Tips for Tuesday - Keep those flowers alive this winter

Having had our first frost this week of the winter what better tips to give than how you can keep your indoor and outdoor plants alive this winter. It’ll require a bit of work to keep your flowering friends alive but with some simple expert tips to help spring will come around and just as quickly as it went.

Indoor Plants

• Reduce the watering schedule and also let the soil dry out between waterings as the plant in winter is much less active than in summer.

• For the same reasons as watering don’t fertilise or feed the plant unless they are growing vigorously.

• During the sunny days move your plants to sunny areas of the house and away from the cold and drafty parts of the house. To ease the lugging of plant pots invest in some Wooden Flower Pot Stand.

• Try to keep temperature as constant as possible and also since winter air is very dry grouping plants together and placing pots on a tray of damp gravel.

Outdoor Plants

• The most important thing for outdoor plants is to cover the soil with first a layer of compost and food followed by layers (2-3 inches) of mulch such as shredded leaves, cut grass, wood chips or newspaper. These provides valuable insulation and helps prevent the soil freezing

• Outdoor flowerpots provide no insulation from the cold so leaving them outside will most likely see the death of your plants. If your able to bring the flowers inside and treat them like your indoor plants for the winter. Alternatively if you can’t, compost, food and mulch the top and line the inside of the pot in bubble wrap to provide it with extra insulation.

• Life the pot of the ground so that any water can drain through and run away which will prevent it from freezing under the base of the pot.

• Water is important over this period as not to allow the roots to dry out, but windy and sunny days will cause havoc with schedules. Try to move your plants to a area sheltered from the wind and the amount sunlight can be controlled by wrapping aluminium foil on the outside to reflect the suns energy and prevent the pot drying out in afternoons.