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When the trees are bare and there are only kale and co. in the vegetable beds, it is high time to winterize the garden. It's not just plants that need frost protection, garden accessories also need to be winterized properly.
Vegetable gardens, grasses and raised beds, but also garden pumps - when the season is coming to an end, you should winterize the garden. But what measures are necessary? And when? In this article, we'll give you all the tips you need to prepare your garden for winter, and we've also put together a checklist of the most important jobs.
When should you winterize the garden?
Before the first frost, it makes sense to winterize the garden. The time can vary greatly depending on the region. So keep an eye on the weather report and rely on your experience. The first frosts usually appear in mid-October on clear nights. The growing season is then over in our latitudes and the plants switch their metabolism to the back burner.
Important: Some potted plants do not tolerate temperatures of just over 0 °C and should be brought into the winter quarters earlier. These include, for example, the Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), the gentian shrub (Lycianthes rantonnetii) and tropical container plants such as banana and bougainvillea species .
Winterizing the garden: Checklist
In this checklist you will find an overview of how to optimally prepare the garden for winter - so that it awakens in full splendor again in spring.
Winterizing the vegetable garden
If you make your vegetable garden really winter-proof, you save a lot of weeding work in spring and at the same time prepare the soil optimally for the next season. Autumn is also the right time to lime the soil if necessary. We recommend proceeding as follows:
- Leave winter vegetables and mulch all around.
- Disease and weedsremove.
- Cut off the lawn edge.
- Loosen up the surface of unplanted beds with a hoe or digging fork. This ensures good ventilation.
- Autumn is the right time for lime fertilization. Because lime is best not applied together with fertilizer to avoid phosphate precipitation and nitrogen outgassing. Liming can bring the soil pH value back into a range that is optimal for vegetable plants and microbial soil life can be promoted. In the vegetable garden - depending on the type of soil - a pH value between 5.3 and 7 is best for the absorption of nutrients and trace elements by the plants. There are commercially available pH tests for garden soil that you can use to test whether liming makes sense at your location.
- Cover beds with a thick layer of mulch made from leaves or other chopped organic material that is available. This prevents soil erosion and microorganisms and earthworms have sufficient food and insulation over the cold season. For more tips on mulching, see our dedicated article on the topic.
Tip: The traditional digging of beds has fallen into disrepute in recent years, as it disturbs soil life and promotes erosion. In the case of soils with a high clay content that tend to compaction, however, it can be helpful to dig up the substrate after a few years, as such soils benefit from frost. In the process, compacted clods of earth are broken up by the effects of frost and the earth becomes more finely crumbly. Soil life will recover after a short time if constant intervention is not carried out.
Lime painting of fruit trees
The bark of fruit trees is heavily stressed by the winter sun combined with freezing temperatures. Stress cracks can occur, especially in younger trees, making the tree susceptible to infection. A coat of lime in autumn significantly reduces the risk of stress cracks, because the white color of the lime reflects the sun's rays and the tree trunk heats up more slowly. You can read about exactly how to paint and how to make lime paint for fruit trees yourself in our special article on the subject.
Winterizing Grasses
Most ornamental grasses sold in nurseries are hardy here.Deciduous ornamental grasses such as Chinese reed (Miscanthus sinensis) or switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) can simply be left where they are. The dead leaves protect the vegetation point of the plants in winter. The clumps can also be tied together so that the leaves do not fly around in the garden when it gets stormy. Cutting off the withered leaves is not recommended, as the natural insulation of the plant is then lost. They also provide hibernation opportunities for insects. With the more sensitive species such as pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana) and giant reed (Arundo donax), however, it makes sense to tie the clumps together and then wrap them in fleece to protect them from the weather. Most wintergreen grasses like sedges (Carex) or grove rushes (Luzula), on the other hand, are shade plants and have another problem in winter - they burn if too strong sun exposure. Brushwood or leaves protect the plants from this.
Tip: In general, excessive moisture is more damaging to most ornamental grasses than frost. Therefore, make sure that the subsoil is permeable. If a fleece is used as frost protection, it is essential to attach it in such a way that no waterlogging forms.
Prepare raised beds for winter
We recommend covering a raised bed in winter to prevent valuable nutrients from being washed out. Follow these steps to winterize a raised bed:
- Remove superficial plant remains and, if they are not diseased, put them on the ground, chopped up.
- Cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch made of leaves or other organic material. The microorganisms decompose the mulch material into valuable humus over the winter and nutrient leaching is held back. Carbon-rich material such as leaves or coarsely chopped straw are best suited for this. The last lawn clippings of the year can also be used. However, this should better be combined with coarser material to avoid mold growth.
- If there is no mulch, the bed can alternatively be covered with a waterproof tarpaulin and weighed down with stones at the edge. This method should only be used when the raised bed is completely cleared.
Winterproof irrigation and garden pumps
In the linesremaining water may freeze in winter. The expansion can cause lines to burst open and leak. In the worst case, moisture penetrates the masonry of the house and causes costly damage. To prevent such unpleasant surprises, it is important to winterize the garden irrigation. Turn off the water line to the outside faucet and turn on the faucet outside the house. Residual water can then drain away and the resulting ice has enough space to expand. If you have a frost-proof outdoor water tap system installed, you can save yourself this measure.
Accessories such as hoses and hose couplings are best removed and stored in a frost-free place. Since they are usually made of plastic, the temperature fluctuations will make them brittle and break sooner.
Tip: Watering cans can also burst in frost. It is best to empty them and store them under cover. If this is not possible, simply attach it upside down so that it does not rain inside.
Preparing the pond for winter
If your pond pump has not been declared frost-proof, it must either be lowered into frost-free, deeper water layers below 80 cm or stored outside the pond. Excessive pressure from ice may bend the impeller of the pump and the device will no longer function properly. If you spend the winter outside of the pond, the pump is first switched off and then the inlet and outlet are emptied. The pump can be stored over the winter in a frost-free place.
If fish live in your garden pond and it is not particularly large, it makes sense to place an ice preventer in the garden pond. If there are longer periods of permafrost, there may otherwise be a lack of oxygen or high concentrations of digester gas in the water. In the worst case, the hibernating pond inhabitants may even die. A commercially available ice preventer made of insulating styrofoam is sufficient to keep a small spot on the water surface open and to ensure sufficient gas exchange between water and air.
Preparing ornamental beds and perennial beds for winter
You can read about how to winterize frost-sensitive garden plants in our special article "Protecting plants from frost". We provide a few additional tips herealready.
Strong sunlight often affects evergreen plants during the dormant phase. Ground frost combined with high light intensity can lead to so-called frost drought. Then the plant transpires water through its leaves, but cannot absorb moisture due to the frozen soil water. As a result, rhododendrons and other evergreen shrubs with curled, drooping leaves are often seen in winter - especially if these plants are in sunny locations. As such, they are best shaded over the winter months. This also prevents the "burning" of leaves, which occurs due to excessive light intensity in combination with cold and thus inhibited photosynthesis performance. High-energy light hits the leaf but cannot be processed and therefore causes oxidative damage. Many evergreen plants therefore turn their leaves red in autumn because the anthocyanins protect against oxidative stress. Find out more about why leaves change color in fall in our special article.
Frost drying of evergreen plants is avoided with regular watering and an insulating layer. A mulch layer of at least 8 cm made of straw, leaves or twigs retains moisture in the soil and insulates the root-covered upper layer of soil from the cold. For sensitive plants such as roses, we recommend piling the mulch material generously around the plant. Our Plantura organic pine bark also insulates the soil, reduces evaporation and also naturally suppresses weeds. It is made from 100% sustainably produced softwood bark and is particularly durable compared to other mulch materials. In spring it can simply be left in the bed and is also a real eye-catcher.
Preparing potted plants for winter
Potted plants need special attention in autumn. Since pots freeze through more easily than soil in a bed due to their small volume and lack of insulation, the tubs must either be additionally insulated or the plants moved to a frost-free winter quarters.
Tropical and Mediterranean plants are sensitive to cold temperatures and cannot overwinter outside. They must be brought indoors at the latest with the first frosts, or earlier depending on the plant species. Overwinter evergreen tub plants such as star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoidis), myrtle (Myrtus communis) or citrus fruits (Citrus). best bright,frost-free, but cool at temperatures below 10 °C. The rule of thumb is: the cooler the place, the darker it can be. Deciduous tub plants of subtropical origin such as Angel's Trumpet (Brugmansia) or Fuchsia (Fuchsia), on the other hand, can overwinter in completely dark rooms at low temperatures. Before wintering, check the plants for pests and remove diseased or dead branches. If space allows, it is better to wait until February before pruning larger branches. Then the plants soon wake up from hibernation and cut wounds are quickly closed.
Hardy pot plants such as boxwood, hydrangeas and roses can stay outside in winter. However, the sensitive root ball must be additionally insulated against sub-zero temperatures. You can use different materials such as bast or coconut mats, but also jute bags and brushwood. To prevent "cold feet" and the drainage hole from freezing up, it also makes sense to place an insulating styrofoam or wooden plate under the bucket. This also prevents clay pots from bursting open.
Tip: It is important for all potted plants to think about watering, even in winter. The soil should always be slightly damp - waterlogging must be avoided at all costs. In fact, it is more common for potted plants to be “cast dead” over the winter than they dry up.
Winterizing garden furniture
Moisture, frost and exposure to sunlight shorten the lifespan of garden furniture, regardless of whether it is made of wood, metal or plastic. In order to protect the material and prevent fading, they should be protected from the weather as well as possible. First you have to decide whether the garden furniture will also be used in autumn and winter. If the furniture stays outside all year round, a suitable protective cover or cover made of plastic is recommended. Since moisture quickly collects under the material when exposed to sunlight and fungal growth can occur, it is important that the furniture is dry and clean when packed.
If the garden furniture will not be used during the winter, it makes sense to store it in a frost-free and dry place. The garage, the basement or the garden shed come into playQuestion.
Tip: If loose screw connections are tightened and hinges oiled before winter storage, the garden furniture will work perfectly next spring and can be used straight away.
A loyal garden companion that is often forgotten during winter preparations is the lawn. You can find out how to properly winterize your lawn in our special article.