Part of your yard care is to cut back the dead stems on your perennials after they have been killed by the frost. You want to inspect all your shrubs, woody perennials, and trees and prune away dead wood for the compost pile. Any of the branches that are infected with cankers or disease need to be removed and thrown away. If any branches have been damaged or broken by storms they can be very susceptible to disease so these also need to be removed. The remainder of the pruning jobs can be left until early spring.
Plowing your
vegetable garden will expose any insects and their larvae that are wintering underground so the birds will have a healthy meal. If you turn the soil it can also help to control diseases and fungi. Just as you turn a compost pile to aerate it and speed up decomposition, tilling garden soil will also do the same, so add some grass clippings, shredded leaves or manure for immediate composting. A healthy garden starts out with some good healthy soil, so on a nice day prepare your soil for next year. A healthy garden or yard can take care of the problems of insects, weeds, and diseases by itself.
The benefit of adding mulch to the garden and yard as part of your fall yard maintenance helps control the soil temperatures. Instead of thawing and re-freezing everytime there is a warm winter day the mulch covered soil will generally stay a constant temperature. This keeps your plants completely dormant and will minimize root damage due to heaving caused by frost until spring arrives. In order to not smother the plants your winter mulch must be permeable for water and air. Some of the winter mulch materials that are non-matting are: evergreen boughs, pine needles, shredded leaves, salt hay, wood shavings, weed-free straw, and
compost. You do not want to use whole leaves because they pack down and suffocate the plants. The majority of plants will need 4 to 6 inches of mulch. For open or exposed garden areas burlap or garden fabric can be laid on organic mulch to keep it in place.
Most plant damage during winter is due to problems with moisture, not the cold temperatures. In the dry climate areas, such as the southwest, as much as ninety-five percent of plant loss during the winter is because of dehydration. In the wet climates, such as the Pacific Northwest and the northeast, the soil and plants both may get water logged and can either suffocate or become damaged by frost heaving. All plants need to be well hydrated when they enter winter dormancy. If you are a gardener in a dry climate, or an area that suffers from drought, you need to water your plants on a regular basis until the ground has frozen. If your climate is very dry, you may need to water your plants monthly right through winter even if the ground only partially freezes. Wetter climates have the opposite problem; the rains cannot be stopped so the solution is to have good drainage.
Yard maintenance also means protecting your plants from another threat, that of cold, drying winds. If a garden is exposed and/or receives a lot of dry winter winds, those plants would really be grateful for a little wind protection along with a layer of mulch. Fences, walls, hedges, and shrubs will be able to buffer the winds and help to protect a covering of mulch. You can also use shade netting or burlap as a temporary windbreak to protect your plants from wind damage.
