The weather outside is frightful, as the song has it, but while you’re curled up safe inside by the fire, the frigid Ontario temperatures and snow are having their way with your yard. If you’ve been too busy to prepare them before now, you can still take some steps to help them survive the winter.
Prune Plants, Shrubs, and Trees
Now is the ideal time for trimming perennial plants and pruning shrubs, hedges, and trees, when they’re in winter dormancy. First, call a professional to trim your big trees. It’s too dangerous to prune large or high branches yourself; professionals are experienced in climbing and using heavy equipment and will be safer in the snow than you on a ladder.
Don’t delay because winter storms make trees pose a particular threat, because heavy snow and winds can break off branches that could fall and hurt you or your house.
You can trim a smaller tree yourself , if you follow some guidelines: Is your aim to remove only diseased, damaged, and dead branches or do you want to shape the tree to be more pleasing to the eye? Identify the major branches that form the structure of the tree, and whatever you intend to do, don’t remove them unless absolutely necessary.
Make clean cuts to remove broken branches. Then proceed to removing damaged and diseased branches. Next trim crossing or backwards branches. Trees grow best with air circulation and light through the center. Crossing branches can cause damage, grow fungus, or become homes for insects.
Keep in mind pruning stresses the tree. Pruning increases a tree’s susceptibility to disease and insects, so cut only what you have to. Leave at least 75 percent of branch length alone and only remove branches on one-third of the tree.
Mulch
There are still months of winter ahead, and it’s not too late to protect roots from harsh temperatures to come. Add a good cover of mulch around your trees and in your planting beds. Don’t cover the trunks of shrubs and trees, though, because the moisture in the mulch can cause rot.
Start Color for Spring
You should have planted bulbs for spring by December, but if you didn’t get to it, you can still try. If you can get through the frozen ground, plant the bulbs a little deeper than usual, and insulate with straw.
If you can’t get a shovel through the frozen ground, you can start the bulbs in pots inside with just enough water so that the soil doesn’t completely dry out. When the weather warms up, you can leave them in the pots or transplant them to your garden.
Your Lawn
First, brave the winter air to survey the area and remove anything that’s still on the lawn, like hoses or furniture, and pick up any branches that may have fallen. The less weight and compression on the lawn, the better.
If the snow melts at all, rake autumn leaves you missed in the fall. Go gently, though, so you don’t take the grass with them. Better still, if you’re able to mow the lawn, do that instead, and let the machine chop up the leaves that you can then leave in place along with the lawn clippings to serve as mulch that will reintroduce nutrients into the soil.
Even if you took care of the leaves before Christmas, it’s a good idea to mow cool season grasses like bentgrass, ryegrass, fine fescue, and bluegrass varieties, because they’re susceptible to snow mold. And leave those clippings where they are to feed and protect the grass.
The key to winter treatment for lawns in Ontario is to do some watering when necessary. Professionals can help make sure the roots have the necessary moisture, especially just before a freeze. Naturally, you wouldn’t drive over your lawn (would you?), but also take care to to avoid repeated walking over it. Putting pressure on frozen grass can kill crowns and create bare spots when spring finally comes around.