After a long summer, you may be happy to put the weeding and pruning behind you, but your work isn’t quite finished yet! If you want to have a successful garden next summer, it’s important to prepare it for winter. It’s crucial to put your garden to ‘bed’ (pun intended) before the cold weather hits. Plus, it gives you an excuse to get outside and enjoy the late autumn breeze before the cold weather hits.
In this article, we will outline some useful steps to help you prepare your garden for winter. Trust us, you’ll be thanking us next summer!
1. Cover up garden beds
You’ll want to add compost in late autumn to let the soil absorb those nutrients over the winter, even though most people do it in the spring. Before the ground freezes, add a couple of inches of compost on top of your beds, and then add a light layer of straw or mulch to prevent soil decay, nutrient leaching, and weed growth. Another option for vegetable gardens is to just cover your beds with black plastic or a layer of cardboard, leaving it in place through the winter until you’re ready to plant in spring. This will kill existing weeds and suppress sprouting seeds.
Photo Credit: Elmar Langle via Canva2. Prepare perennials for winter
Water your flowering shrubs in the fall; they will thank you for it over the winter. Many perennials can be cut back in the spring, but it can be better to prune some perennials earlier to avoid spreading diseases, such as powdery mil...