Preparing Your Garden for Winter

Perennials:

• Divide spring- and summer-blooming plants.
• Plant new perennials, especially those that bloom in spring.
• Set up a compost bin for fallen leaves and garden debris. Put diseased plant material in the trash.
• After the ground freezes, spread a winter mulch over any bare soil in the garden. Spread evergreen boughs over bulb beds.
• Clean and sharpen garden tools; store in dry place.
• After frost, clean up perennial beds and borders. Cut down dead flower stems. Dig up and discard any weeds and diseased plants.
• Build a cold frame to overwinter marginally hardy perennials and provide a chill period for bulbs being forced for winter bloom.
• Dig up tender bulbs such as dahlia, canna, and gladiolus. Wrap or cover them with moist material and store in a cool, dark place.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Transplant shrubs or young trees to new locations on the property in early fall.
• If rainfall is sparse, deeply water trees and shrubs -- especially evergreens -- before the ground freezes.
• After the ground freezes, spread a winter mulch -- up to 6 inches thick -- of organic material such as chopped leaves.
• Fertilize young trees and shrubs that have been in the ground for at least a year. There's no need to fertilize old, established trees and shrubs, especially if they're mulched.
• Winterize roses by mounding mulch over the lower parts of their canes. In cold regions, shelter them with a burlap screen.
• Take down and clean out birdhouses. Make repairs over the winter.

Annual Flowers:

• Keep polyspun garden fabric handy to cover annuals when light frost threatens.
• Collect seeds of favorite plants that will breed true to type.
• Take cuttings of geraniums, coleus, impatiens, and begonias to root for houseplants.
• After a killing frost, pull up dead annuals and put them on the compost pile. Discard in the trash any that have fungal disease.
• Clean, sharpen, and store garden tools in a dry place for the winter.
• Mulch annual beds with a 3- to 4-inch layer of chopped leaves or similar material. If you're expecting self-sown seeds to germinate next spring, spread the mulch only 2 inches thick.
• Make notes or save labels of favorite annuals to remember them for next spring.

Vegetables:

• Keep polyspun garden fabric handy to cover summer crops such as beans and peppers if an early light frost threatens.
• Harvest crops such as pumpkins, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and onions. Brussels sprouts, carrots, and other root crops can stay in the ground through light frosts.
• Clean up plant debris in harvested beds. Mulch or sow cover crops on empty beds to protect the soil over the winter.
• Beds where root crops will be stored in the ground over the winter need to be mulched with thick layers of straw or chopped leaves.
• Tend fall crops such as broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and onions until they're mature and ready for harvest.
• Harvest green tomatoes and store them indoors.
• Build more boxed raised beds. Repair trellises. Clean out cold frames.

Perennials:

• Continue checking plants for pest infestations and disease outbreaks. Identify and deal with any factors that may be stressing the affected plants and making them vulnerable to these problems.
• Clean up perennial beds and borders. Cut down dead flower stems. Dig up and remove diseased plants. Weed areas that weren't mulched.
• Divide overlarge clumps of spring- and summer-blooming plants to control their size and renew their blooming.
• Dig new beds and renovate existing ones. Plant new perennials and transplant others.
• Plant cool-weather annuals such as pansies.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Water citrus and avocado trees well to prevent the fruit from splitting.
• Disbud camellias for larger blooms. Water camellias regularly to prevent buds from browning and dropping off. Mulch with pine needles.
• Stop feeding tropical trees and shrubs in September to give them time to harden off for winter dormancy.
• Plant or transplant nontropical trees and shrubs around the property. Delay fertilizing until spring.
• Prune injured branches from trees and shrubs.
• Take down and clean out birdhouses. Make repairs over the winter.

Annual Flowers:

• Plant seeds of cold-hardy annuals for extended winter bloom. Collect seeds of favorite warm-weather plants that will breed true to type.
• Keep polyspun garden fabric handy to cover annuals if light frost threatens.
• Take cuttings of geraniums, coleus, impatiens, and begonias to root for houseplants.
• Continue to weed, water, and watch for pests. Renew organic mulch in areas where it has decomposed and thinned in the heat of summer.

Vegetables:

• Renew beds for fall planting by adding more organic matter such as compost and fertilizer.
• Sow carrots, beets, and other root crops as well as lettuce for fall harvest.
• Set out cole crop transplants such as cauliflower, Chinese greens, cabbage, broccoli, and mustard. Shade them if the days are still warm.
• Clean up plant debris in harvested beds. Mulch or sow cover crops on empty beds to protect the soil over the winter.
• Build more boxed raised beds. Repair trellises.