How to Prepare for a Winter Garden

Autumn is in the air, and there are a few simple tasks you can do to prepare your garden for the winter and save yourself time this spring.

Now that the fall rains and frost are here, it’s time to turn the irrigation system off. Once you turn your water off, drain your irrigation lines. You don’t want any water left in the system to freeze and damage cheap irrigation supplies. Sometimes water can get trapped in low spots in your irrigation. You can either install an inline valve or you can blow compressed air through the line.

Wrap exposed pipes to protect them from frost. Disconnect your garden hoses and store them in the shed or garage. Don’t store them kinked. Clean and sharpen your tools. Oil the wood handles in preparation for storage over the winter. Read the labels of your liquid fertilizer, pest control products and make sure that they’re not going to be harmed from freezing. If so, store them in an appropriate place.

Once you’ve winterized your gardening tools and equipment, it’s time to take care of your plants. Put tree guards on young, thin-barked trees to prevent sunscald. Sunscald usually happens on the south or southwest side of a tree. The sun warms up the tree and causes bark cells to wake up prematurely and be vulnerable to frost. Tree guards are also good for preventing girding caused by hungry rabbits in the winter.

If it seems to be a little bit too annoying to grow your garden, there is the green leaf garland that could add the spring atmosphere to your garden somehow.

Another fall task is to pick up any dropped fruit. That will prevent over wintering of pests and diseases. Don’t forget that fall is a great time to plan things like wildflowers or alliums like onions, leeks and garlic. Remove dead vegetables from your vegetable garden. This will help reduce the amount of pathogens that over winter in the garden. Cut back perennials.