Neglected mature garden - things to do now in preparation for next year.

[WilsonStanley]

We have a mature garden which looks ok overall in summer as it is very green and private but up close it needs some attention. I am a complete novice at gardening but have some time on my hands at the moment. What can I do now in preparation for a better start in the spring. Thinking - clear all leaves, empty old pots ready for replanting, general tidy up of footballs etc! Is there anything else? The lawn is in a bit of a state as builders have been in putting up a shed so the lawn has been churned up. We have lots of overgrown shrubs and trees. Thanks.

Most of your preparation can be done indoors, leave groundwork until the spring. Use this time to let your ideas develop, look at your design and planning and read seed and bulb catalogues.

If you have overgrown stuff check out the RHS website or pruning guide so you know how and when to chop them back. Set yourself up some compost heaps. But now it's got really cold stay off your lawn if you can.

Thanks both. Am feeling impatient and want to have a go now but obviously not good timing!

Take a good look at you overgrown shrubs. Are there any weak and spindly branches or anything that looks deceseased. Prune those away first. As a very broad rule, shrubs are pruned after they flower and pruning at the wrong time of year can mean that the shrub will not flower the following year.

This should not stop you from tidying up very largr plants. Overcrowding causes disease so try to thin them out by cutting to the base a few of the middle branches and cutting a quarter or a third off branches that are whipping around. Do this for no more than a third of the branches.

It would help if you could tell us the names of some of the plants or describe when they flowered. Then you can get a bit more specific help.

Just remember that even you make a mistake, you are only sacrificing one years flowers. I take photos of my garden each month to remind me when things flower.

Thanks. We have some privet which is overgrown. I wouldn't necessarily choose this but is covers a fence so quite useful. A couple of lovely lilacs .... again overgrown. Some Forsythia.... lots of the overgrown woody stuff. An Elderflower thing I think ! I did say I was a novice!!

Lilac and forsythia need to be left until next year.

I'm going to be a voice of dissent. Once you hit the growing season, everything goes completely mad and it can be a bit overwhelming if you're not already on top of things! The more work you can get done in advance, the better. Of course, there are seasonal jobs that you must leave until the spring/summer, but the kind of jobs you are talking about - tidying, pruning things that can be pruned in winter, washing pots, and mulching soil are all jobs to do now and being on top of them by March is a great help. (I would not be able to cope in spring if I didn't have things like that done).

Check out the pruning regime for each plant you have - there are lots of general, helpful Youtube videos available now to help you out. Bear in mind that when you are clearing a plant that is seriously overgrown, slightly different rules can apply. Normally, you'd prune a Forsythia after flowering, but if you're clearing away a very overgrown specimen, you can do that in the winter. You may not see a massive amount of flowers the next year (they flower on the previous year's growth), but sometimes that's worth it to be able to clear the plant and give it a better shape.