It’s fast approaching that time of year when you are no longer able to spend much time outdoors. The night starts to draw in around 4 pm leaving us only eight hours of daylight.

Our garden is rather long and narrow. In the summer, the boys spend most of their time there but this time of year naturally means we spend more time indoors and that also means we should prepare our garden for winter.

I’m certainly by no means an expert in these things as I am not green-fingered at all. However, here are just a few tips on how you can tidy your garden and prep it for the winter months.

Pack away the toys

The water table, plastic toys, water guns, balls and the many bits of random toys that lived in your garden over the summer now need to be packed away to protect them. I tend not to bother cleaning them until we dig them out again the following year because they will get dusty from storing them in the shed anyway but I do make sure they are put away.

Protect your furniture

If you have wooden furniture, this is the best time to treat them so they are ready for when you want to use them next year.

If you can, pack your furniture away and store it somewhere safe. Otherwise, if space is an issue cover your furniture and  barbecues with tarpaulin.

Weigh down items

We’ve been prone to a good few hurricanes this last year so it’s important to weigh down anything remaining in your garden that you think could get blown away. We learnt this the hard way last year – our trampoline was blown into next door’s garden and broke so we had to buy a new one. We’ve made sure to weigh our new one down with bricks to stop this from happening.

Rake leaves

Clear the lawn of leaves by raking them. Autumn leaves are a great source of brown material for your compost bin. If you don’t have a compost bin you can look to create leaf mould. Find an area in the garden where you can store leaves and they will eventually decompose down into a crumbly texture that can be used as a mulch around the base of plants.

Lawn maintenance

Now is the best time to mow the lawn ready for winter. We used the Flymo Visimo & Mini Trim pack. Our garden is 90 ft long and the Flymo did the job with ease. Out of the box, it was easy to assemble and comes with a 29-litre grassbox which collects and compacts the grass meaning less emptying. There’s also a range of cutting heights to suit your needs too.

The mini-trim is lightweight and did a great job of trimming the edges of our lawn. We were able to easily trim around trees and got up close to the edge of our fence.

Lawn fertiliser is also a must. It will ensure that your grass has everything it needs to maintain its good look through the cold period.

Clean gardening equipment

And finally, once the garden is looking tip-top. It’s time to turn your attention to your tools. Now is a good time to give them a good clean and oil to prevent them from rusting.

*We received the Flymo Visimo and Mini Trim Twinpack for the purpose of this post

You might also like:

• Tips for looking after your home this winter
• How to keep your home warm and cosy this winter

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