How to prepare your garden for winter

Learn how to prepare your garden for winter to make sure your next growing season blooms like crazy!

If not properly taken care of, your garden can die off in the winter. That’s because, as the temperature drops, it might affect some plant species biological processes.  It is also a time when perennial plants are developing their roots, and in need of nutritional care. As such, winter garden preparation is a necessity, if you want to keep your garden looking glam all year round. Luckily, preparing your garden for winter is not difficult. To make it easier for you, here is how to prepare your garden for winter.

Prune the Trees

Most trees can withstand the winter weather, even without your intervention. However, they won’t be as aesthetically appealing, as you would like them. That’s why you should consider investing some time in pruning them. Pruning doesn’t just add to the aesthetic appeal of the plants, it can help them stay healthy all through winter. That’s because, it removes diseased branches, thereby, preventing any diseases from spreading.

Get rid of Dead Vegetation

Just like pruning can trees from diseases in winter, the same goes for the other vegetation in your garden. As such, just before winter, get rid of all dead vegetation. Dead, infected vegetation, can lead to the spread of diseases such as late blight. This can easily obliterate your garden, if left unchecked. However, if you are sure that the dead vegetation is healthy, you can always use it to make mulch for your garden.

Protect Plants that are not Frost Resistant

Unlike trees that can withstand frost, some plants would die off if left exposed. To protect them, you can move them into greenhouses just before winter. In the greenhouse, you can wrap their trunks in horticultural fleece, and also add some mulch to the root area. This will keep them alive, for replanting later along. This saves you from having to buy new plants later along, which would be more costly than preserving the ones you have.

Get Rid of Weeds

Invasive weeds such as the Himalayan blackberry can kill your garden. They can even be more dangerous in winter when you don’t have the time to watch your garden all the time. As such, you need to completely get rid of these weeds before winter. It is also important to note that, weeds cannot be used as mulch. You would only be risking regrowth that would ruin your garden without your knowledge. For complete weed removal, spray the garden with the right herbicide, even after manually removing them.

Get the Lighting Right

Just because winter is coming doesn’t mean you let your garden lose its aesthetic appeal. You can improve how it looks by playing around with the garden lighting. Make sure the lighting matches the structure of the garden, and the more colorful flowers. By playing around with lighting, you are guaranteed a beautiful looking garden all through winter. Besides, with the right lighting, you have the motivation to keep checking up on the garden from time to time.