Get Your Garden Ready for Winter

Can you feel the chill in the air? Old Man Winter is on his way – which means it’s time to get your garden ready for the coming cold weather. By doing these gardening chores now, you’ll give yourself a great start for the next planting season with a clean access to your garage for which if you do not have, you can get some ideas if you check this out. Here’s a rundown of what you should accomplish before winter descends.

For a more playful environment, there are many ways to incorporate whimsy into your garden. Controlling the colors, sculptures, shapes, and other display elements of your garden will generate an exciting atmosphere.  If you already have an amusing collection of attractive objects, consider moving their display space to the garden. Of course, you’ll want to ensure they are prepared to be kept outside, but using the garden as a home for a unique assortment of items leaves a positive impression on guests. Interesting, eye-catching, shapes like a DIY wooden playhouse around the garden demonstrate a childlike frivolity. With a free-for-all celebration of shape, guests are left looking for similarities as they view the premise. Whether you’re in a home with a huge yard for growing or in an apartment with only a window sill for your mini garden, there are tons of ways to start turning those tiny thumbs green.

Get outdoors and help those kids get their daily dose of vitamin D while teaching them about helping the planet. This is a great opportunity to educate your children about the environment and all the wonderful benefits that trees provide. They give us oxygen and shade, create homes for wildlife, and provide fruit.

Clean Up

Prepare perennials by cutting back dry or dead stems to the ground once frost appears. For some perennials, such as ornamental grasses or those with seed pods, you may choose to leave them until the end of winter/beginning of spring to add visual interest to your garden. They also give beneficial insects like butterflies and moths a place to lay their eggs or build their cocoons, which will then hatch in the spring.

Rake up leaves to have them collected by the city. Even better, run over leaves with your lawn mower and use them as mulch on the lawn and in garden beds. Or collect and compost them with other clippings, spent plants and kitchen scraps. You’ll be thrilled to then have nutrient-rich material to add to your soil in the spring.

Care for the Lawn

Your lawn needs a little love now before winter arrives. Keep mowing the lawn and reseed any spots that are thin. Add a half-inch of compost on top to build up the root system and aerate any patches that have become compacted. Fertilize well and keep it watered if it gets too dry.

Feed and Mulch Garden Beds

Your plants are only as healthy as the soil they grow in, and now is the perfect time to help beef it up for the next growing season. Add high-quality compost to your garden beds and top with a one- to two-inch layer of mulch. Adding compost and mulch now gives them time to break down, so in the springtime your soil will be fertile. Adding mulching materials also helps to make sure winter rains don’t wash any loose soil away. If you need bulk mulch contact a supplier near you.

Attend to Tools and Irrigation Systems

If you live in an area that experiences freezing weather, be sure to turn off your irrigation system and drain the lines before that first cold snap. Drain your garden hoses and store them in the garage, basement or shed for the winter. Drain or add fuel stabilizer to your lawn mower and any other gas-powered equipment.

Clean up all your tools like shovels and shears. Remove any caked-on dirt and coat metal parts to keep them from rusting. Tools with wooden handles can be treated with linseed oil to keep them from drying out. Store all your tools in a dry place over the winter.

If you’re going to build a deck, then you can also get a cradle like the Ecocradle rubber decking cradle which offers excellent acoustic insulation which can be very useful for such decking.

Bring Potted Plants Indoors

If you like to give your houseplants a breath of fresh air over the summer, you should now bring them inside before it gets too cold. Flush the pots with water to remove any insects you don’t want hitching a ride inside. Remove dead or dying leaves, trim up the branches and add a fresh layer of mulch on top of the soil. When finding a place for them inside, be sure it mimics the type of light they became accustomed to outside, or slowly introduce them to their new home.

Compliments of Virtual Results