Post by Jesse Brough owner at Blessing Landscapes
Your garden requires year-round attention so when it is time for your plants to flourish, they do. Winterizing your garden allows your plants to get the nutrients they need to last the cold winter months. It will also help your garden not contain, hopefully, as many weeds then next year.
Your Garden Clean-Up
In general, you want to clear out any debris and decaying plants from your garden. This would include any weeds that you may have. You need to make sure that you are collecting the seeds to the weed, as well as the plant itself. That you, hopefully, will eradicate that plant from your garden.
Tending Your Flower bed
Once you have cleared your flower bed, you should till the soil. This will move around the nutrients, and get rid of some of the insects living in the ground. After doing this, you want to spread a thick layer of mulch. Note that this will not keep the ground warm through the winter, but it will keep the ground temperature at a consistent temperature. In general, waiting until the first time the ground freezes is the best time to spread new mulch. This will help ensure no rodents attempt to live in the piles. If you have any perennials in your garden, you want to wait until the ground has frozen before pruning back these flowers and adding mulch. Once the ground is frozen hard, cut the perennials down to three inches and then cover them with a thick, protective layer of mulch.
Saving Your Small Trees and Shrubs
The small trees in your yard are more susceptible to tiny insects that will eat away at the tree. As a preventative measure, you should wrap the tree with wire or another tree-guard product to protect it. If the forecast predicts severe cold weather, or prolonged cold temperatures, you need to wrap your small trees, or shrubs, in burlap to keep them safe for through the cold weather. You can also pile mulch up around the base of the plant to protect the roots.
Prepping Your Roses
In the Portland area, roses are a prominent feature. To protect the life of your roses, you need to make sure you are preparing them for winter. This means that late in the summer you do not want to do any major pruning or cutting of blossoms. You will also want to stop fertilizing at that time. The closer it gets to the first frozen day of winter, the sooner you will need to remove the old mulch from around the plant and replace it with fresh mulch. When the ground freezes over, you will want to add about six to twelve inches of mulch around the plant to keep the ground at a consistent, and safe temperature.
Need Help Winterizing Your Garden?
Blessing Landscapes will gladly help you get your garden ready for the winter months. Call us today at 503-284-3557 and we will do the job for you!
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