Winter always seems to be a bleak time for my garden. My plants die, go dormant, and lose all their natural beauty that I worked so hard to cultivate during the previous not so freezing months. Every year, it feels like it would be so easy for me to just throw in the towel and worry about cleaning up the yard when spring finally comes around again. I mean, who likes doing yard work in December? The issue with this attitude is there is a lot that can be done to help my winter garden care be better and be more prepared for when I work to put it all back together when things warm up.
The first thing I typically do is cut back all my ornamental grasses. This is good to do since it exposes the crown to sunlight and helps the grass survive the winter. The more sunlight hitting my plants, the better (obviously). It also helps eliminate a potential habitat for pests and it reduces the spread of seeds which is helpful for maintaining the health of my garden. I also do a lot of general pruning every year when it gets cold and everything goes dormant. It’s a lot easier to trim plants when their leaves have dropped off and it allows me to be more precise with my cuts. This sets up a better foundation for next year and when new growth starts, it grows back cleaner than it would otherwise. The pruning also has the added benefit of helping prevent disease setting in and it allows plants to weather storms better. There’s less places for disease to enter the plant and less branches to blow in the wind and be damaged.
For my next step in winter garden care, I also like to put down a fresh layer of mulch over my flower beds before the ground really starts to freeze. The mulch helps insulate the soil and retain a higher temperature as the cold sets in. This helps prevent frost damage to my plants by keeping the soil 2-3 degrees higher than it would otherwise. A few degrees doesn’t sound like much, but it makes a big difference. It prevents the rapid freezing and thawing cycles that are detrimental to the roots of the dormant plants I have around my house. Just because they’ve gone dormant doesn’t mean they are totally immune to harsh cold that comes in January and February. Speaking of freezing and thawing, I also make sure I winterize the irrigation systems I have around my property. If they are left out all season, they usually end up broken and full of leaks by the time I go to turn them on again in the spring. The constant icing and de-icing tend to break the lines. Luckily, it is simple to get them ready for the winter though. I just disconnect them from the house, make sure there isn’t any water left in the lines, and I disconnect the timers and bring them inside.
Winter also tends to be the time of year that I will undertake some of my bigger projects. I have a huge area of brush behind my house that I have been fighting with for years. It looks terrible and if I don’t work on it, it starts to creep into what little yard I have left. I wait for winter to start trimming it back because it is much easier to do so when the leaves have fallen, and it thins out. I don’t like being outside in December as much as the next guy, but this is the only time projects like this are even feasible. It also helps that there isn’t much else to work on outside to keep myself occupied. Winter garden care isn’t just about existing plants and shrubs, but about taking an overall look at the space, and planning out revisions – some of which make more sense to do while things aren’t in season.
I’ll end with this. I haven’t always gone out in the cold to take care of these things I’ve listed here. I would wait for the warm weather like a lot of us tend to but since starting this winter garden care regiment of work for my garden and yard, I would not go back. It is a pain, and my hands get cold, but it has absolutely been worth the time and effort when I go to piece my yard back together come springtime. If you have questions about winter garden care, or for more information, stop into one of our stores or give us a call! Happy gardening everyone!
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