Protecting your plants over winter
General tips
During the winter period, many plants are exposed to frost and cold, not to mention excessively wet soil. Because of this, leaves may end up ‘frost bitten’ and roots can begin to rot. So it’s highly important to protect your plants if you want a good display next year and I would suggest you act quickly. Winter is fast approaching!
How much winter plant protection you need depends on your location and how exposed your garden is. For city-livers with pretty sheltered gardens, the chances of you needing winter protection are small. However, someone who lives in the countryside and in the middle of nowhere, may require some serious winter protection.
For general protection of your garden and plants, you should just apply some bark compost or mulch around herbaceous perennials. You should use grit around the actual plants. The Mulch will keep them warm, whereas the grit will stop the water from rotting the plants stems. The mulch will also help adding organic nutrients to the soil 9it does this by breaking down over time) and also improving drainage.
While preparing your plants, you might want to take some cuttings as you go. This will be your insurance policy, and will act as your back-up if your plants don’t survive.
You will get some type of plants (echeverias) that will not withstand any frost at all. And so should be transferred to grit to stop the roots rotting. You should take cuttings by removing leaves from the bottom of the rosettes and put them into compost, waiting for roots to form. Place your succulents in a mini greenhouse so that they are sheltered.
Try using straw along with chicken wire to insulate the trunk of tree ferns. You should wrap the chicken wire around the trunk of the tree; however, you should remember to leave enough space to add a thick layer of straw. The straw, will allow lots of ventilation through to keep the trunk warm.
Bubble wrap or other types of plastic materials; allow moisture to build up around the trunk, leaving the plant prone to rotting.
Tropical plants, such as bananas will need extra protection. Remove any leaves and the side shoots, leaving just them stem. Space tall wooden stakes into the ground and around the plant. Place the stakes far enough from the trunk so that a layer of straw can be added, going all the way around the trunk. Wrap a willow screen around the outside of the stakes and tie the material on to the stakes with a string. You should do this for the whole height of the trunk.
You can protect individual alpine plants with pieces of glass or plastic over the top. The plastic or glass is easily supported with wire legs, or it could even be raised up onto bricks. It is important that it is windproof.
In order to protect a whole bed, build a wooden frame with a sheet of plastic or glass placed on top. Lots of ventilation can be achieved by leaving the sides uncovered.
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