Winter Container Garden Care + Gardening Books Recommendations

It’s worth devoting a bit of attention to our potted gardens in the winter, so that in the spring our plants wake up from dormancy healthy and ready for the new season! Follow along for this quick and easy container garden maintanance day! And for long winter evenings, I have prepared for you a list of interesting gardening books to read. Watch and enjoy!

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🌿 Other Videos You Might Enjoy Watching 🌿:

▶️ Beautiful Frost Hardy Plants For Your Winter Container Garden

▶️ Check Out My Winter Maintenence Playlist
https://shorturl.at/uvKW8

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👉Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/17m2garden/

👉YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/17m2garden

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🌿 SHOP MY FAVORITE GARDENING ITEMS 🌿

https://www.amazon.fr/shop/17m2garden

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🌿Plant Care Products I use 🌿

Plagron “Lightmix” https://amzn.to/3PU277u

Plagron ‘”Alga Grow” https://amzn.to/46Qm8CG

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Plagron “Mega Worm” https://amzn.to/3S4ahwZ

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#containergardening #wintergarden #balconygarden

Hi friends how are you doing? Welcome to this  third week of vlogmas, our little series of   winter and holiday themed gardening videos. Today  we are going to do some container garden winter   maintenance, cus even though the garden doesn’t  look very inviting and it’s very cold outside,  

It’s still a good idea to go out there, to check  on the plants, to do a few gardening tasks,   so that come spring our garden wakes up from  its dormancy and our plants are healthy,  

Happy and ready to thrive. But since there is not  a ton of things to do in the garden right now,   we usually have a little bit more free time  around this time of year, I like to use this  

Opportunity to read a few gardening books, to  learn something new, to find some new ideas   for my container garden. So by the end of this  video I also want to share with you a couple of   my all-time favorite gardening books in case if  you’re on the lookout for something interesting  

To read this winter. But without over a do, let’s  jump out on the terrace and let’s start with some   garden maintenance. Okay so let’s start with  the task number one. Obviously one of the most   important things to do in your winter garden is to  protect your more tender plants from winter frost,  

But what’s equally important is to never leave  that frost protection on for more than two weeks   at a time. Cause if you leave it longer than this,  what happens is you’re raising the temperature   inside, you are raising the humidity, so you are  sort of creating microclimate and this not only  

Can cause your plants to rot, but also triggers  your plants to start sprouting prematurely and   then unfortunately that new fresh growth will be  very vulnerable to late spring frosts. So what   you want to do, is check the forecast if there  are any warmer days use them as an opportunity  

To either take off that frost protection  or at least open it and allow some fresh   air to circulate around your plants, so if you  need to keep the protection on for the entire   winter it’s really important to refresh your  plant every now and then on those warmer days.

Okay task number two, you want to keep an eye  on all of your potted evergreens and conifers.   Because these plants don’t lose their foliage  in winter they still transpire so they still   lose moisture through their leaves but then if  the soil is dry they can’t substitute for that  

Moisture loss, so they start to dry out and die. And problem with conifers is that they   don’t wilt so they will not let you know  when they are thirsty so that’s why it’s   really important to keep an eye on them to check if the soil is dry and if it is,  

You want to give them a splash of water. You don’t want to leave your conifers dry during   winter because then by Spring they will probably turn all brown and if they do that’s usually too   late if a conifer turns brown there’s no coming back it’s not going to regenerate. So it’s  

Really important to keep your conifers watered throughout the winter, they don’t need a lot of   water just a splash of water to moisten the soil if it’s dry every week or every couple of weeks. task number three, not only your evergreens and  your conifers need a bit of moisture during winter  

But also some of your deciduous plants for example Japanese maples or Hydrangeas they also don’t like   to be completely dry during winter. But if you  live in a climate where soil freezes for longer   periods of time that means you can’t water your  plants and your plants can’t absorb any moisture.  

So it’s really important to prevent the soil  from freezing and you can do it by wrapping   the pot in bubble wrap, so if you haven’t  done this yet now’s a good time to do it! task number four if you live in a climate  where it’s really rainy during winter or  

Perhaps you had a lot of snowfall that then  melted it’s really important to pay attention   to all the saucers and pour out any water that  has accumulated in them. generally it’s a better   idea not to use saucers during winter but if  you have to, then pay attention and always  

Pour out any water that has accumulated  in them you don’t want your plants to be   standing in water cus this is the easiest way  for them to become water logged and to rot And the last task on the checklist is to pick  up all of those fallen leaves and dead plant  

Material, this is especially important if  you dealt with any pest or diseases during   the season because that’s where they over winter.  Cold winters don’t necessarily kill pests cus most   pests have some cold tolerant forms like eggs, nymphs or pupa or they just simply overwinter  

As hibernated adults. So it’s really important to pick up all of those sleaves to not spread   that disease or that pest further in your garden  next year but even if you haven’t had any problem   with pest or diseases it’s still a good idea to  pick up all of the fallen leaves and reuse them  

To make leaf mold. Basically what you need  to do is collect all the leaves in a black   plastic bag shred them add a bit of water on  top of them if they are dry and then you want  

To close the bag poke a few holes in it it and  every couple of weeks open it give it a stir,   add a bit of water, close it again and  then next year by this time you should   have a beautiful leaf mold to use as a source of organic matter for your container plants.

Okay and that’s it I recommend checking on your plants every week or every couple of weeks, follow   that checklist these are really simple really quick to do tasks but they’re really essential   for your plants health. So now let’s jump back inside and let’s chat a little bit about some  

Books okay you guys let’s chat a little bit about some books if you read any books any garden plant   related books that you found interesting and that  you would like to recommend please do so in the   comments section that would be really really cool to also know your guys’s recommendations. Today  

I want to share with you three books that are my all-time favorite books these are the kind of   books I always go back to and I’m never bored with them so the first book is called Down to Earth by  

Monty Don, I think everyone knows Monty he doesn’t  need introduction what I love about Monty is just   how easy he is to watch, how easy he is to listen, I wish I could say the same about myself, uh but   you get the same sensation from reading this book, you’re like literally following him  

In his garden as he speaks about different seasons different gardening task different   gardening tips this book is divided into really practical sections like the year is   divided into months and for each month he shares  some inspiration, some ideas what you can do, some  

Gardening tasks and tips you get also a lot of  inspiration for different gardening styles we   have some inspiration for container gardens for  cottage gardens for tropical gardens herb gardens   so this book is filled with a lot of practical informations so if you’re searching for some uh  

Book that will provide like an overall gardening knowledge but that’s written in a really relaxing   and really easy to read form this is a great pick. So definitely recommend this book to any   gardener. Now moving on the second book is by Guy  Barter ‘How Do Worms Work” now this is a really fun  

Book so it is a gardener collection of curious  questions and astonishing answers so basically   this book is filled with a lot of interesting  questions about nature, plants, gardening and I   think that literally anyone like from children to  even expert gardeners will find this book really  

Intriguing and really useful. For example we have  questions like why do flowers smell or why some   flowers close at night, why do leaves change color  in Autumn and stuff like that so a really fun   book filled with questions and answers all about  plants gardening and nature so if you want to  

Improve your overall uh knowledge about plants  gardening or nature I definitely encourage   you to dive into this book. And the last book on my list is by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, The Kew Gardener’s guide to growing bulbs. The reason why I love this book so much not just because  

It’s so aesthetically pleasing but if you follow me long enough you know how obsessed with spring   bulbs I am, but that’s just because I find them to be a really easy and inexpensive way to add   a lot of color to your garden, so if you  are into bulbs as well this book is a must have 

But what is so special about this book is it’s filled with 66 ideas for different bulbs   for four different seasons so not only spring or summer flowering bulbs but also you get ideas on   what you can plant in your garden to have flowers  in Autumn and in Winter besides that there’s a  

Lot of ideas on what you can do with those bulbs,  lot of different projects some fun facts about   bulbs so definitely recommend this one and if  you’re not into bulbs there are also different   books in this series, I know for sure that there is a guide to growing roses, house plants  

Herbs and plenty more so maybe you are not into bulbs but I highly encourage you to check out this   Kew Gardener’s series of books because there are  some really fun other books worth reading in   this series as well. Okay you guys so that’s it, here are some of my recommendations, would love  

To hear some of your recommendations as well! If you enjoyed this video I would appreciate if   you could give it thumbs up thank you so much and  we’ll see each other in the next video, bye!