{"id":11949,"date":"2022-10-17T19:09:04","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:09:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=11949"},"modified":"2022-10-17T19:46:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T19:46:42","slug":"16-things-you-might-be-forgetting-to-do-for-your-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/16-things-you-might-be-forgetting-to-do-for-your-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Things You Might Be Forgetting to do for Your Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve turned off the water outside.<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve made brush piles with all the fallen leaves. Your garden\u2019s fully prepared for the winter<\/a>, right? Well\u2026pretty close!
\nBut there are a few things that you might be forgetting!<\/p>\n

Protect Your Flowers<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Give you perennial blooms \u2013 whether they\u2019re flowers or shrubs \u2013 a good watering this fall. They need a decent amount of water to quench their thirst and give them the sustenance they\u2019ll need to make it through the winter months.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a new bed that just needs some plants to go in in the spring, you\u2019ll want to cover that space with mulch now so you can deter weeds from growing. On the other hand, if you\u2019re thinking of creating a new bed then you should also put down some cardboard and newspaper to suppress the grass that\u2019s likely there right now.<\/p>\n

Help Your Young Trees<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve planted a young tree this year, you\u2019ll need to give it a little more support to keep it healthy through the winter. Trees might be strong on their own but when they\u2019re young, they need a little more support \u2013 particularly if they are harbouring heavy snow or ice on their branches. So get out some cloth ties and tie branches that need a little extra help!<\/p>\n

Protect Against Disease<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Get your scrub brush at the ready! It\u2019s time to clean your bird baths! Simply remove any debris, wash them out with water and a bit of dish soap and some bleach, give it a really good rinse, dry and you\u2019re set. It\u2019s easy to forget to clean our bird baths but considering how many diseases our backyard birds can get from dirty water, it\u2019s super important to make sure these baths are clean.<\/p>\n

One Last Mow<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Thought you were through with mowing the lawn? Wrong! You\u2019ll want to mow your grass one last time for the year! Make sure that you cut the grass before winter. That\u2019ll help to stop the grass from developing brown patches when spring arrives again.
\nThrowing your garden clippings in the compost is a great idea, but just make sure you don\u2019t put any diseased plant clippings in!<\/p>\n

Keep Your Tools in Good Shape<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Make good use of your garage over the winter months! Empty out your outdoor planters and bring them into the garage to keep them from breaking. Bring in hanging baskets and don\u2019t forget to get rid of all the water in your hose and store it in the garage as well!
\nGive your tools a good clean and sharpen them now! You\u2019ll thank yourself in the spring.<\/p>\n

If your compost pile is open on the top, you can protect it by covering it with plastic this fall \u2013 otherwise, you won\u2019t be able to protect it after the snow falls! It helps if the covering you use is easy to remove so you can add more organic material through the winter.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a rain barrel, empty it out and cover it before the temperatures dip.<\/p>\n

Leave the Leaves<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

While you could create leaf piles in the corners of your garden, there\u2019s been a movement to encourage people not to rake at all. Yup! That means retiring your rake entirely! Because many of our butterflies and moths need the leaves to finish their lifecycle, these leaves are important to them. Then in the spring, or when the temperature is consistently above 10 C, you can tidy up \u2013 or better yet create a new bed with spring native plants!<\/p>\n

Plan for Next Year<\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Dreaming of spring already? Keep the winter blues at bay by planning for next year. Wander around your garden and take a note of what plants thrived and which struggled this year. It\u2019ll help you make better decisions next year! While you\u2019re at it, have a look and ask yourself \u2013 does this garden offer shelter, food and water for wildlife? You might be able to certify your garden as wildlife-friendly with the Canadian Wildlife Federation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve turned off the water outside. You\u2019ve made brush piles with all the fallen leaves. Your garden\u2019s fully prepared for the winter, right? Well\u2026pretty close! But there are a few…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":11950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[631],"tags":[463,9317],"class_list":["post-11949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect-with-nature","tag-autumn","tag-garden-for-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11949"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11955,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions\/11955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}