Winter is the season of slowness, fog, and snow which ends the life of beautiful flowers, annual vegetables, and perennials. After reaping full summer benefits, now is the time to prepare your garden for the incoming winter seasons and for the next spring season. So, here are some valuable tips and ways to protect trees, shrubs, and garden soil for better growth. Let’s get started.
- Remove Diseased Plants
Diseased plants are the homes for various diseases, funguses, and pests, so they eventually need to be removed. Remove the affected parts of the trees and leaves and prune dead wood. Some of the removed plants can be used to add nutrients to the soil, while a few reduce erosion if you place them on the soil throughout the winters.
- Pull Out Weeds and Cover Up the Garden
Spring is the time of blooming, harvesting and cooking, which does not give you enough time to clean up the garden beds. However, a slower season before the start of the winter allows you to clean your garden beds and remove weeds. Gather all the clutter, rotten fruits and vegetables, ad pull out the weeds which out grew in the growing season.
You can use the garden waste to prepare a compost or dispose it off to the waste removal companies which offer Weed killing services along with others.
- Prepare Herbs
Herbs are hard, which makes them ideal for the winter season, as they can easily withstand harsh temperatures. However, some herbs might need extra attention and care. Some of the major herbs for the winter season are thyme, parsley, chives, basil, rosemary, oregano, and much more. They are usually biennials or perennials and need little to no care.
Chives, thyme, oregano, and sage are hardy and need no extra pampering during cold and frosty weather. Basil and rosemary are somewhat fragile and can not survive in colder regions, so they should be brought inside during the intense winter months to increase their shelf life.
- Turn Off the Water System
During frosty weather, remember to turn off the hose. Shut out the main valve and exterior faucets near the water system to prevent your garden plants from being damaged. In warmer environments and seasons, there is no need to shut off the water system, as plants constantly need water for their growth, stability, and osmosis.
- Prepares Shrubs & Trees for Winter
While you remove diseased plants and pull out unnecessary plants, do not pull out and prune shrubs and trees from your garden. Sometimes, pruning leaves open wounds, which leaves no time to heal plants in winter. It does not matter if they have outgrown them for a bit; wait until the frosting season is over.
Moreover, cover your plants with some woody materials to protect them from heavy snow. You can wrap young tree plants with pest-proof tree wraps, which will protect them from harsh snow, voles, and mice and prevent them from thawing. Wrap them properly at night to prevent bark injury from snow and cold weather.
- Prepare the Soil for Spring
Though most people leave this activity for spring, winter is the best time to prepare soil. Kelp, rock phosphate, and bone meal serve as organic fertilizers, so spread them in the garden and amend the soil. In this way, these nutrients will have more time to mix with the soil, enrich it, and become biologically functional.
After amending the soil, properly mulch it and plant the cover crop (clover, rye, vetch) to prevent the amendments from washing off.
- Set Goals for Spring Garden
There could be various highs and lows in the previous year’s garden. Look for which seeds grew well during the last season and which did not, make plans to rotate crops, and purchase seeds for the spring season beforehand.
Conclusion
Planning your garden for a blooming spring season can help you have a beautiful garden. Adopt these easy and accessible steps to improve your spring yield and garden in the long run. However, if you find it difficult to manage your garden during winter, Click Here to hire a team of professional gardeners to get any kind of services that value your money.
