As the temperatures drop and the sky darkens with predicted snow, our December “tips” are aimed at making your winter landscape chores a little easier!
Winter Mulching: Nature’s Comforter for Your Plants’ Roots
Though trees and plants are dormant during the cold winter months, they may still suffer damage from frigid temperatures, winter drying and pooling ice around their roots. Though pruning in the spring can mitigate problems of frozen, dead branches, it is in the root systems that horticulturalists see problems which cause mortality for trees and plants in early spring.
Use these winter maintenance tips when The Farmer’s Almanac calls for a cold and snowy Colorado winter
An additional layer of mulch on garden beds and around trees during winter can help alleviate drying and keep soil temperatures warmer. Mulch will also keep ice from pooling around plant stems and roots, a problem that can cause “freezer burn” and dessication of crucial rootlets responsible for early uptake of moisture in the spring.
Shredded mulches are better at winter protection than chunky barks, and break down into helpful compost more easily over the years. If you prefer the bark pieces but want to protect your landscape’s roots, you may rake back the bark chunks, install a shred on the soil and then recover with the bark. The more stable shredded mulch may also keep your bark from dislodging during winter storms and winds.
Boulder Landscape and Design offers a Four Season Maintenance Plan that includes over-mulching in winter as well as winter watering. For the best health for your property, call us for a free Four Season estimate at 303-443-3460.
Last Call for Winter Fertilizer for Your Lawn
Though we have been programmed to look for the rapid greening of lawns in spring as a sign of turf health, early spring fertilizers actually push the new grass blades to their limits, often weakening the overall health of the grass plant in the process.
Slow release nutrients over the winter build strong roots for spring
A much more nurturing way to ensure an optimal lawn is to feed it with a slow release winter fertilizer that will strengthen the roots of the plant first and allow it to produce healthy green blades on nature’s schedule. There will be plenty of green showing in the spring and your lawn will be less likely to suffer from fungus or pests than a forced lawn!
Apply a slow release winterizing fertilizer no later than mid-December to beat the hard soil freezes of winter. Boulder Landscape and Design offers winter fertilization with organic compounds as part of their Four Season Maintenance Plan or as a single service. Call us at 303-443-3460 to schedule.
