Prepare Your Garden for the Winter
January 3, 2016 by admin
Filed under Home Garden Articles
Prepare Your Garden for the Winter
As the growing season winds down, knowing how to winterize your garden is what separates a bed that bounces back in spring from one that limps along. Spending a single weekend to prepare your garden for the winter protects your soil, your perennials, and the tools you have invested in. Here is a simple, no-fuss routine that works in almost any climate.
1. Clear out the spent growth
Pull your finished annuals and vegetables and rake up fallen leaves and other debris. Clearing away dead plant material before the cold sets in denies pests and disease a cozy place to overwinter. Healthy trimmings can go straight on the compost pile; bag anything that looked diseased so it does not spread.
2. Feed and mulch the soil
Bare soil erodes, compacts, and loses nutrients over a long winter. Spread two to three inches of mulch, straw, or shredded leaves across your beds to insulate the roots, hold moisture, and keep weeds down. Working in a layer of compost now gives it all season to break down, so your beds are ready to plant the moment the ground thaws.
3. Protect perennials and tender plants
Cut back perennials that have died down, but leave a few inches of growth to catch insulating snow. Mound extra mulch around the crowns of roses and other tender plants. Move potted plants and containers into a garage or sheltered corner, since pots freeze far faster than soil in the ground.
4. Drain and store your tools and hoses
Disconnect, drain, and coil your hoses so they do not crack, and shut off any outdoor water lines. Scrape the soil off your tools, give the metal a light coat of oil to fend off rust, and store everything indoors. A few minutes of care now means your equipment is ready to go next spring.
5. Set yourself up for spring
Late fall is the perfect time to plant spring bulbs and, in milder regions, to sow a cover crop that shelters and enriches the soil through winter. A garden that has been properly winterized asks almost nothing of you until the first warm days, and then it wakes up ahead of schedule.
Winterizing your garden is not complicated; it is mostly tidying up, insulating, and putting things away. Give it an afternoon this fall and your spring self will thank you.
Article by Pajira Aquatica