Thursday, October 28, 2010

Get Gardens Ready for Snow and Ice



If you reside in an area that has severe winters; snow and ice then it is easy to miscalculate where the gardens are especially if they are close to walkways, patios or driveways.  Take the necessary steps and prepare your gardens for snow and ice.  This will ensure that your spring flowers will be healthy.
Fountain grass garden in winter
Fountain grass adds winter interest to garden

When I get my gardens ready for winter I like to first survey my gardens to determine exactly what needs to be done. I will make a list of all of the duties and then divide my yard into sections.  

Apply these steps to put your gardens to bed in the late fall and you will protect the perennials from ice that would damage the roots that are close to soil surface.

Start getting your gardens ready for snow and ice by cutting back flowers and plants to the soil line. If there are annuals dig out the roots. Followed by removing the grasses and weeds.

When the garden bed is clean and weed free  cover the top of the garden with an inch of shredded newspaper, then add a layer of organic mulch; dried grass, pine needles, straw or leaf mulch, followed by two inches of manure or compost.

Next install reflective markers for all gardens that are located by patios, walkways, and driveway or door entrances.  Or you can install 3 to 6 foot stakes at the edge of your garden closes to the high traffic areas. Top the wooden stakes yellow or orange flags.

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Note: if you grow ornamental grass, astilbe, Autumn Joy sedum, coneflowers, or Hydrangea leave the flowers to dry as they will add eye appealing interest to your landscape  throughout the winter season.

  





  





2 comments:

charlotte gordon said...

This was a very helpful post. I loved the principle of protecting gardens from husbands. I thought i was the only one with a husband like this.

S Golis said...

Thanks for commenting charlotte...I think all husbands who are not gardeners are the same...they just want to work fast and get the job over with. The don't think outside the box. I learned the hard way that I need to protect my garden from my husband all year round, in the warm season he is out of control with the weed eater.