Get Your Garden Ready For Winter

Cold weather is coming, in fact, it’s already here – and there’s a lot of preparation you need to do before we see more and more sub-freezing temps. One of those tasks is to get your botanical assets in order. Here are some tips on how you can get your garden ready for winter.

Clean Up Diseased Plants

While it’s a good idea to let spent plants decay so they can become nutrients for your soil, diseased plants can be harmful. If you notice any pests, fungi, or other signs of disease, remove these plants as soon as possible.

Remove Invasive Weeds

Just like purging diseased plants from your garden is important, getting rid of weeds that may have taken hold is also a good idea. Make sure you get them up completely so hopefully they won’t sprout up again next year.

Amend Your Soil

Many people do this in the spring, but it’s actually a pretty good winter activity. When you add manure and compost – or organic fertilizers such as bone meal, kelp, or rock phosphate – this time of year, they can go ahead and start breaking down now. This enriches your soil and makes it biologically active.

Prune Your Perennials

If you haven’t pruned your perennials yet, now would be a good time to do so. But remember, it’s important to know which perennials to prune and which ones to leave alone. Raspberries and blueberries are better left to their own devices. Whereas rosemary, thyme, sage, roses, asparagus, rhubarb, and blackberries could all use a little care from you.

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Replenish Your Mulch

Winter mulching has many of the same benefits as summer mulching. It addition, it can help your perennials survive repeated freezes and thaws, extend the harvest season for some of your annual crops, as well as benefit your garden in other ways.