Getting your Lawn and Garden ready for Winter

Winter Gardening

Your outdoor plants

have worked hard for

you all summer, making

your yard a place you’re

proud to call home.

Properly winterizing

your lawn and garden is

an important step

toward healthy soil, lush

grass, and happy plants       

Remember to take care of your outdoor accessories,

including your lawn equipment, gardening tools, and all of

your lawn and garden decor. A little time spent this autumn

will make your gardening and landscaping efforts easier

and more enjoyable next spring!

Let’s start with the easy jobs - First remember to store all of your lawn and garden decor including fragile

planters, gazing balls, and your deck furniture. Unglazed terra cotta planters left filled with soil outside will

often break in the freezing temperatures so it is best to clean them and place them in a storage area where

they are protected from the elements.

Autumn is the time to find your birdfeeders and to start stocking your winter

feeding pantry. Soon your many feathered friends will be flocking to your

feeders for that nutritious morsel. Remember to keep your feeders full

through the winter as the birds need reliable food sources through the winter

months.

Now that you’ve done the easy

tasks, let’s move on to the more

mundane winterizing chores. Start

by simply cleaning up the vegetable

garden. After the first hard frost,

remove the year’s annual plants

and the dead vegetation. You can

add this material to your compost

pile, but make sure you’re not

adding material from diseased or

pest-infested plants. You’ll want to

pull perennial weeds before you

mulch your garden down for the winter.

The best part of fall landscape chores is planting the spring-blooming bulbs. Crocus, tulips, and daffodils are

a beautiful addition to the early spring landscape.

In the yard there’s the major job of raking leaves. These are great either in the compost pile or as direct

mulch on the garden. Perennial flowers may be smothered by a heavy layer of mulch, however. Also, wait to

prune your trees until later in the winter.

After the ground freezes you can mulch your perennial flowers and newly planted trees. Certain shrubs will

need to be wrapped in burlap to protect them from wind damage, sun scald, and other winter injury.

Moving on to the mechanical tasks of winterizing your lawn and garden - While you might try to procrastinate

on these jobs until spring, you’ll be well rewarded for the maintenance you perform this fall. Drain the gas

from your lawnmower and string trimmer. Actually it’s best to let your mowers and trimmers simply run out of

fuel. If you don’t want to ‘waste’ that little bit of fuel, add a gas conditioner before the long winter. Be sure to

follow directions. Also, take the same care with your gardening equipment such as your rotary tiller.

Clean all of your landscaping equipment before you store it away for the long, cold winter. Wash with soap

and water, clean the air filter, and change the oil. You’ll find that first lawn mowing job in the spring a little bit

easier if you take time to sharpen the blades now. You can protect that freshly sharpened blade by applying a

little spray oil to the blades. You can also apply light spray oil to other moving parts such as cables and the

throttle controls.

Lastly, drain all of the water from the garden hoses and turn off the taps. Be sure to store your insecticides,

herbicides, and fertilizers in a safe storage area that will not freeze. Make sure these materials are kept away

from children and pets!

About the Author - http://www.infozabout.com  http://www.gardening.infozabout.com http://www.isnare.com

“those who want to use the

months between winter and

spring as a working part

 of their year”