Tips
for Winterizing Your Lawn and Garden
 If
you want the healthiest lawn and garden in the neighborhood
come spring, you must do plenty of preparation now,
before the weather grows colder.
For many of us, winterizing our lawns
or gardens may mean raking a few leaves and putting
away the kiddy pool. But if you want a beautiful lawn
and garden in the spring, you need to do a lot more
preparation, according to a recent article on MSN.com.
We’ll walk you through several tips to make your
lawn and garden up to the challenge of winter’s
coldest months.
1. Feed your lawn.
Contrary to popular belief, autumn, not spring, is the
key season in which to work on your lawn. Lawns with
cool-weather grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, fescues
and perennial ryegrass, should be fertilized in two
waves, says Jim Welshans, regional turfgrass educator
at Penn State University. The first application should
occur in mid to late September and should be a fertilizer
that is high in nitrogen. If you missed the first fertilization,
however, don’t fret. Make sure you apply the second
application around Thanksgiving but before the ground
is frozen. This should be with a fertilizer that is
higher in phosphorus. Exact timing for applications
is dependent upon where in the country you live –
some parts of the country, like the desert Southwest
and Deep South, may have grasses that don’t need
fertilizer.
2. Repair your lawn. Autumn is a great
time to repair damage to your lawn. If you are worried
about the cold, Welshans recommends re-seeding with
a perennial ryegrass, which germinates in just four
to seven days versus two to three weeks for a bluegrass.
You can help the seeds take root by top-dressing them
with up to a ¼-inch of compost or soil.
3. Don’t stop watering. Some
areas of the country may get adequate rain during autumn
months, but if your region does not, you should continue
to water your lawn as the season approaches winter.
Generally, a lawn should get an inch of water every
two to three weeks, says Bob Mugaas, a regional educator
in horticulture affiliated with the University of Minnesota.
The ground should stay moist but not soggy, as sogginess
encourages mold.
4. Cut back on the pruning. Pruning
encourages new growth, and you don’t want to encourage
new growth when plants are preparing to go dormant for
the winter. Generally, you should plan to give your
pruning shears the season off. There are some exceptions,
however, so if you have doubts about a particular type
of tree, call your local cooperative extension service.
You should also be sure to remove dead wood, so insects
don’t take over your trees or plants.
5. Make the most of your vegetable garden.
Don’t put it to bed just yet! “There are
some great fall vegetables you can plant and still get
a harvest,” says Ginger Pryor, coordinator of
the Pennsylvania Master Gardener program. Many vegetables
are not affected by a light frost, as long as the days
stay warm. Plants like lettuce and spinach can be harvested
within 30 days of planting, and if you have even more
time before winter, you can try carrots, broccoli or
Swiss chard.
6. Cover your garden. Once you are
ready to bed down your garden, plant a nitrogen-rich
cover crop like clover that you can turn come spring.
Or, “a lot of people just cover the beds in burlap,”
which keeps the weeds down, explains Elaine Anderson,
program coordinator for the Washington State University/King
County Extension Master Gardener Program.
7. Transplant those trees and shrubs.
Autumn is the perfect time to transplant trees and shrubs,
as there aren’t as many stresses, such as heat.
The tree benefits because it can put all of its energy
into root growth.
8. Mulch, mulch, mulch. When mulching
your trees, pull the mulch away from the tree so it
looks more like a doughnut than a volcano. This makes
it less attractive as a home for voles, mice and other
rodents. For your flowerbed, Shane Harris, a regional
extension agent affiliated with Auburn and Alabama A&M
Universities, recommends renewing the mulch, especially
the top two or three inches of plants’ root crowns.
“That’s where all of your new growth is
going to come back,” he explains. If you’re
using hay as mulch, make sure you request “clean
mulching hay” from your garden center and examine
it for seed heads and impurities. It should also only
be applied when the ground is very cold.
9. More flowerbed preparation. In addition
to mulching, you should clean out perennials and plants
that have a lot of “dieback on them,” says
Pryor. You can leave ornamental grasses in place, however,
as they can look very nice in the winter.
10. Clean your pond. Any water feature
needs care to survive the winter unscathed. Net out
leaves that can cause spikes in ammonia levels when
the decay, harming fish. You might also consider tossing
a cover over the pond, if possible, and use a bacterial
additive that speeds the decomposition of leaf matter
and fish waste. You should also drain your water to
¾ or ½ of its water level during winter
months.
11. Make the fish diet. “The
biggest mistake people make is that they keep feeding
their fish handfuls and handfuls of food” even
though their metabolisms are slowing down with the cold
weather, says Brett Fogle, president and owner of MacArthur
Water Gardens in Florida. This can make them very ill
or even kill them. As the temperature hits 60 degrees,
consider switching their food to a lower-protein, wheat
germ food, which digests easier, At 50 to 55 degrees,
you can stop feeding the fish entirely, since their
metabolism slows enough at that temperature that they
don’t need to eat. Koi and other pond fish will
keep eating when they shouldn’t.
12. Check your pond equipment. Checking
to make sure your pond’s equipment is fully functional
before winter is always a good idea. Shut down your
pumps and filter and bring the pump inside for winter,
if possible. “It’s actually better for the
fish not to run the pump all winter long,” says
Fogle, because the pump disrupts thermal layers in the
water that the fish use to keep warm. Loosen the fitting
on what is left outdoors, so the equipment doesn’t
crack in the cold, especially on UV sterilizers. You
should also consider a de-icer, a unit that floats in
the water and turns on at a freezing point, or an air
bubbler that keeps the top of the pond from freezing.
13. Plant for spring. Now is the best
time to plant bulbs for spring. They’re not very
expensive and they will be a nice surprise when they
pop up in the warmer weather. Small bulbs, such as crocus
and grape hyacinth, can go in earlier in the fall, while
larger bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, should go
in around mid-fall. You can also shop for perennials
that are in bloom now so you know what they will look
like later. This means you should check out the USDA’s
Plant Hardiness Zone Map to see what will thrive in
your area. You should also take stock of your garden
– what worked this year and what didn’t
work? It will give you something to think about while
you hibernate inside during winter.
<<
Back to Home
|
