By Blake Jackson
As winter approaches, Wisconsin homeowners should prioritize yard cleanup, composting, bulb care, watering and proper pruning to protect their landscapes from cold weather.
Although mild fall temperatures may make winter seem distant, time is running short, especially in northern Wisconsin.
Bruce Spangenberg, horticulture outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, recommends focusing on cleaning up garden spaces and preparing plants for the colder months ahead.
Removing dead vegetable plants, flowering annuals, and fallen leaves is an important part of fall maintenance. However, gardeners do not need to cut back every perennial or ornamental grass. Leaving these plants standing until spring can provide visual interest, food for wild birds, shelter for beneficial insects, and additional protection around plant bases during winter.
Fall cleanup also offers an opportunity to start or maintain a backyard compost pile. Gardeners can combine brown materials, such as fallen leaves and dried plants, with green materials, including grass clippings and fresh green leaves.
Shredding plant material helps it break down faster. Turning the pile regularly supplies oxygen, while maintaining moisture similar to a wrung-out sponge supports decomposition. Finished compost can later improve garden soil.
Gardeners should also plant spring-flowering bulbs as soon as possible. Planting them during fall allows roots to develop before winter, while exposure to cold temperatures helps prepare the bulbs for spring flowering.
Summer-flowering bulbs, including gladiolus, caladiums and cannas, require different care. These should be dug up and stored properly because they cannot remain in the ground through freezing winter conditions.
Watering is another important consideration during fall, particularly when rainfall is limited. Depending on local soil conditions, evergreens, deciduous trees, shrubs, groundcovers and fruit crops may need additional moisture before the ground freezes. Evergreens deserve particular attention because adequate soil moisture helps prepare them for winter.
Spangenberg also advises gardeners to be cautious about pruning during mid-fall. Spring-flowering shrubs generally should be pruned immediately after flowering rather than in autumn.
Rose pruning is usually best postponed until spring, when gardeners can remove branches and stems damaged by winter temperatures.
Most evergreen pruning should also wait until spring. For deciduous shade trees and fruit trees, late winter or early spring is often a better time for dormant pruning, after the harshest winter temperatures have passed.
Completing these seasonal tasks can help Wisconsin gardeners protect their plants, improve soil health, and prepare their yards for healthy growth when spring returns.
Photo Credit: university-of-wisconsin-madison
Categories: Wisconsin, General