As fall settles in, many of us have begun putting away our lawnmowers and hanging up our gardening gloves. While the colder months are in full swing, your landscaping tasks are far from over.
To protect your landscape from the harsh winter months and to be ready for next spring, there are a few techniques you can employ to ensure that your plants flourish after the frost. If you’ve never heard of cut-backs and overwintering, these are the two secret techniques that could be the difference between a garden that withstands the winter and one that wilts.
The Best Ways to Landscape Year-Round
Cut-Backs
Cut-backs are one of the simplest and best things that you can do to ready your garden for the chillier months. Cutbacks are aptly named. It is the act of cutting back plants to remove dead or damaged portions before the next season. As fall comes around, many perennials are nearing the end of their season and will begin to show signs of damage or disease. Cutting these plants down to the stalk will help to preserve their roots and eliminate disease or fungus that could spread to other areas of your garden and cause significant damage.
Cutbacks can often seem tricky. While some perennials will quickly whither, making cutbacks an obvious choice, some plants may still be green when it comes time to cut them back. This is precisely when the skills of an experienced landscaping professional come in handy. Without the right expertise, you may run the risk of cutting back plants too quickly or too late, which can cause even more problems down the line and keep you from fully reaping the benefits of cutbacks in your garden.
Overwintering
Overwintering is the act of preparing and protecting your plants for winter. Just like you may store a sports car in a garage for winter to protect it from damage, some plants must come indoors in a garage or basement to “overwinter”.
The method you use to overwinter different plants will depend on the specific plant and its needs. While some plants can just be transplanted into a pot and treated as houseplants for the season, others may need their bulbs stored, or to be kept in a cool, dark place for a dormancy period.
When overwintering, it is important to cut back, dig up the plants bulb, and store them indoors away from heaters and vents that may dry them out.
Hiring Landscaping Services
Cutbacks and overwintering are fairly simple tasks, but they definitely aren’t easy. Properly preparing your garden for winter requires extensive knowledge on each of your plants and the specific ways in which they should be stored over the winter.
Cutbacks that are performed recklessly may result in a garden full of plant shreds, rather than strategically cut plants that will grow again next season. While many home and property owners love gardening, making the right choices for your zone and the season is a lot harder than solving some lawn problems.
It shouldn’t take an advanced degree to make your property beautiful– contact the experts!
Hiring the experienced professionals at The Parke Company for landscape services is the first step to ensuring you receive the kind of landscaping and lawn services necessary to preserve the assets on your property.
From lawn mowing to tree removal, the landscaping professionals at The Parke Company have the experience and the skills to meet the unique needs of your property and bring your design dreams to life.
For landscaping, Nashville, TN, trusts The Parke Company. Give us a call (615-350-6033) or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you.