By Jennifer Fairfield, owner Garden Mill
(Publisher’s message: Part one published yesterday.)
Flowers
If you’re like me, the sudden cold snap we got in November caught you by surprise, and you didn’t get everything done that needed to be done in your garden at the time. And, if you’re like me, even though it was much warmer in December, you had way too much going on to get back to all your garden chores.
The one thing I didn’t get done was putting mulch down on some of my flower beds. This could cause me problems later in the season, as mulch helps to prevent frost heave, which happens when wet soil freezes, causing the expansion of the moisture in the soil to push plant roots up out of the ground. Mulch is our plants’ best defense as we go through the typical freeze-thaw-freeze cycles of a Michigan winter.
So, if my mulch pile isn’t totally frozen, I plan to get out there and get the last areas covered. If you have flower beds that don’t have enough mulch on them, I highly recommend fixing that problem sooner, rather than later.
Make plans this month for your flower beds, just like you do with your vegetable garden. Deciding what new plants you want, as well as what old plants need to be divided or moved, can help you get to work right away in the spring.
Trees & Shrubs
If you didn’t get burlap screens up around your evergreens, finish that task now, while you can still get stakes in the ground. In case we needed a reminder, the last couple of days’ high winds should serve to remind us that it gets pretty windy around here in the winter.
Those winds, combined with the frozen ground that doesn’t allow the plants to take up water, are the perfect combination to dry out and damage evergreens. The thing that won’t help your evergreens is wrapping them up like mummies. This sort of “protection” can do far more harm than good.
When the snow really starts flying (you know it will at some point), take a look at your trees – especially the evergreens – to see if the snow is weighing down branches. If so, it might be a good idea to try to clear the snow from them to prevent damage.
Gently brush the snow off, but be careful not to bang on the branches, as that can do even more harm. Don’t try to remove ice that is encasing branches though. You can cause far more damage than the ice on its own. Let it melt off naturally, and enjoy the beauty of the ice sparkling in the sun.
Indoor Plants
Winter is a good time to give indoor plants some attention. Dust on leaves can keep the plants from getting sun – already in short supply at this time of year – so clean it off. Moving your plants closer to the windows can also help plants get more sun, but be sure that their leaves are not touching the cold glass, and that plants aren’t in drafty areas.
Make sure your indoor plants are getting enough humidity at this time, too. If you don’t have a whole-house humidifier, and it’s not possible to have a room humidifier in every room where you have plants, there are still ways to increase the humidity around them.
One way is to put the plant on a tray of pebbles that is kept filled with water. The plant’s roots shouldn’t be in the water all the time, but the evaporating water will humidify the air around the plant. You can also put trays of water out around the plants to accomplish the same thing.
With the exception of a few plants, including African Violets (which need regular fertilizing to keep blooming), don’t fertilize indoor plants for the next few months, as they need a period of rest from growing.
Birds
Keep your feeders filled during the winter to provide the birds a reliable source of food, and provide you lots of entertainment, as you watch them come and go.
Putting a heated birdbath out will provide birds with a much-needed source of water, when most water is frozen. It’s also lots of fun watching their antics in the water.
