Preparing Trees for Winter
You’ve cleaned your vegetable beds and your flower beds, but what about your trees and shrubs?
Should you do anything to help them through the cold season?
Well, yes, actually.
- Water! Your trees are much more likely to survive the Winter time if they’ve received adequate moisture in the Fall. If there hasn’t been enough rain (i.e., every season nowadays), make sure that you water your trees thoroughly before the soil freezes.
- Clean and mulch. Remove weeds, or at least invasives, and apply some form of mulch around the tree, 3 inches deep, 3 inches from the trunk (a mulch “volcano” is actually quite harmful), and ideally up to the drip line.
- Protect the trunk from rodents. Install fencing, plastic spirals, or this handy sanded paint to the trunks to keep them from being girdled.
Enjoy the Fall!
