Getting the garden ready for winter: the checklist from CW 40

The first hoarfrost usually settles on the bed earlier than you expect. Once the grass is white in the morning and your breath steams, the time for prep is basically over. That is why it pays to get the garden ready for winter in a calm way, while the soil is still warm and open. The nice part: much of it is less work than the guidebooks would have you believe. A winter-ready garden is not a tidied-up garden, but one that is allowed to breathe through the cold months, shelter animals, and start into spring with real vigour.

Why the sequence from CW 40 matters

Winter prep is not one action on a single weekend, but a chain of small jobs spread over six to seven weeks. Start too late and the first frost catches you out on the tender things; start too early and too thoroughly, and you take away the beneficial insects' shelter and the soil's cover.

The rough order looks like this: In CW 40 to 42 (early to mid-October) you harvest the last frost-sensitive crops, clear away spent plants and bring the beds into shape. In CW 43 to 45 (mid-October to early November) you deal with water, equipment and soil. In CW 46 (mid-November), when the first hard nights are forecast, comes the actual frost protection for pots, roses and young woody plants. Anyone who keeps to these three blocks never ends up in a rush.

Let the leaves lie, rather than clearing them away

The biggest mistake in the autumn garden is reaching for the leaf blower. Autumn leaves are not litter, but free winter protection and food for the soil life. Under a blanket of leaves the soil stays frost-free deeper down, earthworms pull the leaves in and turn them into humus by spring, and countless insects overwinter in the layer.

Leave the foliage wherever it does no harm: on perennial beds, under hedges and shrubs, around young fruit trees. Only take thicker layers off the lawn, otherwise the grass suffocates and rots. Move those leaves into a quiet corner or a simple wire basket, where over one to two years they turn into fine, dark leaf mould. A separate leaf pile in a sheltered spot is also the best winter quarters for a hedgehog.

If you like, run the mower over the leaves briefly before spreading them on the bed; chopped smaller they rot faster and mat down less. The only thing that matters is that winter greens like lamb's lettuce and spinach stay clear and do not disappear under wet leaves.

Clear the beds, but do not strip them bare

When tidying, use judgement. Diseased plant parts and anything showing fungus or rot must go, so the spores do not overwinter. Healthy perennials, on the other hand, may stay: the dry stems and seed heads look wonderful in hoarfrost, feed birds and shelter ladybirds and lacewings through the winter.

Do not leave empty vegetable beds bare. Open soil silts up in the winter rain, loses structure and has its nutrients washed out. Two simple solutions: a mulch layer of leaves, straw or dried grass clippings, or a green manure. For a late sowing from CW 40, hardy green manures like winter rye or winter vetch work well; they root through the soil and are worked in come spring.

Water is the biggest frost foe

No other mistake costs as much in winter as forgotten water. When it freezes it expands and bursts whatever encloses it: pipes, pumps, rain barrels and clay pots. These jobs therefore take top priority in CW 43 to 45, at the latest before the first night below minus 5 degrees is forecast.

1. Drain the outdoor lines

   Turn off the outdoor tap at the indoor valve, open the outside spigot and let the residual water run off. Uncouple hoses, drain them and store them frost-free.

2. Empty and tip rain barrels

   Full barrels burst in frost. Empty them down to a small remainder, disconnect the downpipe link and tip or cover them so no rain tops them up again.

3. Secure pumps and irrigation

   Drain pond and submersible pumps, timer valves and drip hoses and store them dry. Switch off automatic irrigation and let it drain.

4. Bird bath and decor

   Move ceramics and concrete that soak up water to a frost-free spot; otherwise they crack as they freeze through.

Wrapping up pots, roses and tender plants

Plants in pots are doubly at risk in winter: the root ball freezes through from every side, and on mild winter days evergreen leaves lose water that the frozen soil cannot resupply. So give pots a spot against a sheltered house wall, a stand of wood or polystyrene against the cold from the ground, and a wrap of fleece, jute or bubble wrap. Important: water sparingly on frost-free days, because drying out is the more common cause of death than freezing.

Non-hardy container plants like oleander, citrus or scented pelargoniums must move before the first frost into bright, cool winter quarters at around 5 to 10 degrees. Tough wild shrubs, by contrast, need nothing at all. A rugosa rose or the native dog rose survives even hard winters without any protection, and its hips stay on the shrub as bird food.

The Christmas rose is the reward for everyone who eases their garden gently into winter. It flowers in the middle of the frost, often as early as Christmas, and needs only a mulch layer of leaves over its roots. In hard frost its flowers droop, but they right themselves again on their own once things thaw.

Compost, tools and the last touches

In autumn the compost is the most important place in the garden. Everything healthy lands here: the bed greens, soft leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps. Mix coarse and fine, moist and dry, and the rotting keeps going through the winter too. A cover of fleece or an old coir mat keeps off some wet and cold without shutting out the air entirely.

The tools also want tending before they rust in the damp shed air. Clean the soil off spade, hoe and digging fork, dry them and rub the metal with an oily rag. The wooden handles enjoy a splash of linseed oil. Secateurs and garden shears should be taken apart, cleaned, sharpened and oiled; a sharp blade in spring saves effort and spares the plant. Petrol-powered machines get fresh or drained fuel as per the manual, so the carburettor does not gum up.

Finally the small things people love to forget: bring in delicate decor and clay pots, cover or store the garden furniture, clean the mower and keep the last cut of the lawn short so it does not mat under snow. If you like, plant spring bulbs now; there is time for that until the ground freezes.

The week-by-week checklist

1. CW 40 to 41 · early October

   Pick the last frost-sensitive harvest (squash, beans, tomatoes). Clear spent beds, dispose of diseased remains. Spread leaves onto beds and under shrubs.

2. CW 42 to 43 · mid-October

   Mulch empty beds or sow green manure. Cut back perennials only partly, leave the seed heads. Plant spring bulbs.

3. CW 44 to 45 · late October to early November

   Water first: drain pipes, empty rain barrels, secure pumps and irrigation. Clean and oil the tools.

4. CW 46 · mid-November

   Fit the frost protection: wrap and lift pots, earth up roses, protect young woody plants with fleece. Move container plants into winter quarters.