This weekend we've been busy putting things in order for winter. I thought I would share some tips.
turning off the water supply to the outside taps if any, then open the tap fully. If you don't do this, you could have a burst pipe final cutting of the grass raking leaves off the grass (leaves can be left on soil under shrubs) covering the outside planter pots. Bubble wrap is good. Even if the pots are frost resistent and the plants can be left out in winter, in a pot the roots can freeze. (we learned this last year when a Thuja in a pot died) wrapping young trees (we have Bambus) to protect the leaves from frost clearing the outside drains on the balcony and terrace of leaves. We have a catch for the the leaves so the drains themselves don't get blocked. bring inside any plants that cannot survive the winter (i.e. Oleander) tree trimming Can anyone think of anything I may have forgotten?
What should I do with my hanging fuschia? Do I prune it back now, or in springtime when the new growth (hopefully) appears?
My geraniums have just had a growth spurt and have developed nice, new healthy looking buds. So I am going to see if they manage to flower again before it gets too cold on the balcony. Do I then prune them well back as well?
The geraniums look as if they are on to their last flowering for the season - prune them too?
Hydranga in pot is still looking as it needs to go on life support, but has actually grown fresh leaves over the last two weeks as well. It had been looking sad for the last three months and dropping leaves almost as soon as I had bought it. What does it need?
Pansies bought and repotted last weekend are all looking perky and providing bright colour, so they can stay where they are for longer.
Bubble wrapping about to begin! That was a great tip. Thank you. :-)
With regards to your hydrangea, it is most likely a mophead variety, do not prune it as if you do this will prevent it from flowering next summer. It is ok to remove the dead stalks. A mophead hydrangea flowers based on the previous Autumn activity (the new leaves you are seeing are next summers buds).
Here in Switzerland it is very unlikely that your Geraniums will survive the winter enjoy the new buds and flowers whilst you can.
I took another look at the hydranga and think you are right. Just one dead stalk to remove.
I did a google on the geraniums and it seems there are a couple of ways to try to keep them alive over winter. I don't have the space to do the hanging dormant trick. but will see if I can coax them along inside.
Am I right in thinking I just leavee the fuschia until early sping to prune it? SHould I have it covered, or will it be okay on the balcony over winter ( Basel doesn't seem to have as low temps as much of Switzerland.)
This really does depend on whether your Fuschia are the Hardy type! I would wait until early spring (when the daffs are just appears after the snow has cleared) and once the leaves die back and the stalks turn twiggy then prune it right back and cover the base with soil. If yours is the hardy type then it will come back late spring! If not it wasn't the hardy type!
Well almost ready for winter here. Delicate plants brought indoors and pruned back, others fleeced up, all perennials trimmed down, more bulbs planted (including in the neighbour's garden - they were out today so planted lots of crocuses in her border, as she always admires mine and keeps saying how much she'd like some- a surprise for the Spring) most leaves gathered and shredded into compost bins- and several trees planted today. I do like living with the seasons - in the UK gardening went on almost all year - but here in the mountains - all will soon be covered with lots of snow and we'll all have a good rest. Ready for a hot bath and a well earned sleep.
This will be our first winter with a garden in Switzerland so we still have a huge amount of adjusting to do. When do we prune our fruit trees? In SA we did it towards the end of winter, but by then we may have too much snow to get near the trees, up here in the mountains. We planted some new roses and clematis and then mulched them with straw, cuttings and compost, hopefully they will be ok till spring. We left the dahlia tubers in the soil but covered them with mulch, fingers crossed that they will survive.
Although bush/shrub roses are normally pruned in the spring, if you have any with very long branches, it's worth pruning these long branches now as the weight of snow on them and/or the winter winds i can cause them to snap, with the possibility of the wound getting diseased.
Don't bother clearing leaves off your lawn. Just run over them with the lawnmower ideally with a mulcher attachment (or without the grass collector installed) The leaves will be cut into small pieces and will fertilise the lawn. I was amazed at the vigourous growth in Spring once I started doing this.
I forgot to pull out my dahlia last year, but it seems to be close enough to the warmth of the building that it survived the winter. Grew to over 2 m this year and is still blooming.
I pruned my Rose of Sharon in March this year - best blooms ever. Saturday's forecast looks good, so I will prune both of them this Saturday, to make sure they don't have any problems with the heavy wet snow we get about 4 times each winter.
Looks like I need to do more raking and probably mow at least once more. Last fall I mixed in a bunch of peat into the clay soil where I planted bulbs. This year I'm skipping the bulb planting, and letting them naturalize, since most of the bulbs I planted should multiply.
Time to get out the measuring stick and start making plans for next year's new cutting garden.
