6 Tips To Prepare For Winter In Your Garden The Green Way

Preparing for winter weather in your yard and garden can be quite a chore! I would like to share some tips that could be helpful in getting our outdoor plants and yards ready for winter, the green way, of course.

If you are like me I love the Fall or Autumn weather with the beautiful colorful changing leaves, the weather is pleasant, warm enough to enjoy, cool enough that to you can work pleasantly, and no mosquitoes to bite you.

Remember if we want to enjoy the spring flowers and summer beauty we need to prepare.  And there is major satisfaction in restoring order to the untidiness whether in our yard or in our everyday lives.

Here are some a few suggestions:

1. Fall is: the best time of year for all kinds of garden activities, including planting and transplanting all types of plants including bulbs and most perennials. It’s also the time to divide your plants such as daffodils or day lily’s that are over growing one area and put them into other part of your lawn or give some to a neighbor that might greatly appreciate them.

2. Fall is the time of year that you can get great bargains especially on bulbs. Bulb companies such as Brecks’, Michigan Bulbs’ are trying to reduce their inventory and you can get some great bargains. You can also save a bushel of cash on gardening equipment and nursery stock at your local nursery because they too are trying to eliminate their inventory too. You should also remove any annuals you have planted and put them in with other mulch.

3. Fall is:  Then of course the tools we use for our gardening such as lawn mowers, weed trimmers, garden tractors, and other lawn and garden equipment, since many people dump their used equipment at thrift stores, flea markets and yard sales at the end of the season–you can sometimes get great bargains and save yourself a pile of money. Also check with some of your local landscaping companies to see if they plan on selling off any of their used equipment, now that their busy season is over.

4. Fall is : You need to take care of you garden equipment one of cheapest ways to remove dirt and rust from hoes, shovels, rakes, an any other garden tools is by using aluminum foil as a scrub pad. You can also use it to sharpen your pruners and garden scissors or shears by simply cutting through the aluminum foil (that you used as a scouring pad) a few times. Don’t forget to put a small amount of wood or motor oil or even olive oil does a great job, on all garden tools that have a metal surface to keep them secure and rust proof. Another good tip is take a piece of charcoal from their grill, take a plastic bag and put the business end of the shovel or hoe together in the bag with the charcoal.

5. Fall is: My husband takes his lawn tractor in the fall of the year cleans the dead grass from underneath the mower deck, changes the oil, greases and lubricants all fittings, and sharpens the mower blades so that it is ready for next summer grass cutting. It gives your tractor a longer life. He also keeps the gas in the tank with a gas stabilizer, but also occasionally turns the tractor and runs it for a few minutes throughout the winter. This helps to keep the battery charged, keeps carburetor from gumming up and helps to prolong the life of your tractor.

6. Fall is: Start a compost pile: when your done with you Halloween pumpkins, straw that you used to decorate for the fall,  and ask you neighbors to see if they want to donate their extra debris including all yard debris and keep it by putting it in a compose barrel (click here to see how to build one).  You can take chicken wire and build an all over covering over the debris so that it get air circulation –its great organic fertilizer.

We like to leave many of our leaves down as a natural mulch around plants while they are sleeping through the winter weather and it protects them from the cold. Then in the spring we remove the leaves and other debris, so that the new growth on our perennials can get the sunshine and start a new season of beauty.

Other people prefer to use wood chips, compost, or other organic matter to help protect plants through the winter season. If you want wood chips try checking with some of your local tree removal services sometimes they are willing to donate them to you or at least it will be a minimum price or your local municipality may have free wood chips from their summer trimming of the roadsides.

About the author

Marla

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Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog! I believe in living green, organically, and natural in every aspect of our lives. My mission is to help educate you on how to live green, help save our environment and to help you and your family live a happier, healthier life!