Home and Garden Winter Prep Tips

Winter is Coming

Kennards Home and Garden Winter Prep Tips

Although we’d like to think summer will last forever, autumn is here which means we’ve got to start prepping the house and garden for the incoming colder weather. The team at Kennards Hire have put together a quick guide that will help you protect your home throughout the unpredictable storm season.

Pruning

Autumn is the time to strip back the garden and marks the ideal time to prune trees, plants and flowers to ensure your garden remains healthy right through to spring.

• Remove dead, diseased, and disorderly branches. Any branch that crosses over another at an odd angle, rubs against another branch, grows inward toward the centre or is a duplication of another branch immediately below or above it can be removed.

• Cuts should be made just outside the branch collar as it contains trunk or parent branch tissue that should not be damaged or removed.

• Consult your local nursery or gardening experts if you’re unsure of when exactly you should prune. Pruning at the wrong time won’t necessarily harm the long term health of the plant but it may result in less flowers and fruit.

The Lawn and Garden

• Continue mowing the lawn and watering the new grass until it begins to get rally cold. Your lawn should be as short as possible by the time winter rolls around.

• Rake the lawn regularly, especially during autumn. Forgetting to do this can lead to leaves matting and smothering the grass. Make sure you also keep them off the garden bed.

• Spread one to six inches of compost over your garden soil to help enrich the soil and get them through winter. Apply the compost as late in the season as possible and aim for a balance of brown and green materials.

The House

• Keep the gutters clean! If you don’t own a ladder, hire one and thoroughly clean out the gutters to allow winter rain to drain. This also means the down pipes. Kennards Hire carries a huge range of ladders and mobile scaffolding to meet all your height requirements.

• While you’re on the ladder (or scaffolding), look for leaks and misaligned pipes. Ignoring these can cause some serious long term damage and lead to flooding or water damage.

• Check for broken, loose or missing tiles on the roof. Consult a professional if there if there is extensive damage or need for repairs.

Insulating

Insulation your home is something best left to professionals. However there are some small things that you can by yourself to help keep the house warmer, as well as save you money on gas and electricity.

• Use a door sock or rolled up towel to cover the gap between the bottom of doors and the floor. A huge amount of hot air escapes from this gap, as well as allowing cold air to be blown inside.

• Regularly check your insulation panels to make sure they are lying flat and in place, especially after storms.

• Windows that are not shut tightly let out volumes of hot air and let cold air in. Make sure they are shut tight, properly sealed and that the blinds are drawn.

Kennards Hire has a range of equipment available for hire to get your home prepared for the cooler months. For more information on their equipment or to find your nearest Kennards Hire branch visitwww.kennardshire.co.nz

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