Winterizing your lawn and garden is important for maintaining healthy soil and plants.
As fall starts to set in, many gardeners are thinking about when is the best time to start winterizing and how they should go about it. Lawns and gardens need some differing care. In addition, it’s important to do some research on how to winterize raised plant beds versus ground gardens. However, there are some basic steps everyone should take to begin the process of winterizing their lawn and garden.
Prepping Your Lawn
Fall is an appropriate time of the year to have your soil tested. While there are home kits you can purchase, the best and most accurate way to test is to send soil samples to the appropriate government office or testing lab, which will vary based on your location. Once the test results are in, you can use them to determine what your soil pH is and which nutrients need to be added. Balancing your soil’s pH and nutrients during the fall will help your plants and grass overwinter and remain healthy. Fall is the best time to dethatch or core aerate your lawn.
It’s tempting to perform leaf cleanup during the fall—it’s tradition, after all. However, a lawn and garden that are beneficial for the environment and wildlife should choose to leave the leaves or pile them into areas around the property where they can remain without being too unsightly.
Perennial Care
Much like fall leaves, spent perennials provide food and shelter for wildlife. In order to keep an environmentally-friendly garden, it’s best to wait until spring to cut back and clean up your perennials. It might not look the best, but leaving the litter also provides coverage for your perennial plants and act as a natural mulch, helping them to overwinter safely, so they’ll be healthier when spring comes.
Shrubbery
Deciduous shrubs will shed their leaves, and they should be covered by a lean-to or something similar to keep snowfall off of their branches. If you want to add evergreen shrubs to your garden, the best way to do it is to choose a species that is hardy in one USDA zone colder than yours.
To keep trees and large shrubs healthy, the best method is thoughtful watering. Stop watering in early fall to trigger the plants to prepare for the winter freeze. They will cease making new growth, which wouldn’t survive the winter and could cause problems for the plant. Before the first frost, give all of your trees and shrubs one final big gulp of water so they’re ready for the brunt of winter.
LAWN CARE MADE EASY WITH HONEYSUCKLE NURSERY & DESIGN
At Honeysuckle Nursery and Design, you will get construction and maintenance crews on site who have a minimum of 10 years of experience in all types of landscaping and hardscaping. Our designers will work closely with you to understand how you want to use your space so that we can make the most of your entire site. We are committed to providing complete customer satisfaction and will work with you along every step of the way to be sure that you are happy with your new trees. Please be sure to visit our gallery page for unique, creative designs and inspiration!
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