Get your home ready for winter with these 7 landscaping tips. Maintain your outdoor space for a beautiful year-round look!
Have you already locked your garden shed for the season? Not so fast, you masterful DIY decorator and proud lady of your castle. Maintaining your home’s landscaping during winter makes it more beautiful year-round and provides the proper conditions for spring planting. Plus, you swell with pride when you pull into your driveway.
What should you add to your weekend to-do agenda? Here are seven tips to maintain your home during winter.
1. Protect Your Plant and Garden Structures
Even if you live in a warm state like Arizona, temperatures in some regions can dip low, endangering plant life. You could lose your prized specimen if you don’t know about frost blankets and which plants need them. You should apply these before the first freeze or frost, so head to your local gardening center to stock up once you evaluate what you need to protect.
It isn’t only the growing things in your garden that need attention. Now’s also the time to remove mold and mildew from fences and sheds. Mix half a cup of white vinegar with a gallon of water, scrub surfaces with a soft-bristled brush and rinse with a hose. Don’t rely on cold temperatures to kill the spores — they simply go dormant — and wear a mask while cleaning to avoid inhaling any.
2. Winterize Your Lawn
If you have grass, a little prep work protects it from winter snow and ice. Give the lawn a final mow, and rake up any leaves and debris. Aerate and dethatch using a special tool you can rent from many hardware stores if you don’t own one.
However, have you ever considered how nice it would be to skip mowing every Saturday? Xeriscaping is much more eco-friendly while sparing your aching back. You’ll want to remove the sod before the ground freezes and use a barrier to discourage new growth. Follow the suggested instructions for planting new ground cover — while you can install rock and garden walls, you might need to wait until spring for some species.
3. Clean and Clear Beds
Now is also the perfect time to prep your garden beds for spring. Here are the steps you should take to winterize your garden beds:
- Clear away all weeds: Now is the time to remove plants you no longer want and add them to the compost pile.
- Ensure the soil has adequate moisture: Turn off irrigation and detach hose bibs to prevent freezing.
- Mulch: It’s the best way to protect the soil and roots of remaining plants until spring.
What if you can’t stand to part with a precious plant but doubt its chances of making it through the winter? Transplant them into containers when possible to bring them indoors. For example, if you planted a fiddle leaf fig too late in the season, it will thrive in a sunny corner in a cute holiday-themed planter until spring, giving it a better survival chance outdoors.
4. Plant Some Winter Blooms
Did you know some plants bloom in the winter? Adding some of these species to your beds after cleaning them out can make your house cheerier to come home to, and brighten you and your guests’ spirits through winter days:
- Hellebore
- Camellia
- Snowdrops
- Witch Hazel
- Pansies
- Winter jasmine
- Cyclamen
- Ornamental Cabbage
5. Create Texture With Bark and Berries
Another way to make your window boxes and gardens pop with color and texture during the cold season is to use bark and berries. For example, hollies grow in zones three through ten, and their signature shiny, dark green leaves and bright red berries scream “home for the holidays.” They also make natural additions to wreaths and centerpieces.
Other plants that produce fabulous berries in winter include:
- Elderberry — the juice comes in handy during cold and flu season
- Wild grape
- Hawthorns
- Mountain ash
- Winterberry
- Black chokeberry
6. Incorporate Evergreens
People brought evergreens into their homes during the holidays to symbolize that life goes on despite the cold. However, they look just as beautiful in their native habitat, so include them around your home.
You need not line your property with towering pines. Many species of juniper grow as shrubs.
Of course, if you love trees, you can decorate for the holidays while providing a welcome snack for the birds that nest within. String popcorn along a cotton string, loop it around the branches and make the most festive feeder this side of the Mississippi. Use plain, air-popped popcorn and natural fiber to keep your feathered friends from ingesting dangerous chemicals.
7. Light Up Long, Dark Nights
Winter means long nights. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your landscaping when the temperature cooperates.
Use the power of the sun in the form of solar stakes that illuminate trees and shrubs around your garden. String a series of energy-efficient LED fairy lights around your patio and add a fire pit for a cozy place to sip cocoa.
Winter Landscape Maintenance Tips for Your Home
The work you do on your home’s winter landscaping keeps it beautiful all year long. It also prepares your soil for spring. Follow these tips and add more life to your outdoor living space.
Cora’s passion is to inspire others to live a happy, healthful, and mindful life through her words on Revivalist – wholeheartedly convincing them that everyday moments are worth celebrating. Cora has spent 5+ years writing for numerous lifestyle sites – hence her sincere love for both life and the beauty of style in all things. Keep up with Cora on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.
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