Prepping for Winter Weather

While there are always times when cold weather can suddenly spring up on the home gardener and landscaper, there is usually time to prepare. Prepping for winter weather isn't all that difficult as long as you take the time to think ahead and do a little bit of planning. Typically speaking, when you are preparing the outside of your home, there are only a few areas that you need to worry about. These areas are listed below, as well as the best way to go about getting those areas ready to face the challenges that come with cold weather.

• Lawn and sod. Many people believe that grass stops growing when the warm weather stops, however this isn't true. The truth is that the grass continues to grow, but rather than up it is growing down. Due to this if you are looking at laying some new sod, or even planting some new seeds, then the late fall time period is the best time to plant it. Be sure that you also lay down some lawn feed in the late October or early November months to help strengthen your grass for the winter weather.
• Pruning. The ideal time to begin pruning your plants is during the late fall and early winter weeks. This would mean that you should begin pruning your trees, bushes, shrubs, plants, and so forth during the last couple of weeks during October and the first couple of weeks during the month of November. By doing this, you will help protect your plants from diseases, while also encouraging new growth when spring time comes around.
• Trees. Just like any other plant, your trees will need some kind of preparation for the coming winter weather. Make sure that you do not have any tree limbs growing near power lines, or over your roof if you can help it. This will help prevent any limbs from becoming damaged during snow storms and falling and potentially damaging the roof or power lines (which can cause other large problems).
• Garden. Take the time to go through your garden and cut off any diseased foliage that you may find. Remove all dead plants that you find, and add them to your composting heap. As you are going through your garden and doing all of this other work keep an eye out for any pest eggs or larvae. If you find any, remove them and the plants that you found them near immediately. Dispose of all of them properly (meaning in the garbage can or by burning) so that they do not infect other plants over the winter months.
• Soil. When winter begins to approach is the perfect time to till your garden soil and mix in some of the compost that you have saved up. The relatively dormant nature of your soil during the winter months is the perfect time to replace some of the nutrients that you may have lost during the last growing season. For the soil under your lawn, you will need to do something similar. Apply some good quality lawn fertilizer during the last couple of weeks in October or the first couple of weeks in November. This will help replenish the nutrients in the soil, and feed your lawn during the winter months.