Garden Centre

Monday, January 11, 2010

Still snow – garden a no-go area

It’s getting really depressing now – how do people who live in snowy zones cope with weeks or months of blanket whiteness? My Resolution #3 is a non-starter still, there's nothing to enjoy except the view from the window!

I’m also getting a little concerned about what will happen when the thaw finally arrives – I know that shrubs and fruit trees are very vulnerable to dying off through sitting in waterlogged soil in cold weather. This is because they don’t put out new roots nearly as fast as other plants and so can’t cope well with what is essentially an underwater experience.

So, to be on the safe side, I’m taking a few cuttings as soon as the weather warms up because I fear that plants that may seem to make a good recovering will still die off in the summer as a result of root damage. And as soon as the plants are no longer frozen, but before the spring starts, I shall probably prune back a lot of my ornamental perennials and shrubs really hard, so they aren’t supporting a lot of new leafy growth on starved and loosened roots which can lead to root rock. That’s going to mean that the garden looks pretty dire for a while, but better that than losing established plants.

And because snow, like rain, washes away nutrients, I shall be getting out there as soon as it’s warm and dry enough, to mulch the roots of all my shrubs to try and give back some of the goodness the winter has stolen.

This is what the garden looks like today … sad or what?

Labels: garden snow, january garden tips, plants in snow

The All Seasons Gardener at 8:34 AM

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