Winterizing
Tips for your Lawn and Garden by Cheryl Summer
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 next
year. 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!
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BestLawnandGarden.com, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Cheryl Summer is
a frequent contributor to Best Lawn and Garden. For more Articles and tips
on Lawn and Garden care, Gardening and Garden Decor visit Lawn and Garden
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