Take a few easy steps now toward tucking in the beds for winter, and you’ll find planting so much easier next spring! Here are a few simple steps from our Garden Pros!
- Make use of those fallen leaves! You can rake them up and throw them in the compost pile or you can use them as mulch for shrubs and perennials you plant this fall. As for the ones in your yard, running your lawn mower over them will shred the leaves into tiny pieces that will nourish the soil. And it’s SO much easier than raking!
- Get rid of spent annuals and – as long as they are disease-free – throw them in the compost pile too. Replace them with color that will thrive in the cold, like pansies and snapdragons!
- All sorts of yard critters like to munch on young trees – moles, voles, rabbits and more. Protect trees from invaders with chicken wire or a plastic tree guard, both of which we have available here at EJC. Just ask for our Clark’s Vinyl Tree Guard – spiral coils to wrap around tree trucks for winter. Another option is Clark’s Tree Wrap, a paper-based product that is simply wrapped around stems and trunks.
- Clean up your veggie beds! Get rid of any dead/dying foliage or fruit or plants. Completely remove them down to the roots. Rake the garden clear of any debris at all. If you grow tomatoes, remove and thoroughly clean the stakes and cages so they’ll be ready for next year.
- For instant color in your beds, add some hardy perennials that will bring autumn color to the beds for years to come, growing bigger each fall! Joe Pye weed, Japanese anemone, Russian sage, sedum and helenium are just a few examples.
For any other questions about winterizing perennials, shrubs, trees, & more just give us a call at 423-282-3431 or shoot our experts an e-mail at info@evergreenofjc.com!
