Winter is fast approaching, and for many of us, the time to be out in the garden has long since passed. As we turn our attention to indoor projects, you could be forgiven for thinking that there is nothing left to do in the garden for the year. However, this isn’t the case. In fact, there is plenty to do in the garden to prepare it for the winter months and help your plants and any animal visitors thrive throughout December, January, and February.

This guide has been put together to help you tackle all the important aspects of garden care through the winter. We’ll be focusing not only on the care of what you have but also looking at some ways you can vastly improve the biodiversity of your garden during the colder months. These methods will also benefit your plants throughout other times of the year.

Whether you’re a gardening enthusiast or are just looking to help out the local wildlife, read on to find out more about how best to look after your garden this winter and brighten it up in the process.

You may be a gardening expert or simply want to spruce up your outdoor space after a wet and leafy Autumn. Whatever your situation, there are many things you can do to ensure the various areas and residents of your garden have an easier time in the colder, harsher conditions. Below are some of our top suggestions when it comes to a pre-winter makeover:

• Tidy Up the Garden – Now is the best time to remove any dead plants and leaves from your flower beds and borders. This will prevent disease from spreading and ensure that other plants have plenty of room and resources to develop and grow. It will also make your garden look neater to boot.
• Cut Back Your Branches – Cutting back your branches is a great way to prevent the disease from spreading, which can be a real risk at all times of the year, including the Winter. Cutting back perennial plants to ground level will also help to keep your garden healthier during this demanding time of year.
• Utilise Your Compost Heap – If you’re a regular reader of the guides here at DIY Megastore, you’ll know that we’re enthusiastic advocates of making and maintaining a home compost heap. This is a perfect example of where they can come in handy; applying a layer of mulch around plants helps to retain moisture while protecting the roots from freezing, which would likely end up killing your plants.
• Protect Your Plants – One of the best ways to protect your plants in the winter is to move them to a sheltered area or group them together against a wall in order to give them extra insulation. You can also elevate pots using pot feet or simply opt for bricks or a concrete block. This will prevent waterlogging, which is a problem during the winter months. Wrap the trunks of young or vulnerable trees with tree guards to protect against frost as well as damage from pests such as rodents and insects.
• Vegetation Insulation – Taking extra steps to keep your plants warm is very beneficial to your plant life. Line the inside of pots with bubble wrap or hessian fabric to insulate the roots and prevent frost damage to the sides of the container. If you have tender plants that won't survive the cold, bring them indoors or into a greenhouse. Cover delicate plants like camellias, rhododendrons, and other tender shrubs with horticultural fleece or cloths on nights when frost is forecasted.
• Tend to the Lawn – When you’re carrying out the final cut of the year on your lawn, raise the height of your mower blades. The longer your grass is, the better protected it will be against the harsh winter weather. Over the course of the winter months, try to avoid walking on frosted or waterlogged lawns, as this will help to reduce damage to them that could otherwise last throughout the year.
• Clean and Store Your Tools – All garden tools – from spades and saws to drills and lawnmowers, should be stored away for the winter in a dry garden building. Meanwhile, you should check fences, trellises, and other garden structures for damage. Repair and replace any of these if it is necessary to do so.

Despite the fact that the UK can get very cold during the winter, it generally benefits from a mild climate overall. We have none of the intense heat problems of much of Europe and the USA, and we don’t tend to get quite as chilly in the winter either. The UK is therefore the perfect haven for an abundance of plant life that is able to thrive throughout the winter while remaining relatively dormant for the rest of the year.

Some of these plants grow wild, while others can be grown in your pots, beds, and rows alongside other flowers. Each and every one of them sports the ability to withstand colder temperatures, and we’ve picked out our favourite choices when it comes to adding a little colour to a winter garden. What’s more; as winter-growing plants, our picks tend to be low maintenance and can be easily looked after.

Here are our top 5 winter plants for your garden:

1. Heather – A staple of our moorlands, Heather is a hardy shrub with an iconic appearance. They come in multiple shades, with the most common being purple, while white and pink variants are also available. They are ideal for giving your garden a burst of vibrant colour, and their hardy nature makes them lower maintenance than many alternatives.
2. Snowdrops – Snowdrops grow very quickly and efficiently in the wild, making them one of the more recognisable winter plants due to the sheer number you can spot. It’s not difficult to encourage them to grow in certain areas of your garden, and the fact that they disappear during the middle of the spring means there is space for any larger plants that start to flower during the warmer months.
3. Pansies – Low-growing perennials that sport bushy green leaves beneath the gorgeous flowers, pansies are usually grown as annual bedding plants. You can purchase specially bred pansies that breed in the winter, while other types are more adapted to the spring and summer.
4. Violas – Closely related to pansies, these flowers are smaller in size, which makes them popular in small corners of the garden where they can happily grow alongside a number of other plants. They come in multiple shades, with the most common winter varieties being shades of purple.
5. Mahonia – You don’t need to wait for the daffodils of spring to introduce a splash of yellow into your garden! The mahonia boasts a brilliant colour and is best grown in moist but well-drained soil. The main benefit of these plants is that they serve as an exceptionally useful resource to any bumblebees that are out and about during winter.  

Welcoming winter wildlife to your garden can be beneficial to you as well as the animals who call your garden home. Much of the UK’s biodiversity – including 40% of all mammals – is on the verge of extinction. Because of this, it is absolutely crucial that gardeners do whatever they can to help preserve animal populations and prevent them from shrinking further.

Below are some of our favourite ways to do your bit to help out our furry and feathered friends throughout these challenging months:

• Food and Water – Hanging bird feeders with a number of seeds, nuts, and suet balls will attract many different bird species including sparrows, finches, tits, and robins. A bird table with mealworms, fruit, and kitchen scraps offers easily accessible food for ground-feeding birds like blackbirds and thrushes. Providing a bowl of unfrozen water will also go a long way to benefit winter wildlife.
• Berry-Bearers – Multiple shrubs such as holly, cotoneaster, and pyracantha all produce berries in the winter, which is a lifeline to a number of bird species. While not suitable for human consumption, many animals thrive from the berries grown by these plants, making them important additions to a winter garden.
• For the Birds – While it’s a good idea to prune and trim your plants during the Autumn, you don’t need to cut back all of your plants. Leave some seed heads and berries on plants such as sunflowers and ivy. This is because they can provide a great food source for birds during the tough winter and are part of the natural lifecycle these plants go through to thrive.
• Shelters and Nests – Leaving leaf piles and log piles high will encourage an abundance of animals and insects including hedgehogs, dormice, voles, and a number of rarer beetle species. You can also install nesting boxes for birds, though keep in mind different species prefer different boxes. For example, when shopping for boxes you will find specific types for swifts, owls, kestrels, and other birds, with standard boxes for species like robins and thrushes.
• Hedgehog Stations – Hedgehog numbers have fallen by a staggering 75% in the last 20 years, so it’s safe to say they need all the help they can get. Hedgehogs are timid and solitary creatures that very much appreciate the feeding and nesting stations that homeowners across the UK set up for them on a yearly basis. By following this guide, you would be aiding one of the most endangered of the UK’s popular mammals.
• Avoid Chemicals and Pesticides – Minimising the use of chemicals and pesticides in your garden will prevent the unnecessary deaths of insects, which will in turn help to keep many of the animals in your garden fed. The majority of UK bird and mammal species depend on insects for food, making the welfare of all creepy-crawlies important.
• Ponds and Water Features - If you have space, a pond or small water feature can provide a habitat for frogs, toads, and insects, and potentially even attract water birds.

When it comes to preparing your garden for the winter, it is evident that a little goes a long way. Gardens are incredibly beneficial to everyone, with studies showing they greatly improve our mental health – keeping them in good shape even when we might not be using them as much during the winter ensures that they help out a wide range of other creatures too. By tending to your plants, protecting your soil, and fortifying against the harsh elements, you are not only safeguarding the health of your garden but also those that depend on it.

It is a common belief that winter is a time of total dormancy for your garden, but this is simply not true. It is a time of rejuvenation, as well as a period where your plants recuperate the energy required to burst into life once more come spring. Following our guide will ensure the various plants in your garden can rest and recharge, while the animals that need them can continue to forage without risk to themselves or your garden flora.

If you have any more questions about tending to your garden during the winter, do not hesitate to contact us via phone or email. Our excellent team will do their best to help you out however they can, with a wealth of knowledge relating to gardens and plant care. Meanwhile, don’t forget to take a look through our ranges for additions to your garden that may aid it during the winter. We have everything from fencing and trellises to a selection of garden lights, which can help to illuminate your outdoor spaces to make them more pleasant even during the shorter, colder days winter brings.

Looking for more inspiration? Take a look at our wide range of product and project guides - covering an array of subjects from garden renovations to painting and decorating, installing stunning lighting set-ups to building out a kitchen or bathroom from scratch and much, much more. Take the leap today and start your DIY journey right here. For direct help and advice, you can also contact our award-winning customer service team.