How to Use Topsoil & Prepare Your Garden for Winter

With winter fast approaching, most of the year’s work in the garden is done, and we can start looking forward to shorter and colder days, Christmas, and more time spent indoors thinking about what we’re going to do with the garden next year.

But don’t go thinking that there’s nothing left to do in the garden, there’s going to be plenty to keep you occupied if you want everything to be in top shape for when spring rolls around again.

So this month, we’re taking a look at some of the things you need to do to make sure your garden is ready for winter.

How to use topsoil in winter

During the spring and summer, when everything – from plants, fruit and vegetables to lawns and even weeds – is growing madly, all the nutrients in your garden are getting used up. So it’s really important that you replace them over winter to give yourself the best chance of having a successful growing season the following year.

Adding topsoil is one of the very best ways of doing that.

Adding nutrients to your vegetable garden and flower beds is a job that should be done once the growing season is over, so that the soil is replenished and ready for the new season when it comes around. Adding fresh topsoil and compost can bring it back to life, and is an essential move to ensure another healthy crop.

Lawns can also be refreshed through the addition of fresh topsoil. Start by using a garden fork to create fresh drainage holes right across your lawn, before spreading a thin layer of topsoil. Use a rake to make sure the topsoil is evenly spread, and then water it in – and that’s all there is to it!

Good quality screened topsoil bedding or eco-soil is always available for immediate collection or rapid delivery, so you never need to wait before getting on with this essential winter task.

Prepare your garden for winter

1 Plant your winter annuals – not everything dies back in winter. You can make sure there is some colour in your garden by planting pansies, primroses, polyanthus and viola. In fact, there are lots of beautiful bedding plants to choose from that will keep your winter borders and beds looking fabulous.

2 Winter veg – lots of vegetables flourish during the winter months, and your Christmas dinner will be even more special if it includes home-grown potatoes, sprouts or broccoli. Other veg to plant and pick over autumn and winter are cabbages, squashes, kale, parsnips and leeks – plenty to fill your beds with once the autumn harvest has been completed!

3 Prepare for spring – apart from replenishing your garden’s nutrients by adding fresh topsoil and digging in compost, this is also a good time to get any new bulbs in for next year.

4 Protect unused beds against the cold – if you’ve got beds that aren’t being used for winter veg, and want to keep them in prime condition for next year, covering them with sheets of plastic will both protect the soil and stop any rogue weeds popping up.

5 Get on top of the weeding – now that everything has stopped growing, you can make sure that every last weed is properly dug out so that you’ll be starting with as clean a slate as possible come the spring.

When it comes to getting on top of your gardening chores this winter, Essex Mix has several grades of topsoil to help you get your lawn and beds ready for next year. Get in touch to find out more or to place your order.