Help me explain this sentence.

Imagine you're hungry. It's a big holiday and the meal wont be served for another two hours. You can smell the food, you want to eat something but you don't want to ruin your appetite. Instead, you nibble on a little snack hoping it will "hold you over" till dinner.
The woman is anticipating her neighbours seeing the carpet of tulips in the spring, and using it soften the blow of the coming colder weather.

Yes. Flowers in the garden will not be seen again until spring, so the garden/yard gets a tidy which at least makes it look respectable, over the worst of the winter, until the new growth starts.