Chicago Landscaping: Do You Know How to Winterize Your Garden?

Learn How to Protect Your Chicago Landscaping Investment by Winterizing

With the Cubs in the playoffs and the warm days of Indian Summer fresh in mind, winterizing the investment you’ve put in your Chicago landscaping may not be top of mind.

But now is the time to think about it, and it’s not hard if you know what you need to do.

Let us teach you!

To begin, handle these winterizing items after you’ve done your fall clean up (yes, fall clean up carries the bulk of the workload). Not sure what fall clean up in the Chicago area should look like? See our post here on these 9 Fall Clean-up Items. For a short list, we’ll review them here:

Fall Clean Up:

1. Aerate your lawn
2. Fertilize your lawn
3. Plant new shrubs, trees and bulbs
4. Divide plants and cut back perennials
5. Cut dead limbs (do not prune until spring)
6. Mulch your newest plantings
7. Clear out irrigation systems and gutters
8. Rake and compost leaves
9. Mow one last time (shorter)

 

Now that you’ve got those items out of the way, wait for frost and then:

1. Mulch or cover flower beds and plants

If you followed your fall clean up, you’ve already mulched new plantings to give them a leg up. So take the time to cover your garden beds to give them a little extra warmth during the worst of winter’s chill. Do wait until the first frosts have penetrated the soil, though. For covering plant roots and beds, you can use:

• burlap

or a few inches of:

• shredded mulch
• pine needles
• composted leaves
• straw

Keep in mind that snow makes an easy and convenient mulch, as it insulates the plants. Also remember that as long as you plant for the zone, your plants should be hardy enough to survive a typical winter. (And, for the record, you’ll keep your mulch in place until the frost is gone from the soil in the spring.

2. Water your lawn, flowers and other plantings.  

Before you mulch, make sure your plants are well hydrated to get them through the long winter months. Don’t forget this easy but important step.

3. Winterize Roses

You’ll want your roses to start shutting down for winter, so ideally you’ll have last fertilized them in August and stopped deadheading in early September. Once we’ve had a few days of hard frost (low temps of around 25 degrees F), mound your mulch about 8 inches deep at the bast of the plants. To prevent wind damage, you can use twine to loosely tie the taller canes. Climbing rose canes can be laid out on the soil and covered over with dirt.

4. Bring smaller plants inside

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That wasn’t so hard, was it?

Now come inside, make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and put your feet up!