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5
How to prepare your yard for cold weather
Depending on how you feel about cold weather, it may already feel like winter, but winter hasn't officially made its appearance along Alabama's Gulf Coast. At least not quite yet. December 21 officially marks the beginning of winter in lower Alabama. With the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season already in full swing, now is the time to cross one thing off your to-do list: getting your yard ready for winter.
Your yard needs preparation for the extreme weather changes ahead. If precautions aren't taken before winter truly arrives, your yard may suffer. Check out the tips below to knock it off your list, so you can focus on holiday festivities.
1. Create a compost pile for your garden
Insulating your garden during this season is crucial to keeping it alive. By collecting fallen leaves, fruits, woodchips, vegetables, and more, you can add these materials to your garden. Not only are you protecting the garden from frost, but the vitamins and nutrients in the decaying materials also help keep the soil healthy for the next planting season. It is important to add this compost pile to your garden before winter starts to ensure healthy soil in the spring.
2. Aerate and keep grass short
During cold weather, mowing your grass to a height of 1-1.5 inches allows for easier aerating; by aerating, you are supplying the soil with maximum exposure to oxygen. Aerating is conducted by stabbing the yard with hollow tines. Homeowners should be aerating their yards every fall so that their soil has an even distribution of airflow.
3. Fertilize
Using a rotary spreader, distribute fertilizer all over the yard per the specific instructions of your fertilizer. To stimulate soil nutrients better, use a high-phosphorus fertilizer, and distribute the fertilizer evenly in the yard with the rotary spreader. Also, ensure you fertilize the areas in your yard with the highest moisture content, which tend to need more fertilizer in order to ensure healthy soil in the spring.
4. Protect Plants
Surround your best shrubbery and trees with a wire protectant called hardware cloth to prevent pests and animals from damaging foliage. To protect rosebushes, use rose cones (or homemade cones) to fill with small leaves. These rose cones last all winter and can be removed in the early spring.
