the tap and leave the batteries inside. Be sure to store the WX1 Tap Timer in a location within the Smart Moisture Sensor range, usually within 15-20 metres.

Check out our video here on how to properly disable your watering systems.

3. Mow any long lawn before frost starts

If your area is prone to frost and snow, leave mowing your lawn as late as possible, so the blades of grass are short coming into Winter. Having short lawn over winter will help prevent any long grass drying out and turning brown as Spring comes around.

4. Protect seedlings from the cold

Plan ahead for Spring and keep seedlings growing over the cooler months with a Greenhouse. A Greenhouse will allow you to adjust and control the humidity and temperature so you can keep growing in any season. Over Winter we recommend placing the Greenhouse in a sunny position so you can get as much natural warmth as possible. Our 4 Tier Greenhouse is a great place to start, and can be set up in around 30 minutes!

Some of our favourites to grow over winter:

5. Prepare plants and shrubs

Many people are inclined to prune their shrubs just before Winter hits, to get rid of any damaged or unwanted growth. If you prune just before Winter, this generally does not give the plant enough time to heal before the cold arrives. Cutting also stimulates growth, which in many cases, does not survive the cold nights of Winter. If plants are overgrown, wait until Spring arrives and start any pruning then. To help support your shrubs and trees, make sure a covering of fresh mulch or even fallen leaves are around the base. This will help protect from frost and frozen soil.