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backyard Bring on winter! Matt Leacy outlines some simple steps you can take to help your garden pull through the colder months. Before you batten down the hatches and retreat to the comfort of the indoors, think about what you can do early in winter to ensure your garden is ready to thrive when spring arrives. Like us, gardens benefit from being kept warm and healthy, so here are a few simple steps you can take to safeguard yours against the onset of the chilly weather. 1. Trim hedges and shrubs This is a great thing to do leading into winter, as it means you can put down your hedge trimmers for a few months afterwards. Consider where the sunlight will strike in your garden when the sun is closer to the northern horizon in winter – for instance, the lawn or underplantings – and then trim the necessary branches to allow more sunlight to get through. 2. Feed the soil Add organic compost and slow-release fertiliser to the soil. Where possible, cultivate these deep into the soil to provide the deeper roots with more nutrients and increase the soil's water-holding capacity. 3. Weed and mulch This step is the most important, so if you don't have time to implement the first two steps, make this one your priority. Remove all weeds from the garden beds; if they are flowering or going to seed, put them in the vegetation recycling bin so they don't spread further. After weeding, cover the garden beds with a thick layer of mulch – the thicker the better, although a 100-millimetre layer will do the trick. The mulch will keep the weeds at bay, insulate the soil and minimise water loss. If we experience a winter as dry as last year's, the mulch will be the garden's saviour. Once these jobs are complete, your garden will have the nutrition it needs as well as its 'winter woollies' (sufficient sunlight and mulch) to keep it cosy over the coldest months. You can then relax a little and enjoy having less work to do in the garden. Or, if you're a keen gardener like me, get back out there and work on your vegie patch, planting broad beans, garlic, lettuce, cabbage, onions and shallots. That way you can maintain your own nutrition as well as the garden's. Garden guru Matt Leacy loves all things outdoors and is passionate about inspiring others to create and enjoy beautiful and functional spaces outside. Visit: www.landart.com.au 41