7 Simple Steps To Winterize Your Home Garden
A gardener’s work is never done, and during fall, this means it’s time to get your growing space ready for winter. Really? The short answer is yes. You’ve already spent a lot of time, energy, and money on your garden, so it’s important to protect your investment.
Step 1: Clean out all the weeds.
The first thing you need to do is get rid of all the dead leaves and anything that looks diseased in your garden. Basically, pull out anything you wouldn’t want living in your garden next growing season. It’s much easier to do it now than in the spring when the root systems have grown deeper.
You might want to leave the foliage of your perennial flowers in your garden and not cut them back. It adds some interest and plants such as cone flowers and ornamental grasses still look nice covered in the snow, plus they add extra food for birds. If you cut your perennials down, leave at least 6 inches of stem & leaves for protection.
Step 2: Protect your new garden beds.
Veggie gardens don’t need winter protection. But if your trying to establish some new plants, especially perennials, you need to add some extra coverage to protect your garden.
Step 3: Plant your bulbs.
This needs to be done before the ground freezes if you want tulips, daffodils, or any springtime flowers. Many times, gardeners have trouble planting bulbs. Either the ground is too hard or they have clay soil, and they never seem to get the hole deep enough. You need it several inches deep, in most cases, so it has good protection over winter and is ready to bloom in spring.
