Winter soil care: our five top tips

To grow plants and crops successfully, you need good soil. Winter is the perfect time to care for your soil, which will help to improve productivity and increase resilience to weather extremes, from drought to downpours. Winter soil care benefits wildlife and the wider environment, too, as a healthy soil teems with life, which enhances the biodiversity of our gardens. A healthy soil also holds on to more water, therefore preventing flooding, and stores more carbon, helping in the fight against climate change.

The main thing to consider when caring for your soil is to mimic the natural environment. Bare soil is rare in nature, so it's important not to let soil stand bare, particularly in winter, as this is typically when rain is heaviest. Heavy rains can literally wash soil away, damage soil structure and result in the leaching of nutrients, which all reduce the chances of growing success the following season.

Here’s our top five tips on how to look after your soil in winter.

Avoid weeding

It may seem counter productive, but avoiding weeding in autumn is one of the best ways to protect your soil. Annual weeds like bittercress, chickweed, and speedwell naturally colonise bare soil, and their roots hold it together. On mild days, leaves and flowers can provide forage for insects and their larvae. Make sure you dig out perennial weeds like dock, couch grass and brambles, which need removing before they grow too big, then simply hoe off the annuals before they set seed, or about a week before you need to use the space. You can leave the leafy material on the soil to rot back into it, which will increase worm and microbial activity and further aid plant growth.

Mulch the soil

Mulch is a term given to a layer of material spread or laid on bare soil. This mimics the action of living plants, while also increasing soil nutrients, as well as worm and microbial activity. Mulch laid around plants and in borders acts like a duvet, protecting roots, preventing erosion and suppressing weed growth. Mulch can be organic (wood chippings, compost or manure) or inorganic (cardboard, gravel). Cardboard (with the tape removed) can be laid over soil and an organic mulch placed over it – this is popular in No-Dig methods of growing vegetables. Organic mulches are far better for overall soil health than inorganic mulches. When using nutrient-rich mulches like manure, keep them clear of plant stems and the crowns of herbaceous perennials, as they can cause the stems to soften, making them more susceptible to disease.

Grow green manures

Also known as ‘cover crops’, these are plants specifically grown from seed to protect the soil, improve its structure and add nutrients. Green manures are suitable for vegetable beds, allotments, and new or empty borders – they mimic the natural effects of annual weeds and do the same job of protecting the soil, although some species have particularly deep roots, which when dug up, bring nutrients to the soil surface. Scatter seed generously in late summer and autumn, choosing a green manure plant that suits your soil type. Towards spring, depending on plant size, cut, hoe or rake off growth and either leave in situ to rot down, or add to your compost heap.

Leave your leaves

In nature, leaves and debris fall from trees and shrubs onto the soil to gradually break down and release nutrients back into the ground for plants to use, but by tidying our gardens, we break this cycle. Let leaves lie and rot down where soil is bare, but rake them off lawns where they can smother growth, or paths where they can cause a slip hazard. Either transfer to ground under shrubs or hedges, which makes snug winter shelter for invertebrates, or add to a mesh container to break down into leaf mould.

Warm it up

As spring approaches, warm the soil ready for the first seed sowings of the year. Raised covers like cloches are great for early crops as they stay in place to protect seedlings, too. For the best results, put cloches or covers on at least two weeks before sowing.