Introduction: Preparing Your Lawn for Winter
Tips For Preparing A
Lawn And Garden For Winter
When it comes to caring for your lawn and garden before the winter hits, you must recognize a few things as you prepare for winter. The reason is that the amount of preparation you do now will determine how your lawn and garden will look like at the start of spring.
So if you would like to save yourself the unnecessary hard work later, you should become familiar with the eight tips.
Supplies
Pruning Sheers, Leaf Blower or Rake, Burn Pile, Large Trash Bage
Step 1: 1. Discard of All Dead Plants
To keep your yard and garden looking orderly, it’s best to discard all dead plants lingering around. If you don’t, you run the chance to allow the growth and spread of pests throughout your garden and yard. This infestation of pests occurs when they invade your plants during the summer months and eventually spread their eggs throughout your garden. From the moment that dead pants are removed or buried, the next season's possible infestation will be prevented. If you intend to bury the dead plants, this could provide you with a great source of organic material that can improve your soil quality.
Step 2: 2. Pull Out All Weeds That Have Overgrown
Getting rid of all of the weeds will provide space for the plants that you want to have growing next season. Go ahead and get your shovel out and dig up the roots to ensure that they don’t regrow. To get rid of them completely, it’s best to burn them. This is a lot better method than adding then to compost, so you’re not just “transferring them from one spot to another. So remember, the weeds need to be removed entirely to prevent regrowth.
Step 3: 3. Get the Soil Ready
Naturally, getting the soil ready is usually accomplished during the spring months. However, when you prepare the soil before winter hits, it will allow all of the compost and other fertilizers to mix well by having plenty of time to break down. This will leave you with rich soil and entirely ready for spring planting. You also save time by not having to work the soil. Doing it now makes the job easier later.
Step 4: Step 4: Prepare Your Perennials
Preparing your perennials during the fall will give you a significant advantage when spring-blooming occurs.
When you prepare your perennials in early fall, they will have enough time to prepare themselves for flowering and strengthen their root system. This is especially true for perennials that like to bloom early as they will also have a lot of strength built up for the new season.
Planting perennials early will let you see them thrive throughout the spring months. As they grow, you will also notice areas that you can fill in with other plants to have no open space.
Step 5: 5. Split Bulbs to Plant
Regardless of bulbs having flowered already, other flower bulbs that bloom in spring can be split and prepared for planting. This can be done a month following blooming by digging up the perennial plants and splitting up the planting bulbs. This splitting is a good idea because it will decrease crowding during the next bloom. Finding a location of a bulb may also require guessing if you wait until spring to split them. When you dig up the bulbs, make sure to dig at least four inches from the bulb's stalk and remove the surrounding soil.
For bulbs that have been dug up and split previously, you can go ahead and plant them during fall so you can sit back and enjoy them later. They can be found at any native plant nursery.