Winter is a blessing for the garden provided you protect it well. Here the good sides of the cold season.
Table of Contents
Floor
The winter allows your clay soil to be able to grind large clods: this soil will be more friable in spring. It is the cold that will decompose, clean, arrange your land during winter.
Conversely, if you have a more friable soil right now with a lot of organic matter, like here with straw, just lift the soil at the fork. Winter will do the rest. The cold will go inside. The soil can be sown and worked in the spring.
The vegetable garden
Attention: the cold may be destructive if you have some vegetables left in the garden.
Under -5 ° C, broad-leaved chicory can freeze. Put on a wintering veil to protect them a few days … and why not, have chicory until Christmas.
On the other hand cabbages are not afraid of the cold.
If winter salads can spend the winter in the cold, they can still be protected with a rigid plastic to advance production in the spring.
Strawberries can also withstand very cold temperatures but you can still put a little straw to protect them from the cold.
The greenhouse
The days of sunshine: open the greenhouse to avoid condensation and do not rot the plants (about 1 hour, between 11 am and 1 pm) then close again to store the heat.
Faucets and basins
Remove the pump from the basin before winter (put it in a frost-free place).
Faucets in the garden: think about draining them. Always open the faucets so that no water remains inside.
The birds
Feed the birds (sunflower seeds and fat balls) and bring them water in a sunny place. When birds freeze, they risk dying of thirst.