Here comes the cold season.  It is now time to prepare our homes, cars and our selves for the low temperatures. But what about our beloved garden and lawn? Winterizing your lawn and garden is all about keeping it thriving or alive until the following year. Contrary to what most people think, winter does not kill your lawn or your garden.  During this period, the grasses are just hibernating, like some animals during winter.

Timing is important when winterizing.  You do not want to have your lawn deprived of any kind of nutrients or vitamins while the ground is not yet freezing.  Give adequate time for your grass and lawn to absorb as much sunlight and other nutrients they can.

• Rake leaves and clear the lawn of any kind of debris to allow more sunlight to be absorbed by the grass.  Check with the local waste management council about the disposal of garden and lawn wastes, there are some states and locations where it is illegal to include yard trimmings in the trash. Leaving the trimmings could cause the mildew and molds to develop.

• You could use weed control in your lawn even if they will be covered with snow. Just like grasses, weeds still grow.  By using weed control, the weeds would not return in spring.

• Another thing to check on your lawns when winterizing would be the pH levels.  You would need to attain a balanced levels of nutrients in your soil, this would ensure that the lawn will be absorbing the nutrients or fertilizers in the soil and prepare for growth during spring.

• Fertilizing the soil to prepare for the winter is also important. When looking for winter lawn fertilizer, it is high in potassium.  Potassium encourages the growth of roots, no the growth of leaves and flowers.  Fertilizing the soil is usually recommended to start after September or October.  If you would be fertilizing too late, the grass could still continue grow and eventually be damaged by frost.

• Aerating is also important when winterizing your lawn.  Grass tends to be compressed and the packets in the soil where oxygen could be easily available to the roots. Oxygen is essential when roots and plants are breaking down the sugars stored from their photosynthesis.   You could use punch-core aerator which is commonly used in golf courses.  Aside from that, raking could also mildly aerate the soils.

• A thin layer of thatch is good for the lawn but if the layer of thatch exceeds more that ½ inch, then it could cause problems with your lawn.  It could limit the flow of air  which could eventually cause diseases and fungal problems.

With proper winterizing your lawn will be able to survive harsh climates. Winterizing your lawn may require a lot of work, but when spring comes, you would see the difference and the advantage of preparing for the winter.  If your lawn is not that well cared for, then winterizing would help in rejuvenating your lawn and making it easier to manage during spring.

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10. Winterization Within Budget

Due to the freezing cold, harrowing winds and frost, and possible snowstorms, winter poses a great many challenges for any gardener. At this time of the year, plants are more at risk for developing diseases and eventually dying. You don’t want either of that to happen to your plants, do you? So to prevent any eventualities, you have to winterize your garden. The main reason for winterizing your garden is to protect your plants from the harsh winter elements and help them survive the cold season, so you can have a healthy and productive garden in the spring. Garden winterization is done during the fall season, just before the cold temperature sets in.

Gardens vary in the same way that gardeners do. But although gardens differ, there are winterization procedures that are applicable to all garden types. Here’s a few of them:

1. Rake off leaves from your garden. Doing so prevents diseases among plants and allows proper air and water circulation. Dispose of the leaves by adding them onto your compost. However, if the leaves are from diseased plants, throw them into the garbage to prevent the compost from being contaminated.

2. Cover plants with mulch. This will act as blanket to protect your plants from frost and winter extreme weathers. Unless your place is in the colder zone, use thin layers of mulch, as thick and compact mulch may work against your plants. Use sawdust, pine needles, straw, or shredded leaves as mulch, and apply them around the roots and over the beds.

3. Relocate delicate plants indoors. All plants that can’t survive winter weathers should be moved inside. Place them in a cool and dry place; do not forget to water them regularly. Do not, however, over-water the plants, as this may result in rot. As soon as the spring approaches, place them in sunlit areas.

4. Plant hardy, spring-blooming bulbs in the late fall. By this time, the soil is soft enough to accommodate bulbs. It is recommended to plant them two to three inches from the ground. The more delicate bulbs, on the other hand, should be kept indoors, particularly in a cool and dry room, as they can’t stand the winter cold outside.

5. Do not fertilize. Fertilizing encourages new growths that will be too tender to survive frosts and cold temperature. Should you need to fertilize, do this early in the fall. All fertilization should be put to a halt by mid- to late fall and resume only in the spring.

6. Clean up your plants. Remove the dead and damaged parts, then add the trimmings to the compost pile, unless of course they are cut from diseased plants.

7. Eliminate the weeds. Because weeds grow a lot during the fall, get rid of them as soon as you spot their presence. Otherwise, they will multiply uncontrollably and give you a lot of work come springtime.

When winterizing your garden, figure the possible winter extremes in your area, so you can adjust and better prepare your plants for the coming season.

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10. Winterization Within Budget

Do not be discouraged about your love for gardening just because the colder season is about to come. You cannot do anything about this, not unless you would be willing to relocate somewhere, like in countries that only have two kinds of weather. You don’t really need to go that far because there are steps that you can in winterizing your garden so that you can preserve the effort you have invested in it and to prepare it for the next season when you can tend to it again.

This may sound added work, especially if you are going to attend to many other things at home. But for people who are keen about gardening and love seeing the results of their labor, here are the things that must be done to prepare the area for the winter season.

1. When do you start preparing the garden for the colder months? You will notice change on the color of the plants. As this occurs, leaves will begin to fall off.  This is a clear indication that it is time to act on your plan so that you will still have a healthy garden when next year comes.

2. Dig up all your plants from their roots to tips. If you won’t do any measures and you will let dead plant remnants on the garden, you are allowing remnants and rodents to have a feast when it is already winter. To avoid this, you must remove the dead plants and place them in a compost pile. You can also choose to leave the remnants in the garden. You can simply let these at the top of the soil until these have dried up. Plow the soil along with the dried plants early spring or during the later days in fall.

Why do you need to till the dead plants and fallen leaves on the soil?  Through this, the garden will be able to absorb nutrients from the plants. If you will leave the plants and do nothing about it, the soil won’t be able to easily absorb the nutrients and this is going to cause delay on the warming of the garden soil when it is already spring.

3. In the fall, you should not put fertilizer on the soil. This is a great way of caring for the environment because this product will cause bad long term effects and besides, it is a waste of money. Nothing is going to absorb it anyway with most plants getting withered or fallen. And besides, if you rely so much on such product, it will eventually be washed away on creeks and wetlands and may cause harm in the process. If you are such a big fan and you cannot do away with fertilizers, do it in spring.

4. You can also add chemicals on your garden during fall, especially if you are such a big fan of these products. Before you do, check the pH level of the soil and add sulfur or lime if it is needed. You can easily spread these chemicals and plow the soil after.

In following these wintering techniques for the garden, you are making it easier for you to start all over again when spring comes and you can start planting anew.

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Just because you have done the last of your autumn lawn task doesn’t mean you are completely done; you still have to winterize your lawn mower in time for the cold months. Winterizing a lawn mower means prepping it up for the season’s storage. When you properly winterize your lawn mower, you can save hundreds of dollars from costly repairs and you can even prolong the years of your equipment.

Here’s a quick guide on winterizing your lawn mower. Follow them carefully to have a competently geared up lawn mower come springtime.

Empty the gas tank.
This will prevent remaining gas from clogging your carburetor. And you don’t want that to happen because it will mean spending hundreds of dollars for repairs. So before you store your lawn mower for winter, turn on the mower until it eats up all the remaining gas and stops on its own. Restart the engine. If the lawn mower doesn’t start, you have successfully drained the gas tank.

Change oil.
Refill your oil tank with fresh oil, and make sure the amount is sufficient: not too much, not too little. Dispose of the old oil properly as described by hazardous waste management policies in your area. Do not pour it down the sink, sewer, or ground. If you can, find gas stations in your area that collect old oil for proper waste disposal.

Clean or change the air filter.
You can clean the air filter if it is made of plastic, but buy replacements for filters made of paper. It is recommended to replace air filters at least once during the mowing season.

Remove the spark plug.
Then, pour lubricating oil through the plug hole and crank the engine a number of times to distribute the oil. Now, reinstall the plug. If your spark plug, however, is quite old, you need to buy a replacement. You know you need to replace it if the lawn mower reaches a hundred hours of use.

Clean the undersides.
Grass clippings and other foreign materials may have stuck between blades, so scrape them off to prevent rusting. You can also hose them down for easy dislodging. Scrub the undersides and the surface area to remove rusts using a steel wool. To remove greasy materials, use warm and soapy water. Allow the lawn mower to dry before storing. Remember to wear gloves when cleaning the lawn mower to prevent hand injuries.

Sharpen the blades.
Although you can have them sharpened before re-using, it is better to sharpen them during winterization to save some time. You can either sharpen the blades on your own or send them to a professional. Apply protective oil to keep the blades from rusting during the cold months.

Store the lawn mower in a secure place.
You can keep it in your garage or basement, or wherever it is safe. Cover it with plastic and place mothballs near the lawn mower, so no rodents will take residence in it. Properly winterizing a lawn mower assures you that you have something to work with come spring.

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2. Winterizing Your Garden: The Basics To Follow

3. Winterizing Techniques that You Can Apply at the Garden

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As the season changes and you start feeling the coming of winter, you should prepare yourself for various winterizing tasks that must be done to make sure that everything will fall back into their right places after this season has passed. Aside from the interiors of your home, you should also place importance at your lawn when preparing everything for the change in season. During the colder months, what do you think will happen at your lawn? It doesn’t stop existing just because you won’t see it as much with snow covering most of the area. It remains to be where it is, but it is up to you how to keep it healthy and ready for the next time that you will utilize it again.

During winter, the lawn doesn’t really die, it only becomes dormant because of the extreme cold. Your task is to prevent certain problems from developing so that the soil can be fully utilized in the spring. Help the soil retain as much nutrients that it can absorb before the winter arrives. While it still hasn’t arrived, you can keep on mowing and watering the grass at the lawn so that it could take in nutrients before it rests in the next season.

Here are some things that can help you prepare the area for the wintry months ahead.

1. All debris and fallen leaves should be raked from the lawn. Through this, the sunlight can still penetrate the area while it is still there. This will also help eliminate soils win poor condition and only the healthy kinds will be retained as you help balance its pH content. Through raking, you help lawn become exposed to better aeration. This helps in making the grass appear greener during spring. Raking also prevents viruses from developing that may be caused by the molds that will form when the area is consistently covered with snow.

2. At fall, you must practice applying weed control on the location. Through this, weeds won’t be a problem next year when lawn is ready to be used. By doing this, you are not only eliminating obvious weeds but you are also helping in making sure that there won’t be any weeds that will grow in the lawn the following year.

3. Take time to compost because this is better than using fertilizers on the soil. This can be achieved by simply raking in all dead leaves and plants along with the soil so that the latter can absorb the nutrients coming in from these dried plants.

There are more things that you can apply in winterizing the lawn. You can look at the matter this way – if you are storing food at your home for the season to make sure that you will be survived and all members of the family will stay healthy despite the cold weather, this is also how you must look at the condition of the soil. Even as the season changes, you must still tend to the soil to make sure that it would be healthy and ready to be used after the snow has gone and you can plant anew on the lawn.

Related Articles:

1. Prepping Up: Winterizing Your Lawn

2. Winterizing Your Garden: The Basics To Follow

3. Winterizing Techniques that You Can Apply at the Garden

4. Winterizing A Lawn Mower: A Step-By-Step Guide

5. Winterizing Your Home

6. Winterizing Your Pool: How To Keep It From Winter Damage

7. Your Diet May Need Winterizing

8. Get Through The Tough Road By Winterizing Your Car

9. Wintering Your Boat: How To Prepare It For Winter

10. Winterization Within Budget