Furniture covers
The job worth doing properly. A breathable cover with tie-downs beats a cheap plastic sheet every time.
See covers on Amazon
Seasonal - closing up for winter
Closing the Garden Up for Winter
One dry afternoon in autumn saves you a whole spring of scrubbing, drying out and replacing. Here is the order we would do it in, and the kit that actually earns its place.
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Almost nothing in a British garden is killed by the cold. Things are killed by water sitting on them, freezing, and then doing it again the next night. Every job on this page is really the same job: keep the water off it, or get it under a lid.
Do it while everything is still dry. Covering damp furniture or a warm barbecue traps the moisture underneath and causes exactly the damage you were trying to prevent.
The three things that matter
Covers, covers and a box
If you buy only three things before the first frost, buy these. Everything else on this page is a ten-minute job that costs nothing.
Step one
Furniture covers - what actually matters
Most furniture that dies over winter was covered. It was covered badly, with a sealed sheet that held the damp in and flapped itself to pieces in the first gale.
- Breathable, not airtight. A cover with vents lets moisture out. A sealed tarpaulin turns your patio set into a greenhouse for mould.
- Tie-downs or an elasticated hem. If it cannot be pulled tight under the frame it will be in next door's garden by February.
- Measure before you buy. Too tight and it splits at the corners; too baggy and it collects a pond on the top.
- Cover it dry. Give everything a warm, breezy day first.
- Cushions never stay out, cover or no cover. They go in a box or indoors.
Step two
Barbecues, pizza ovens and fire pits
A barbecue left open to the weather usually comes back in April with a rusted burner and a seized ignition. Twenty minutes now saves buying a new one.
- Burn it off hot for fifteen minutes, then scrape the grates while they are warm.
- Empty the ash pan and the grease tray. Wet ash is what eats through the bottom of a charcoal barbecue.
- Let it go completely cold before the cover goes on.
- Disconnect the gas bottle and store it upright and outside, never indoors or in a sealed cupboard.
- Keep charcoal and pellets somewhere genuinely dry - damp fuel never lights properly again.
- Fire pits and pizza ovens want the same treatment: empty, dry, covered, and ideally lifted off the paving.
Step three
Storage boxes - pick one for the weather
Garden storage fails in three ways: it lets water in, it blows over, or the lid warps and stops shutting. All three are avoidable at the point of buying.
- Look for a hinged lid with an overhang. Flat lids that sit flush let rain track straight in.
- Choose a ventilated box for anything fabric. Sealed boxes go mouldy in the first warm week.
- Lift it off the paving on feet or a couple of battens so the base can dry.
- Anything light needs weighting or fixing down - an empty plastic deck box will travel across a patio in a gale.
- One big box beats three small ones. It is cheaper for the space you get and it looks like furniture rather than clutter.
The rest of the list
None of these cost anything, and each one is a job you would otherwise be doing in March with cold hands.
- Drain the hose and the water butt tap. Water left in either will freeze and split it.
- Lag the outside tap with an insulated cover, and turn off its indoor isolator valve if it has one.
- Lift pots off the ground onto feet or bricks so they drain. Terracotta cracks when the soil inside freezes solid.
- Bring solar lights indoors if you are not using them - a winter of no sunlight flattens the batteries for good.
- Clear the shed and summerhouse gutters, and check the roofing felt before the first storm rather than after it.
- Take the parasol inside. Folded and covered outdoors is not enough; the wind gets into the ribs.
- Decide about the hot tub - either keep it running properly all winter or drain it fully. Half measures are what crack the pipework.
An afternoon plan
- Pick a dry, breezy day. That matters more than the date on the calendar.
- Empty everything soft (cushions, throws, rugs) into the house or the box.
- Clean and dry the barbecue while the furniture is drying off.
- Drain the hose, lag the tap, lift the pots.
- Put the covers on last, once everything underneath is properly dry.
- Leave one chair and the lighting out. A garden you can still stand in with a coffee on a bright January morning is worth more than a perfectly packed one.
If the covers are going on because there is nowhere to put anything, the real problem is storage - that is the Storage Upgrade. And if you would rather stay outside longer than shut up shop, start with the Warmth Upgrade.
Where we shop
Partners worth a look for winter kit
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