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Winterizing Your Landscape

As winter approaches, it’s essential to prepare your landscape for the harsh conditions ahead. Proper winterizing protects your garden, plants, and outdoor features from the cold, ensuring they remain healthy and vibrant come spring. At LandWorks, we offer expert guidance and services to help you winterize your landscape effectively. Here’s how you can do it:

Why Winterizing is Important

Winterizing your landscape is crucial for several reasons:

  • Protects Plants: Proper winterizing helps protect your plants from freezing temperatures, frost, and snow, reducing the risk of damage and ensuring they thrive in the spring.
  • Prevents Soil Erosion: Mulching and other winterizing techniques help prevent soil erosion caused by winter winds and melting snow.
  • Maintains Hardscapes: Winterizing your hardscape features, such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls, helps prevent damage from ice, snow, and freeze-thaw cycles.
  • Protects Against Wildlife: Installing fencing and other barriers helps protect your plants from hungry animals that may forage during the winter months.
  • Saves Time and Money: Investing in winterizing services can save you time and money in the long run by reducing the need for extensive repairs and replacements in the spring.

Step-by-Step Guide to Winterizing Your Landscape

1. Plant Protection

Mulching: Apply a layer of mulch to garden beds to help regulate soil temperature, retain moisture, and prevent erosion. This also adds a layer of protection for plant roots.

Wrapping and Covering: Use burlap, tree guards, or other materials to wrap and cover your plants. This helps insulate the roots and reduce the risk of winter damage.

2. Soil Care

Mulching: As mentioned, mulching is crucial for soil care. Ensure you cover all exposed soil to prevent erosion and protect plant roots.

3. Pruning

Dormant Pruning: Dormant pruning is an essential part of winterizing. It helps remove dead or damaged branches, reducing the risk of breakage from heavy snow and ice. Focus on trees and shrubs that need shaping or have damaged limbs.

4. Irrigation System Winterization

Draining and Blowing Out Lines: Winterize your irrigation system by draining and blowing out the lines to prevent freezing and damage. This ensures your system is ready to go when the weather warms up.

5. Hardscape Maintenance

Inspect and Maintain: Inspect and maintain your hardscape features, such as patios, walkways, and retaining walls. Seal any cracks and apply protective coatings to prevent damage from ice and snow.

6. Lawn Care

Final Fertilization: Apply a final fertilization to your lawn to promote healthy growth in the spring.

Aerating and Debris Removal: Aerate the soil and remove any debris to ensure your lawn remains healthy throughout the winter.

7. Wildlife Protection

Installing Fencing and Barriers: Install fencing and other barriers to protect your plants from hungry animals that may forage during the winter months. Use materials like hardware cloth or Ross netting reinforced with rebar to prevent browsing and buck rub damage.

Protecting Your Landscape from Browsing and Buck Rub

Browsing: When animals have limited food choices in the winter, evergreens become their main source. While some species of trees are resistant, there is no guarantee. Deer will eat anything if they are hungry enough. Cages made from hardware cloth or Ross netting reinforced with rebar can help prevent this type of damage.

Buck Rub: Bucks use small caliper trees (6” or less) to scrape velvet from their antlers in late summer/early fall. Vascular damage done by buck rub interrupts the tree’s ability to move water and sugars from roots to canopy, often causing dieback or death of the tree. Tree collars on single-stemmed trees can help in preventing this damage.

Tools & Supplies for Winterizing

To ensure effective and professional winterizing, gather the following tools and supplies:

  • Tin Snips
  • Step Ladder
  • Sharpie
  • Sledge Hammer
  • Zip Ties
  • Hammer
  • 1/2″ Rebar
  • Sod Pins
  • Scissors
  • Post Hole Pounder

Rules of Winterizing

Follow these essential rules for successful winterizing:

  • Understand the Purpose: Knowing why you are winterizing the plant material helps determine the best approach and materials to use.
  • Choose the Right Materials: Select the best materials and installation methods for each specific plant and situation.
  • Allow for Growth: Always cut materials wider than needed to accommodate plant growth.

Winterizing Rounds

Our winterizing services are conducted in several rounds to ensure comprehensive protection:

Round 1 (August)

Focuses on protecting plants from buck rubs by using hardware cloth around smooth and thin-barked young trees and multi-stem shrubs.

Round 2 (September)

Aims to protect susceptible plant material from deer and rabbits using Ross Netting or Black Steel Fencing. This round also includes the use of hardware cloth for plants that need protection from deer, rabbits, and rodents.

Round 3 (November)

Involves protecting trees and shrubs from freeze/thaw cycles, windburn, sunscald, and salt damage using burlap, tree guards, and other materials. This round also includes applying soil around the base of roses and using boughs to cover perennials and ground cover.

Additional Winterizing Applications

We also provide specialized winterizing applications, such as:

  • Anti-Desiccant Sprays: To prevent water loss from leaves or needles, especially for boxwoods and evergreens in exposed areas.
  • Sod Installation: To protect annual soil beds from salt and dog traffic by covering them with sod and securing it with sod pins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is winterizing my landscape important?

Winterizing helps protect your plants, soil, and hardscape features from harsh winter conditions, reducing the risk of damage and ensuring a healthy landscape in the spring.

What does winterizing involve?

Winterizing involves a range of services, including plant protection, soil care, pruning, irrigation system winterization, hardscape maintenance, lawn care, and wildlife protection.

When should I start winterizing my landscape?

It’s best to start winterizing your landscape in late fall, before the first hard freeze. This allows time to protect plants and prepare your garden for winter.

How does winterizing protect my plants?

Winterizing protects plants by insulating roots, reducing the risk of frost damage, preventing soil erosion, and protecting them from hungry animals. Techniques such as mulching, wrapping, covering, and installing fencing are used to provide this protection.

Can you winterize my irrigation system?

Yes, we offer irrigation system winterization services, which involve draining and blowing out the lines to prevent freezing and damage.

Winterizing your landscape can be a complex and time-consuming task, but it is essential for maintaining a healthy and beautiful garden. If you need professional assistance, contact LandWorks today to schedule a consultation for our expert winterizing services. Let us help you ensure your garden remains healthy and vibrant, ready to flourish in the spring.