Even if your garden is already sprinkled with snow, there are still garden tasks waiting: last-minute bulbs to plant, leaves that should not go to waste or roses that need some TLC. Early winter is a great time to evaluate your garden layout. You can clearly see the architecture or bones of your garden.
Leaves:
Rake to eliminate thick accumulation in flower beds and borders (an invitation to voles and mice in winter, and also an obstacle next spring to emerging plants). Try to prevent a matted buildup of leaves on the lawn. Recycle them into mulch and soil-improving compost. Never send leaves away from the garden to the “trash.”
Make great leaf mulch when adding back as organic matter to beds. Start a leaves-only compost pile, and use it as mulch next year. Running over dry leaves with the mower to shred them will speed its breakdown.
Composting:
Pile up composting material as you cut back faded plants, following Lee Reich’s easy plan (video how-to included). First, extract finished compost and top-dress your vegetable-garden beds with it, getting a jump on spring soil prep. Add organic matter to your flower and vegetable beds. Cover the compost heap so that rain doesn't flood it and leach the nutrients.
Birdbath:
Unfrozen water is the number one thing you can do in support of birds and other wildlife - so birds and other animals can have a drink (or a splash).
Seed-Saving:
Start at planting time in spring, what seeds you will save. But even this late, some garden harvest—including the last beans, or winter squash—may hold hidden treasures.
Bulb-Planting:
Many Spring garden bulbs can go in the ground surprisingly late, even up North. Get those bulbs in now - and even purchase more on closeout sales, if you have time for extra digging.
Clean-Up:
Do it with a focus on prevention–of pests, weeds, and general chaos in the coming year. First hit things that show signs of disease, weed or insect infestation, in case weather curtails your cleanup before you get to everything. Minimize weed woes for next year.
Trees & Shrubs
Add more woody plants that show off in fall. Plan to do so for next year–many can even be planted this late in autumn if your nursery or a mail-order source still has stock.
Clear weeds from around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals to reduce winter damage by rodents and rabbits. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round, sunk an inch or so into the soil, and standing 18 inches high. Use half-inch mesh or smaller. Clean up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites troubles next season.
Pruning:
Prune dead, damaged, diseased twigs in trees and shrubs. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too, but don’t do aesthetic pruning now.
Herbs:
Parsley and chives can be potted up and brought indoors. A few garlic cloves in a pot will yield a supply of chive-like (but spicier) garlic greens all winter for garnish. Harvest your green herbs, wash them, and cut them. Store the herbs in your freezer for winter use.
Flower Garden:
Protect roses from winter damage in cold zones by mounding up their crowns with a 6- to 12-inch layer of soil before the ground freezes. After all, is frozen, add a layer of leaf mulch to further insulate.
Cannas and Dahlias:
Tender bulbs need careful digging for indoor storage. Once frost blackens the foliage, cut back tops to 3 inches and dig carefully, then brush or wash off soil and let dry for two weeks or so to cure. Stash in a dry spot, like an unheated basement or crawl space, around 40-50 degrees, in boxes or pots filled with bark chips or peat moss, or just newspaper.
Deadhead Spent Plants:
Shake seed pods around the mother plants before removing plant carcasses. Nicotiana, poppies, larkspur, sage and many others fall into this group. So do plants with showy or bird-friendly seed heads, like grasses and coneflowers.
Mulch your strawberry plants with a couple of inches of straw. Let asparagus foliage go brown on its own; don’t cut back till later, or even in early spring.
Prepare New Flower Beds:
For future planting by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper before adding soil, then put mulch on top.
Houseplants:
Start a pot of paperwhites or amaryllis in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing another batch every couple of weeks for a winter-long display. Or force some hyacinth bulbs for blooming.
Garden Tools:
Clean shovels and hand tools, maybe oil them a bit and place them into a bucket filled with fine sand to keep them dry during the winter. Bring your lawnmower for service after the final mowing, rather than in the spring rush, then store without gas in the tank. Run it dry. Drain and store watering hoses.
Outdoor Christmas Tree:
If you're planning on buying a live Christmas tree with the intention of planting after Christmas, dig the hole now, while the soil is workable, and cover the soil with burlap before the ground freezes. Remember to keep the soil around the tree-covered so that it does not freeze before it can go back into the hole.
Planning for Next Spring:
Make your next-year garden resolutions. Plan how to extend your garden’s season. Get more creative with the use of spring and fall bulbs. Or start a rock garden. Whatever you do, gardening in cooler temperatures is more enjoyable.
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