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winter garden chores

Snow in Your Landscape: Do’s and Don’ts

January 26, 2022

When it snows, gardeners may rejoice that a blanket of the cold stuff serves as welcome insulation during frosty weather, protecting plants from wind damage and moderating soil temperature. Of course, snow—and ice—are sometimes more destructive than helpful. Plan how to take advantage of snow’s benefits and minimize potential damage.

Tie up branches of evergreens with multiple leaders to prevent this kind of damage!

Things to do before a storm
If forecasters predict several inches of snow, preventing harm to your landscaping is easier than dealing with the aftermath.

  • Mark where your yard ends and the street begins. Putting up snow stakes may prevent snowplow damage to your street-side plantings. You can purchase commercial stakes or make your own from rebar or pressure-treated 1-inch by 1-inch wooden stakes painted orange. For our area, stakes 3 feet tall are tall enough—bury them 8- to 12-inches deep.
  • You may want to mark the location of garden paths or sidewalks to facilitate clearing them after the storm and to avoid inadvertently treading on your plantings.
  • If you have particularly vulnerable shrubs or trees, tying up branches or constructing shelters may help prevent breakage. Better yet, consider resistance to snow and ice damage when selecting trees and shrubs for your landscape (see list of more and less resistant tree species, below).
  • Think twice about using deicers before or after a storm—particularly salt-based ones—to avoid poisoning plants (see additional information about the benefits and risks of specific ice melters, below).

Minimizing damage after a storm
Your landscape may come through a storm unscathed but if not, take care to avoid causing even more damage to your plants or yourself!

  • Be careful about trying to remove snow or ice from trees and shrubs. 
    • Often it is best to leave snow or ice to melt on its own.
    • Never stand under a snow or ice laden tree—branches may break unexpectedly!
    • Shaking a tree to remove snow can do more harm than good.
    • Don’t try to remove snow using downward brushing. Rather, try reaching underneath branches from a distance with a broom or pole to dislodge snow.
  • Avoid shoveling snow onto your plantings. In addition to the weight of the snow, you may be adding soil, grit, and/or gravel to your beds.
  • Consult an arborist about whether you can save severely damaged trees: https://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist/arboristsearch 
  • Use proper pruning techniques to remove damaged branches on trees and shrubs; see first link below for more resources about pruning and other management issues.
Leave snow and ice on young trees that bend because they can often recover by themselves when the snow and ice melt.
Shoveled snow often contains material you do not want in your planting beds!
Severely damaged trees may require removal or extensive pruning.

Take time to dream!
Be sure to survey your landscape during and after a storm, not only to prevent or repair winter damage, but to evaluate where you might add winter interest in future years, and what new projects you’ll undertake this spring, summer, and fall. Happy year-round gardening!

Article by Debbie Green, Extension Master GardenerSMVolunteer


For more information:

Preventing and Managing Ice and Snow Damage to Landscape Plants:
https://gardening.ces.ncsu.edu/2022/01/preventing-and-managing-ice-and-snow-damage-to-landscape-plants/

Information on ice melters: https://granville.ces.ncsu.edu/2016/01/ice-melters-and-their-effects-on-plants-2/

Ratings of trees’ ice storm resistance (p. 12)
https://www.kansasforests.org/community_forestry/community_docs/Trees%20and%20Ice%20Storms.pdf

 

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Categories General Gardening, Seasonal Chores Tags freeze, ice damage, landscape planning, snow damage, snow removal, winter garden chores

Garden Planning: Think Small!

January 31, 2021

 

Fairy gardens are the ultimate in thinking small

Looking forward to a new gardening year, we often think big: We’ll have the biggest vegetable garden ever—grow all the flowers we’ve been meaning to try—or how about starting an herb garden—replacing foundation plantings? While it’s cold and we’re dreaming we can be most ambitious—but also most creative! So consider how thinking small might mean your best gardening year, yet!

Some ways of thinking small
Now is the time to map out your garden projects, buy seeds, start preparing for planting—and the time to consider how to garden smart.

Incorporating edibles into your landscape
  • Rather than starting a whole new garden for vegetables, fruits, or herbs, consider integrating edibles into your existing landscape. A recent North Carolina Extension publication (see references below) provides sample plans for both in-ground and container plantings for a variety of sun/shade conditions.
  • Consider using smaller plants as well as smaller gardens.
    • Many vegetables and fruit trees come in “dwarf” or “compact” varieties, allowing you to grow more produce in smaller spaces.
    • Minigardens/container gardens may use these smaller plants, but also capitalize on closer spacing of plants in the ground or using unused above-ground space on decks, driveways, patios, and porches to grow plants in containers.
    • If you have existing gardens, consider replacing overgrown plantings with trees/shrubs/perennials that better fit the space available.
Patio tomatoes don’t need staking and can be planted in containers

Maintenance
It’s easy to think about great times in your garden when you’re stuck inside, but now is the time to think about the gardening tasks you hate as well as those you love! I share a plot in our local community garden, and it is always sad to see all the number of plots abandoned in midsummer when weeds or insects or diseases overwhelm. Shrubs and trees in many home landscapes look just as abandoned!

Dwarf fruit trees are easier to maintain than full size fruit trees

Some ways to minimize maintenance:

  • Reduce areas you need to water
  • Reduce areas you need to weed
  • Choose disease-resistant varieties of vegetables and herbs
  • Choose shrubs and trees that need little pruning to keep looking good and staying within the space—both horizontal and vertical—that’s allotted
  • Avoid plants that need frequent deadheading or cutting back—including lawns
  • Mulch unplanted areas

 Article by Buncombe County Extension Master GardenerSM Volunteers

 For more information:

Growing edibles in the Landscape:
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/growing-edibles-in-the-landscape

Dwarf tomatoes:
https://extension.psu.edu/dwarf-tomatoes-save-space-and-taste-great
https://www.dwarftomatoproject.net

Growing vegetable in minigardens:
https://www.tnstate.edu/extension/documents/GrowingVegetablesinMiniGardensContainers.pdf

Low maintenance landscaping:
https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6902

 

 

 

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Categories General Gardening Tags garden planning, vegetable gardens, winter garden chores

Winter Interest: Look Around!

February 28, 2020

Now is the time to take an honest look at your landscape. Do you see a sad bunch of dead-looking sticks and sprouting weeds or a bounty of interesting tree silhouettes, colorful leaves or bark, and even some blooming plants?
If things look grim, now’s the time to take stock! In addition to your own garden, look at others’ landscapes for plants, trees, shrubs, and bulbs that appeal to you and plan to add some for next year.

What to consider

In taking a look at your yard, note these features:
• The big picture—does your garden have good “bones” in winter? Now is the time you see if you have misplaced or overgrown trees and shrubs—and to do your winter pruning! Consider removing or replacing your mistakes to increase winter appeal.
• Perennials that go dormant gracefully—many perennials have “disappeared” because their foliage dies back and is easily removed—daylilies show how this can make a difference in how your garden looks in winter. Some daylilies go fully dormant here and as we approach spring begin to show fresh new leaves, while those that are semi-dormant or evergreen varieties may look less attractive throughout the winter.

Look for perennials that have neat rosettes of leaves that look fresh in winter or leaves that turn brighter colors. Bergenia is one popular garden ornamental that looks good at this time of year with its red/bronzy leaves. Some native plants that look tidy at this time of year include horsemint (Monarda punctata) and some Heucheras.

Container Garden with Heuchera and Bergenia

• Interesting bark—some native trees that have bark that draws attention in winter include hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), river birch (Betula nigra), shagbark hickory (Carya ovata), sycamore (Platanus occidentalus.). Some desirable smaller ornamental trees are paperbark maple (Acer griseum) and crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica). Some native shrubs with attractive bark include the peeling bark of oakleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) and red stems of the redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea).

Shagbark Hickory
Redosier Dogwood

• Early bloomers—Among desirable ornamental small trees and shrubs that bloom in winter in Western North Carolina are Chinese witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis), corneliancherry dogwood (Cornus mas), paperbush (Edgeworthia chrysantha), pussy willow (Salix caprea), winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata), and winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum).

Pussy Willow
Winter Jasmine

Perennials that bloom early include many hellebores (Helleborus spp.). Other plants that we see in winter bloom are tender perennials such as snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), or reseeding annuals or biennials, such as pansies (Viola spp.).

Hellebore

Winter blooming bulbs include some crocus and daffodil species (Narcissus), and snowdrops (Galanthus spp.).

Crocus and Snow Drops
Daffodils

When to plant
You can plant many perennials, trees, and shrubs this spring if you keep them watered during dry spells. Order bulbs for planting in late fall.

Article by Debbie Green Extension Master Gardener Volunteer

For more information:

Do You Know How to Properly Plant Trees and Shrubs?https://wilkes.ces.ncsu.edu/2015/04/do-you-know-how-to-properly-plant-trees-and-shrubs/

Spring-Flowering Bulbs: Trials in North Carolina https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/spring-flowering-bulbs-trials-in-north-carolina

 

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Categories Seasonal Chores Tags garden planning, winter garden chores

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