{"id":8774,"date":"2020-11-12T22:02:15","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T22:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=8774"},"modified":"2025-11-10T14:48:41","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:48:41","slug":"how-to-prepare-your-garden-for-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/how-to-prepare-your-garden-for-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare Your Garden for Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

13 Tasks to Get Done Before Old Man Winter Arrives<\/h2>\n

You\u2019ve dusted off your winter coat and changed the tires on your car, but preparing for the ice and snow ahead doesn\u2019t stop there! It\u2019s time to grab your gardening gloves and get busy in your backyard preparing your garden for winter. Worried it\u2019ll take ages? I promise it won\u2019t. You can even get the job done over a weekend. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

Protect Your Trees<\/h3>\n

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Before the first frost, you\u2019ll want to give your trees and shrubs a really good drink of water. You see, it\u2019s easy for trees to lose the moisture they need to thrive over the winter months. This is especially the case for coniferous trees and shrubs. So make sure you water them generously.<\/p>\n

Next up? Wrap up the trunks of your trees with burlap. This is especially important for young trees or trees that are exposed to the elements (road salt can do a nasty job on trees). But when you wrap their trunks with burlap, you\u2019ll protect them from all the elements \u2013 and even hungry deer!<\/p>\n

Finally, don\u2019t toss fallen leaves to the curb. Leaves are an excellent protective mulch for trees (and many more plants \u2013 more on that in a bit). So layer your leaves under trees when you\u2019re tidying the backyard. They\u2019ll thank you for it.<\/p>\n

Put Your Garden Beds to Bed<\/h3>\n

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 <\/p>\n

After the first frost, go ahead and add compost to your garden beds. This will really benefit your garden when the temperatures warm. Once the ground freezes, add leaves to your garden beds to protect perennials from snow and ice.<\/p>\n

You might be tempted to get out your gardening sheers and go to town on stalks, but sometimes a plant\u2019s leaves \u2013 even if they\u2019re dead! \u2013 can help to protect it from the cold.\u00a0 Moreover, many blooms like asters, goldenrod and sunflowers can actually provide food for birds through the winter. So\u2026put down the sheers please.<\/p>\n

Ready Your Lawn<\/h3>\n

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What to do with all those leaves scattered on your lawn? Well you\u2019ve already learned to add some to your garden beds and at the base of trees, but you can also pile them up strategically on your lawn too! Some critters, like frogs, might find them incredibly helpful to stay warm through the winter!<\/p>\n

Make a Plan That\u2019s for the Birds!<\/h3>\n

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This is the perfect time to make a plan to feed the birds for the winter. Migratory birds need to fuel up along the way to their overwintering sites, so make a plan to help them along the way! For starters, have a good look at the feeders in your backyard. Do you have a range of feeders available? You might want to add a new one for the winter. Maybe a platform feeder is in the cards? Or a nyjer feeder? You can learn more about the different kinds of bird feeders here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, it\u2019s time to suds up. Cleaning out your feeders is a boring process but it\u2019s so important for the health and safety of your birds! Regular cleaning is necessary if you\u2019re going to feed the birds in your backyard. After a snowfall, before refilling the feeder, give it a good clean. You\u2019ll also want to give the feeder a deep clean every few weeks \u2013 empty the feeders and, using hot soapy water, clean the feeder with a stiff brush, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies of the feeder. Be sure to dry the feeder before filling it and putting it back up.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Forget Your Water<\/h3>\n

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Before you do anything else, make sure to turn off your water outside. If you forget, you can really damage hoses and it\u2019d be a waste to have to buy a new hose in the spring. While you\u2019re at it, check your rain barrels. Are they empty? Are they covered from the elements? Make sure you take care of this too before the cold sets in. Finally head on over to your pond and clean out any leaves that might have fallen in.<\/p>\n

Winter is a great time to certify your garden as wildlife-friendly! Learn more.<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
13 Tasks to Get Done Before Old Man Winter Arrives You\u2019ve dusted off your winter coat and changed the tires on your car, but preparing for the ice and snow…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":8780,"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":[631,641],"tags":[463,680,609,8526],"class_list":["post-8774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-connect-with-nature","category-gardening","tag-autumn","tag-backyard-gardening","tag-gardening-for-wildlife","tag-wildlife-friendly-gardening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8774","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=8774"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16126,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8774\/revisions\/16126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}