Prepare your garden for winter with Decorative Aggregates

As the colder months approach and temperatures begin to drop, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your garden for winter. After putting so much effort into keeping your garden in tiptop condition throughout the summer months, it’s important to ensure your outdoor space remains safe and looking its best during winter.

While de-icing rock salt is essential for when the winter weather turns colder and icier, for all serious garden lovers, there are a number of tasks to consider which help maintain and improve a garden's appearance and accessibility throughout the winter. In this guide, we provide our top tips for preparing your garden for winter.

Winter garden maintenance: safety, ecological health, and appearance

When it comes to maintaining your garden over winter, there are three things you need to consider - keeping your garden safe for use, keeping it looking its best, and keeping it healthy. Below we take a look at how rock salt and the addition of your chosen gravels and aggregates can make this maintenance as easy as possible.

Safety: de-Icing rock salt

Every gardener worth their salt (excuse the pun) always needs to keep safety at the forefront of everything they do. When it comes to keeping pathways, driveways, and patios safe during icy, winter conditions, our de-icing rock salt is the perfect solution. Available for next-day and Saturday delivery, our specialist rock salt can help to keep your outdoor surfaces clear and slip-free even during the harshest weather.

It’s important to note that our regular de-icing rock salt can leave a slight residue. For this reason, it’s typically used for commercial spaces and larger areas. For domestic settings, where you only want to cover a small area and where appearances matter more, , we recommend our pure white rock salt. Whilst this product is slightly more expensive, it is cleaner and leaves no signs of salt after the snow and ice have melted. A firm favourite with homeowners and small businesses.

Health: our winter garden checklist

Along with keeping your outdoor space safe for use, maintaining the health of your garden is paramount. After all, a well-cared-for garden will not only survive the winter but thrive once spring arrives. With this in mind, here’s a simple winter garden checklist to help you keep your outdoor space in top shape:

1. Start by protecting vulnerable plants with fleece or mulch - slate chippings and decorative aggregates can also be excellent options for insulating soil.
   
   
2. Improve drainage by adding gravel borders and paths. Garden pebbles can also be installed as borders to help prevent waterlogging and root rot. We’ll talk more about these features in the ‘appearance’ section below.
   
   
3. Control weed growth with a fresh layer of gravel or aggregate, which blocks sunlight from reaching the soil.
   
   
4. Prune your trees, shrubs, and perennials by removing any dead or diseased branches. This will help to both keep your garden looking tidy and also encourage healthy new growth in the spring.
   
   
5. Don’t forget about winter lawn care - avoid walking on frozen grass and clear debris, like fallen dead leaves and branches, to prevent mould forming. It can also be a good ideal to aerate your lawn to improve air circulation and water absorption.

Appearance: decorative aggregates

Maintaining the attractiveness of your garden during winter is just as important as ensuring the health of your garden and the safety of any outdoor space. However, thanks to the harsh climates of a UK winter, this can be difficult. One way to achieve this involves installing new features to accentuate the best parts of your garden. Decorative gravels, aggregates, stones, pebbles and even monoliths can be a great way to create focal points.

Let’s start with gravels and aggregates. These - - natural materials are ideal for creating stable, weather-resistant surfaces that not only enhance the look of a garden but also provide practical benefits like improved drainage and reduced mud during winter. Our Cotswold Gold Gravel - ideal for creating a new pathway - for example, can add colour and a warm glow to even the the greyest winter day.

Many of our gravels and aggregates are designed for creating pathways that remain firm underfoot, even in wet conditions, and for covering areas where you want to prevent the growth of winter weeds. Explore our full range of decorative gravels and aggregates to find the perfect match for your garden.

If you are looking for a striking focal point or larger features, garden pebbles, cobbles, and even monoliths, can be fantastic additions to your garden this winter. They can be used effectively to create beautiful rockeries r or to add a decorative touch to water features that continue to operate through winter.

How we can help

For a winter-themed garden, our Scottish Cobbles, for example, with their mix of subtle greys, browns, and pinks can be used to add texture and beauty to any border or feature rockery and perfectly complement the tones of the season.

Here at Decorative Aggregates, we make it easy to prepare your garden for winter,. Whether you need de-icing rock salt to keep your pathways safe this winter, slate chippings to improve -e drainage in your garden, or decorative stone and pebbles to add colour and texture -we can help you continue to enjoy your garden until those first buds of Spring emerge..

And remember - if you need some advice, why not give one of our experienced sales advisors a call on 01629 636 500. We’re always on hand to help.