In the Garden

Prepping for Winter

by: sArA williAMs

Our growing season is short but intense. As winter approaches, we’re often hit equally with the urgency to get our garden chores done before the snow flies and with a sense of relief that it will soon be over and we can put our feet up.

In many ways, our plants look after themselves. The progressively cooler fall temperatures combined with longer nights signal plants to ‘shut down’ for winter. But gardeners can help to ensure the success of this annual passage from one season to another.

Getting ready for winter generally revolves around planting hardy bulbs for next year’s bloom, thorough irrigation and the preparation of lawns, perennial flowers, the vegetable patch and annual flower beds. It’s also a time to give semihardy plants a bit of extra protection. Here are some suggestions.

Hardy Bulbs

Fall is the time to plant bulbs for next year’s blooms. Purchase and plant them as soon as they become available from stores, garden centres or specialty catalogues. Select bulbs that are large, firm and free of mold, wounds or injury. Larger bulbs produce more vigorous plants with more flowers. You get what you pay for.

Most bulbs require full sun in well drained soil. Their planting depth varies with the size of the bulb. A rule of thumb: plant a bulb three times as deep as its height. A bulb two inches high should be planted so that its base is six inches deep, with the pointy end up. For a natural appearance, place similar varieties in groupings of three to five bulbs.

A word of warning: Not all bulbs sold on the prairies will make it through our winters. Crocus, narcissus, hyacinths, paperwhites and daffodils are seldom reliably hardy here.

The following tulips should last several years: ‘Apeldoorn’, ‘Beauty of Apeldoorn’, ‘Golden Apeldoorn’, ‘Golden Oxford’, ‘Parade’, ‘Pink Impression’, ‘Orange Emperor’, ‘Pink

Emperor’, ‘Red Emperor’, ‘White Emperor’ (‘Purissima’), ‘Yellow Emperor’,

‘Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Toronto’.Also consider the totally hardy tarda tulip (Tulipa tarda). Only four to six inches tall with yellow, whitetipped petals, it soon forms colonies. T. urumiensis is similar but pure yellow.

Among the hardy minor bulbs (so called because of their small size) are Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), striped squill (Puschkinia scilloides) and grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum).

Several fritillaries (Fritillaria spp.) are very hardy and perennial on the prairies: the chequered lily (Fritillaria meleagris), the Kamchatka fritillary (F. camschatcensis), Michael’s flower (F. michailovskyi) and the Siberian fritillary (F. pallidiflora). The imperial fritillary (F. imperialis) is not dependably hardy.

Ornamental onions, often marketed under whimsical names, are terrific plants for our prairie gardens with flowers in white, yellow, pink or blue. Don’t let

41622 - Dowling Studios

Lindal Cedar Homes I 76 Year Anniversary

A world leader in home design, engineering, quality materials and customer service. Effi cient. Unique. Guaranteed pricing. Delivered anywhere. Lifetime Structural Warranty Rural I Urban I Recreational

40695

41388 - David Vandervort Architects

Barb & Doug Pocha, Owners PRAIRIE CEDAR HOMES INC. FINE POINT CEDAR HOMES

Independent distributors of Lindal Cedar Homes 306.934.6666 I 855.554.6325 www.PrairieCedarHomes.ca

What not to do: Pruning and the application of fertilizer on grass in late summer or fall is not recommended. It promotes growth at a time when plants should be shutting down and entering dormancy for the winter.

the botanical names put you off. Rather, consider Latin names a form of insurance that you’re getting what you want. Among the most dependable are the lily leek (Allium oreophilum), the nodding onion (A. cernuum), the Turkestan onion (A. karataviense), golden garlic (A. moly), yellow flowered garlic (A. flavum), blue globe onion (A. caeruleum), drumstick allium (A. sphaerocephalon), Persian onion (A. aflatunense), Lebanese onion (A. zebdanense) and German garlic (A. senescens).

Lilies can also be planted and separated in fall. Among the most dependable are the Asiatics and Martagons. Along with retail outlets, lilies are available from the Canadian Prairie Lily Society bulb sale held every September in Saskatoon (www.prairielilysociety.ca.), with proceeds supporting scholarships for horticultural students.

Water!

‘Winterizing’ begins with water. Give trees, shrubs, perennials and lawns a thorough watering prior to freeze-up, particularly if newly planted. Where possible, water to the depth of their root system and a bit beyond. Don’t forget plants under roof overhangs, where moisture from rain may be low or non-existent, especially on south or west exposures.

And remember to blow out your sprinkler system prior to freeze-up to avoid damage to the manifold, pipes and heads. Not only is it highly inconvenient when discovered in the spring, it’s expensive to repair.

lawns

Snow mold is a combination of several fungal organisms that thrive under moist conditions at temperatures around freezing (0–7°C). It appears on lawns in early spring as a grey, cotton-like growth visible under the retreating snow, in patches of a few inches to several feet.

The mold is favoured by early snowfall on unfrozen ground. Damage is generally worse where the snow lingers longest. In spring, encourage a fast snow melt in affected areas by raking away the snow as soon as mold is noticed. The fungi become inactive when exposed to sunlight, temperatures above 16°C, and once the lawn is dry.

Fall is the time to reduce snow mold’s impact. Allow your lawn to harden off. Do not fertilize, especially with nitrogen, after August 15th. Mow as long as the grass is growing. Your lawn should go into winter no higher than 2–3 inches. Longer grass becomes matted under the snow and is an ideal environment for snow mold.

Thatch, a layer of partially decayed organic matter on the soil surface of the lawn, is an excellent habitat for snow mold if over one half inch thick. Use a mulching mower to decrease the size of clippings and dethatch your lawn each spring if the layer becomes excessive.

Rake your lawn prior to snowfall, removing leaves and other organic material that provides initial food for snow mold. It’s easy to rake the leaves from the lawn onto adjoining flower and shrub beds as a mulch.

Or, mow with a bag attached to your mower, and cut and remove leaves in one easy swoop. Add the bagged clippings and leaves to your compost pile or spread them over your vegetable area. By spring they will have practically disappeared while adding valuable organic matter and nutrients to the soil.

Budding hockey players in the family? Snow compaction favours snow mold. Place your ice rink on the vegetable garden rather than the lawn.

Perennials

Unless diseased, perennial foliage should be left intact until next spring. If you can’t live with the browned leaves, leave at least six to eight inches in place until spring.

Why? The old foliage protects the perennial crowns from winter injury, especially during winters with little or no snow. It is especially helpful for newly planted perennials and for those that are marginally hardy. Dead tops also serve as mini snow fences. The extra snow is a great insulator, further protecting the crowns from cold and desiccation.

Now is also an excellent time to mulch or top-dress perennial borders. Use compost, shredded post peelings (a by-product of the fence post industry, usually sold by the cubic yard), well-rotted manure or the leaves from your lawn. A 3–4 inch layer looks great, adds organic material to your soil, insulates the perennial crowns, conserves moisture and reduces weed seed germination. It also provides a winter home for lady beetles. However, if you’ve had problems with iris borers on bearded iris or grey mold (Botrytis) on lily foliage, remove as much of the old foliage as possible as it could provide them with over-wintering sites.

Veggies

When dealing with the vegetable garden, bring in the harvest, compost the remaining vegetation (as long as it is not diseased) and then prepare the soil for spring seeding and planting. Rototilling or digging the area in the fall exposes insect eggs, larvae, pupae and adults to foraging birds and winter cold, lessening their impact for the next year. And you weed as you till. The addition of compost, well-rotted manure, dry leaves or alfalfa pellets adds organic matter and nutrients, improving the soil.

Fall is also a good time to plant a row of garlic.

annual Flower Beds

Follow the same guidelines as you would for the vegetable garden, and you’re set to go next spring.

lending a Helping Hand

Some trees have thin bark that is vulnerable to ‘sunscald’ and frost-cracking on the south and west sides of their trunks, especially when they are young. Among these are Japanese tree lilacs, some apples and crabapples, mountain ash and Amur cherry. Sunlight reflected off snow in late winter and early spring hits the trunks, causing them to warm. The tree is misguided into thinking it is spring, water enters the cells and the tissue begins to metabolize. When temperatures fall below freezing at night, the water freezes and expands, damaging the cells and tissue. This is seen as sunken sunscald areas and frost cracks on the trunk and dieback above the damaged areas the following spring. Prevent these problems by shading the lower trunks or using flexible commercial tree guards or wraps

Young conifers, especially cedars on a south or west exposure, often brown due to desiccation from winter wind and sun. Wrapping them in plastic or burlap is not the answer and often aggravates the situation. Water them thoroughly in late fall so they have as much moisture as possible going into winter. Then apply a four-inch layer of mulch at the base using post peelings or leaves removed from the lawn.

Finally, place a temporary three-foot-high burlap screen about two feet away from the cedar on the southwest side, secured with four-foot poles. The screen will deflect wind while shading the evergreen foliage from strong sunlight, thus preventing moisture loss and resultant browning.

Mulch semi-hardy perennials. Don’t skimp. Apply four inches to the soil surface around them. Leaves raked from your lawn work well as do shredded post peelings. Water these perennials thoroughly just prior to freeze-up.

Now, sit back, relax and wait for the snow.

Sara Williams