Estabrook's Garden Newsletter

Preparing Your Garden for Winter

Preparing your landscape for winter is an important part of fall gardening

It's mid to late October and that means it's time to start putting your garden to bed by preparing it for the tough winter months. Among the tasks that should be considered include:

Cutting Back Perennials

This will not only neaten the appearance of your garden, but also protect your plants from winter exposure while promoting lush new growth in the spring.

Weeding

Prevent harmful weeds from spreading while your garden is dormant by removing them this fall. It will make your job next spring that much easier!

Shrub Protection

If any of your shrubs are in an area that will incur a large snow load (such as areas under pitched roofs), erecting a shrub guard can allieve future breaking and snapping from these unexpected "drop-ins".

Mulch

While shrub guards will protect your plants from attacks above, a layer of bark mulch in your garden will protect your garden's root system. One of the most dangerous winter effects to any landscape are frost heaves, which are caused by a fluctuation in winter temperatures that cause the ground to freeze, then thaw, then freeze again. By laying down a layer of mulch in your garden, you create an insulation that will keep your ground at a constant temperature, which your garden's root system will appreciate.

Planting Bulbs

Just because you're putting your garden to bed doesn't mean you can't make some early preparations for next spring! Fall is the best time to plant bulbs and by laying the groundwork now, you'll reap the benefits this spring with beautiful tulips, daffodils and more.

Natural Plantings with Bulbs

Create swaths of natural beauty with spring flowering bulbs

Spring blooming bulbs are a refreshing sight after a long winter and nothing is more enchanting than big drifts of bulbs flowing through grassy areas or in lightly shaded woodlands.

Designing Natural Plantings

Naturalized plantings should mimic nature and blend in with the existing landscape. To achieve this, lay out your planting areas so they follow the contours of your land and be generous with the size of the areas to be planted. The impact of your planting will be much greater if you have several large areas of naturalized bulbs than if you have lots of small areas.

Naturalized plantings also look best when they are planted densely in the center then feather out to fewer bulbs at the edges of the planting. Finally, swaths of one solid color generally have greater visual appeal than drifts of mixed colors.

Location

The key to selecting a good location for naturalizing bulbs is finding an area that isn't mowed until after the foliage ripens or turns yellow. Ripening foliage feeds the underground bulb so it can store energy and nutrients needed to bloom next spring.

Therefore, a manicured front lawn may not be the best place for a naturalized planting, but this type of planting is well-suited underneath deciduous trees, in grassy meadows, gracing a hill, or brightening a woodland.

Planting and Care

Please refer to the planting depth and spacing listed on the box or tear-off tags of your bulbs. You can also refer to the Bulb Advice section of our web site for this information.

Once the bulbs are planted, you can help them put on a great show year after year by applying slow-release fertilizer as a top dressing after planting and each fall thereafter. Follow label directions for application rates.

If, after 10 years or so, flowering slows down and the plants seem overgrown, dig the clumps, divide them and replant. You can use the extra bulbs to enlarge your naturalized areas or share them with friends.