Closing out your garden ahead of winter doesn’t take much time, but doing so sets your plants and soil up for a successful spring. This usually entails cleaning up organic debris, planting perennial bulbs (which require cold weather to do their thing), and adding a top layer of mulch. But there’s an often-forgotten step many homeowners miss, and letting it slip your mind can potentially lead to trouble.
The task every gardener should complete before winter
Tending to your garden hose is a crucial step when closing out your garden in the fall ahead of winter’s freezing temperatures. This is important for a couple key reasons.
First, harsh weather can seriously degrade garden hoses that are left outdoors over the winter. 'The freeze [and] thaw cycle takes a serious toll on the hose exterior, especially if it’s made of vinyl, which is prone to cracking,' explains Dan DiClerico, the home improvement & outdoor director at the Good Housekeeping Institute. He adds that even a high-quality rubber or latex hose won’t do well after months of extreme weather.
The second concern is that hose spigot, which is the external spout your garden hose attaches to. This must also be winterised.
'If you don’t do that, leftover water in the line could freeze, leading to the likelihood of a burst pipe,' DiClerico explains. That’s no laughing matter, either. He says that a single burst pipe in the home can lead to thousands of dollars in water damage.
Fortunately, winterizing the hose spigot is very easy. Simply find the water shut-off valve inside your home that supplies the water and then close it off. Then open the spigot to make sure there’s no water left in the line.
Tending to this simple task takes no more than 10 minutes, protects your home, the hose itself, and brings you peace of mind. Sounds like wins all around.
