Gena Lorainne's Winter Garden Tips

Monday, November 5, 2018 - 12:30

Gena Lorainne - a professional horticulturist and garden expert at a well-established gardening company - shares her helpful tips on how to prepare a garden for the upcoming winter months.

Plants are tender so they need extra care and protection. Cold temperatures can be quite harmful as they tend to thaw and freeze. Use mulch to help your plants retain permanent temperature and reduce the risk of potential damages.
Protect small plants against bad weather conditions by covering them with plastic bags, cardboard boxes or upside-down flower pots.
It’s time to prune your roses. Remove all damaged and diseased stems and cut the plant to about half of its size.
If you are making your own compost bin, then the fallen leaves will serve you well. You can add them to your compost pile or run the lawn mower over them to make some mulch.
Your lawn needs some maintenance as well. Use a lawn scarifier or a rake to remove any thatch and moss. You can aerate the lawn with a garden fork and spread sandy top dressing to it. All this will improve the soil’s structure and drainage.
Smaller trees need some care as well. Protect them from cold weather by surrounding them with a cylinder of snow fencing. After that, you need to add some straw and shredded leaves into it. This is an effective solution as it will block winter winds and prevent damages.
Gutters can cause serious damages to your house such as blockages or leakages. Don’t forget to clean them in order to prevent such problems later in winter.
Inspect your fences for cracks and repair them. Bad weather tends to damage fence panels fairly easy. Replace fence posts and panels, if you have to, and secure them well.
Perhaps your deck needs some attention too. Use a pressure washer to clean it well and use decking oil to preserve the decking boards.
Patios, driveways and paving require maintenance too. Don’t forget to seal all the cracks and remove all of the weeds and moss around them.