January 16, 2012

What To Do In A Hot/Cold Winter

Lets Talk About The Weather….and Your Garden: It’s another hot and cold winter, great for our heating bills, but not so good for the plants. It’s not that plants love extreme cold so much as they need a certain level of consistency.

Much like our own bodies, plants have difficulty with constant temperature fluctuations. If you have been reading this blog for a while, than you have read about how plants create their own anti-freeze in preparation for the winter. Of course when temperatures reach the fifties as they are predicted to do next week in the New York vicinity, plants are tricked into thinking that maybe it is spring and they start responding to that shift by growing. Growth can be disastrous if the warm spell is followed up by extreme cold as was experienced recently.

There is very little if anything we can do to prevent damage due to weather shifts, except perhaps mulch more heavily to protect plant roots and slow down the tendrils of freezing weather until it is consistent. Mulch will also give bulb and perennials shoots a little extra cover and prevent the growth tips from freezing to heavily. We can take advantage of the warm spells when they come to combat seasonal affect disorder and maybe even do some work on the garden.

The ground is not really frozen, nurseries are holding a fair amount of material due to poor fall sales, and the opportunity to get your outdoor spaces ready for the spring as well as get outside in the process will always lighten spirits. Take a look at your foundation plantings first and see what’s missing plant wise. Look for any “hardscaping” (walkways, fencing, paths, etc) that you might be able to get started on. Avoid pruning anything but dead wood for a little while longer.

Unless done in very late winter, pruning runs the risk of stimulating growth, which is the last thing you want to do in uncertain weather conditions. You can also spray anti-desiccant on evergreens which will help protect them in harsh winds when the cold finally does come.

Posted in: Winter Gardening