Prepping the Garden for Winter

Saturday, September 29, 2007 03:45 AM

Summer is officially over and it certainly feels like fall. By now many local gardens have been touched by a killing frost and with cooling temperatures trees, shrubs, perennials and lawns are going into dormancy to prepare for the upcoming winter.

Many of the vegetables in the garden such as potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, and cabbage should be harvested in the next couple of weeks before the temperatures become too cold as they can only take a few degrees of frost. Other vegetables such as leeks, parsnips, brussel sprouts and kale can stay in the garden until the snow flies as they taste better when they have had a good frost on them. Depending on the weather you can enjoy eating these until mid to late October. This is also a good time to clean up the garden removing any stalks from broccoli, corn etc. and finished plants from beans, peas lettuce and whatever else there may be.

You want the garden to be free from any debris and then if you have a chance dig up the garden with a shovel leaving the soil in large chunks. This will expose any larva, insect eggs, and weed seeds to the elements, hopefully getting rid of them for next year. Also, kill any weeds you may have in the garden so that they won’t have a chance to spread by either root or seed. Prevention is a key element to a healthy garden!

Strawberry plants can be mulched with peat moss to give them some extra protection over the winter months, and then in the spring mix it in with the soil as this will lower the pH in the soil making it more acidic which is what strawberries like.

Raspberries should have any remaining fruit removed and then thin out the weak or damaged canes. The strong remaining canes can be tied to prevent them from breaking due to heavy snow loads.

I have noticed this year that there are lots of mice in the garden and in the bush. Mice can do a lot of damage to plants over the winter months.
Deciduous trees should have their trunks protected by wrapping a mouse guard on the first 4-5 feet from the ground up around the trunk. Mouse guards are a white plastic strip that is easily placed on the trunk and then removed in the spring so that the mice can not chew on the trees bark which in turn can either damage the tree severely or kill it. It is also a good idea to clean up around perennials trimming them back to 4-6 inches from ground level and remove any debris around them giving the mice less hiding spots and things to use in making nests. You want to leave 4-6 inches of stem on the perennial so that the snow will get caught in the stems thus creating a warm protective blanket from freezing.

Tender perennials (zone 4) should get some extra protection by mulching them with peat moss.

Roses should have half of their new growth pruned back now and then next spring the fine tuning pruning is done. You can give them some extra winter protection by covering them with a Styrofoam rose hut. English, floribunda, grandiflora, tea or miniature roses are not hardy for our area so they will need lots of extra winter protection, and depending on the winter may not survive. The many varieties of Explorer, Parkland, shrub, and pavement roses are hardy for our area and should survive our Prince George winter with very little fuss.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden Centres in Prince George