My Tips To Overwinter Your Container Garden

A Frosty Morning 18 Floors up on my Cloud Garden

If you’re anything like me, you have probably spent the past few months procrastinating. The once light garden chores have built up to a level that have resulted in finding any and every excuse to not venture out into the garden. This morning, I went out to feed the fish on my fish pond and I realised it had frozen over. It was at this point that I looked down my garden and thought.. ok guurl.. it’s time to get a grip!

I thought I would share some of my tips on how I manage my garden in Winter.

You can watch some of them below and also enjoy a full “Winter Balcony Garden Tour” or carry on reading for my Winter Balcony Garden tips.

Winter Pruning

So here’s the deal.. You may think that now’s the time to hack away at your browning container garden. However, it’s actually better to wait until Spring before touching your containers. In fact, the only plants in my garden that get a prune in Winter are my roses & my grapevine.

The single rose is a “Hiawatha” & the double is a “Chevy Chase” both from Peter Beale’s Roses

The neglect on my garden has been real this year as I have found myself travelling so much. My roses suffered terribly. They were part of my show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and were the plants that caught Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s eye.

A far cry from what they once were…

I pruned back any week or thin looking stems, got rid of dead leaves & deadheaded any old flower heads that I had convinced myself were a cute aesthetic. When really they were just me being lazy.

The Queen visiting my garden at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022

Deadheading

This is the perfect time to work your way through your garden and deadhead any spent flower heads. Save yourself some coins by collecting up the seeds in an envelope or air tight bag/container ready to use next year.

Inspect For Pests & Diseases

Considering I started my tip guide by saying that little pruning is required. Here I am on tip three telling you to essentially prune for the third time. However, if like me your container garden is constantly attacked by pests like aphids or whitefly, now is a great time to get savage and hack away at some of your infected perennials. Check underneath the discoloured leaves on your infected plants and you’ll no doubt find stowaways overwintering. I chopped down some delphiniums, nepeta & salvias that were infested down to the base.

Then discard the infected leaf litter to the bin. If you use that as mulch or compost, the mini beasts will reinfect your garden. So it’s best to get rid kf them to give your plants the best chance next Spring

Relocate Containers To The Right Area

Knowing your garden is super important. Huddle your containers on the least windy section of your balcony/terrace/patio to protect them from storms. Figure out which area of your garden gets the most sun and reorganise your containers accordingly. For instance a dormant plant in the sunniest spot makes no sense. If you have hardier plants that do well over Winter, put them in that spot.

Winter Watering

As your plants go dormant they’ll require less water. However, you should still keep the soil in your containers a little moist. Although there may not be any growth on the surface of your plants they could well be putting some work in under the soil by growing a stronger root system.

Fertilising

No need to vaguely recall when you last fertilised your plants because through Winter the plants don’t need any help. In fact you can just leave them be until Spring.

Be Careful Relocating Containers

Take great care when you're moving containers in your garden. You may find that you have some critters hibernating in or under your containers.

Leave Shelter For Wildlife

Our garden fatigue can be turned into a Winter gift to some urban wildlife. It’s tempting to sweep and totally clear your garden of leaf litter and debris. However, a pile of leaves or some rotting logs could be the perfect spot for some creatures to shelter through Winter. If you need to clear a path, do so but sweep the leaf litter into a pile at the sides/ends of the garden where they won't be disturbed.

One less job to do and you could be helping some frogs, moths etc rest up until Spring.

Select The Right Containers For Colder Weather

Terracotta pots look really pretty. However, cold snaps can lead to them cracking. Switch to a fibre glass or plastic container to avoid accidents.

Fish Ponds

Has your container pond frozen over? Check out the video below where I show you how to rescue your aqua babies.

@cloudgardenerukthanks for all the advice! 🥰 #balconygarden #gardentok #planttok tok

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Hopefully, this little guide will help you get through Winter. Although it sounds like a lot, when you put it into practice it is actually not much at all. With the additional free time, I would advise you to use this time to think about your wins and fails of this year.. My next garden video will be discussing my own fails so I’d love to know yours and what you plan to do to correct them next year.