Winterize Your Garden
Monthly Theme: Winterize Your Garden
Another growing season is quickly coming to an end. Sadly, it’s time to say goodbye to the brightly colored flowers growing in our yards and warm summer breezes drifting through the green leaves on our trees. Ready or not, it’s time to winterize your yard and put away your outdoor furniture and goofy yard art that won’t fare well over the harsh winter.
I just spent 7 hours and 57 minutes (but who is counting?!) cutting back spent flowers in my yard, came in and put on a pot of red lentil cabbage soup, and now I’m writing while my soup’s cooking. For the next month, that is how my free time will be spent until all the work is done. Luckily, I was able to bring in one last bouquet of zinnias, roses, wind flowers, and feverfew.
I grow lots (in this instance, lots means more than 50, but less than 500!) of canna lilies and the rhizomes have to be dug up, cleaned off, and stored in the basement. Unfortunately, I can’t (or don’t) dig them up until after the first frost. So, it becomes a messy and cold yearly task. Similarly, if you plant Dahlia’s, after the foliage dies back, you will need to lift and store tuberous roots.
Certain industrial and thrifty gardeners, even dig up and save some of their annuals. I remember how my mom would dig up her red geraniums and store them in pots by all the basement windows. They struggled in the basement as she overwintered them and replanted them outdoors the following spring. Of course, if you have grow lights, you’ll have much more success with saving those annuals or tender plants until the next growing season.
If you’re like me, I bring many of my houseplants outside during the summer months. Not surprisingly, they thrive while basking in the natural sunlight. Of course, those will need to be brought back indoors during the winter months. However, you’ll need to bring them inside in stages, which is called cold acclimation or “hardening off.” This is done in order to give the plant time to adjust to the new/warmer environment and avoid shocking them.
First, hose off the plants to help remove pests. Next, check them closely for mealybugs, aphids, and spider mites and remove them. If you are able to bring them inside at night and back outside during the daytime, that would be ideal. Some gardeners put them in wheelbarrows or wagons and move them in and out of the garage, sheltered porch or shed.
Many gardeners recommend replacing 20-25% of the soil with new potting soil. It’s a good idea to place them on humidity trays or mist them regularly. Indoors, plants will need less water and more light during the upcoming winter months. Plants will benefit from air flow from a fan or opened window.
Besides digging up plants, it’s also time to plant bulbs. If you haven’t done so already, get those tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and other bulbs planted. It’s a lot of work, but you will be richly rewarded next spring (and the next spring and the next spring) when they pop up and bring life and beauty to the barren landscape.
As you cut back spent flowers, it’s the perfect time to clean out all the weeds. After cleaning up the beds, give your trees, roses, and shrubs a winter blanket of mulch to protect them over those cold winter days and nights. For my roses, I mound compost around the base of the plant and in the spring, I simply push that nutritious soil off the base and spread it around the flowerbed. Give those plants one last drink, turn off the water, and bring your hose indoors so it doesn’t get destroyed as the leftover water in the hose ices and defrosts over the next several months.
If you garden with raised beds, consider adding some new soil to the beds. Remember all healthy plants start with healthy soil.
SMARTY PLANTS FUN FACTS
Winterizing simply means preparing your garden for the upcoming winter months.
At the end of fall before the first frost, start winterizing your garden.
Clear away weeds and debris so your beds will be ready to grow in the spring.
Fall is a good time to conduct a soil test and amend your soil as needed.
Besides bulbs, fall is the right time to plant trees and shrubs.
If you plant a vegetable garden, consider planting a cover crop such winter rye to add nutrients back into your soil.
As you cut back your spent self-seeding plants, such as, forget-me-nots, black-eyed Susan’s or poppies, shake off the seeds and work them back into the soil for next year. If you prefer, save the seeds indoor for next year’s plantings.
Store your terra cotta pots so they don’t get damaged by frost.
Clean up as things die back so the volume of work won’t overwhelm you.
THE MORE YOU GROW
During the winter, consider supporting the birds. For those garden birds, provide birdhouses, bird boxes, unfrozen water, and stock up on bird seed.
An inexpensive soil test will help you determine whether you need to amend your soil. As you probably know, soil acidity (pH level) is extremely important. Generally, most plants grow best in a slightly acid soil (pH6.5), but some plants prefer an acid that is less than six but higher than five. If your soil is too acidity, lime is relatively cheap and will slowly remedy the excess acidity. Plus, fall is the appropriate time to add it to the soil so it can activate over the winter.
One last suggestion, after cleaning up and cutting back, clean and sharpen your gardening tools. To disinfect them, mix two cups of bleach and one gallon of water in a bucket. Soak your tools in the mixture for 10 minutes. Rinse them well and thoroughly dry with a cloth.
You can use a mild abrasive (like Brasso), steel wool or a diamond sharpener to sharpen your smaller hand tools. For larger bladed tools, use a 10” flat file – filing at a 20 to 45-degree angle. After they are sharpened, wipe the blades with WD-40. Those clean/sharp pruners will be waiting and ready for you next spring.
Once mine are cleaned and sharpened, I store them in an oversized bucket filled with cat litter. It keeps them dry and protected. Some gardeners fill a bucket with sand and add one cup of vegetable oil. The oiled sand will help prevent rusting.
In conclusion, as the temperature decreases, it’s not quite time to curl up under a blanket by the fireplace and start binge watching Netflix. Get outside on these beautiful fall afternoons and complete all those yard tasks we’ve been discussing. Your plants will thank you next spring by once again showing all their glory.