Help your perennials, trees, shrubs, and more come back stronger after the winter.
As temperatures drop in autumn, it’s a good time to start preparing your garden for winter.
It may seem like not much is happening in your yard as the weather cools.
Credit: Marty Baldwin
However, a lot is going on in the soil until it freezes.
you’re able to help prepare all your plants for winter with these simple techniques.
Mulch Your Perennials
Perennials return yearly, as long as they arehardy where you live.
Credit: Peter Krumhardt
Hardy plants won’t require much effort from you to prepare them for winter.
Remove the mulch in spring once the weather warms up.
Plus, theirseeds help feed birds and other wildlife.
Credit: Kindra Clineff
Just check that to add a layer of mulch to help protect them.
Some are known as cool-season annuals, meaning they prefer togrow and bloom when temperatures are cooler.
These includeornamental kale,blue lobelia, andsnapdragons.
Credit: Jay Wilde
Warm-season annuals, on the other hand, like it hot.Zinnias,French marigolds, andimpatiensfall into this category.
Continue to water annuals until freezing temperatures kill them.
you might do this until daytime temperatures no longer rise above that threshold.
Credit: Doug Hetherington
These include popular summer bloomers likegladiolus,cannas, anddahlias.
If you live where the ground freezes, these tropical plants won’t survive the winter outdoors.
But you’re free to bring them indoors if you want to save these plants for another year.
Wait until frost has turned the leaves brown, then gently dig up the bulbs or tubers.
Cut away the leaves and brush off as much soil as possible.
Avoid washing with water because the dampness can cause the bulbs to rot during storage.
Instead, let them dry out in the open in a cool spot for about a week.
Label them, so you’ll remember what they are.
Trim away damaged or diseased limbsto prevent snow and wind from worsening these problems.
Some types of roses are hardier than others, so it’s essential to know which kinds you have.
To protect the root balls from frost heaving, pile up extra soil around their base.
It’s best to wait until late winter or early spring to prune trees and shrubs.
