Preparing Your Garden For Winter!

December is here, meaning it is time to prepare your garden for winter. In some places the first snow has already fallen and all the crops have been harvested for the year. If you want your garden to stay healthy over the winter and get a jump start on spring, here are a few things you can do!

Final Maintenance

This first task is the most important: perform a final walkthrough of your garden! Use this time to get rid of any late-growing weeds or pests that are present. If you have in-ground sprinklers, it is crucial that you turn them off, as the cold weather could cause the pipes to expand or even burst!

Mulching with straw will help keep the ground warm, while slowly breaking down, adding nutrients to the soil. If you lay down a fresh layer of straw to help fertilize your garden, it is important to keep it dry. If rain or snow is predicted, a common technique is to cover your garden with a tarp, leaving the sides open to allow air flow.

Composting Continues

If you have a compost pile, you can continue during the winter months. The food you compost needs time to break down before you can use it as fertilizer. Winter gives your compost a long window of time to break down, providing you with fertilizer ready for next year’s growing season!

Planning Your Spring Garden

Once you have finished preparing your garden for winter, you can begin planning for spring. The first step is to plan your landscaping. During the winter, many plants will lose their leaves making the landscape easier to see. Use this time to plan the location of your mulch beds, gardens or new decor you’d like to add.

The next step is to decide what seed plants you want to have, and order them in advance of spring. Don’t forget to plan for flats or shrubs, but hold off on purchasing them until spring arrives. Bulbs require the most forethought since they are planted in the fall and will be hidden until they bloom in the spring.

Those are the basics of cleaning up your garden, staying busy during the winter, and preparing for spring!

Be sure to keep an eye out for special Rotoshovel offers around the holidays. Our automatic shovel makes the perfect gift for gardeners. They will not be able to wait for spring!