Winter Garden Damage

Inspect Your Garden Now for Winter Damage

January 8, 2004

This week has been a hard one on your garden. Take time this weekend to do an inspection.

Here are some things you should do:

Trees and shrubs

• Inspect all trees and shrubs for broken, damaged, or over-burdened branches.
• If branches are broken, use sharp pruners or a saw and make a clean cut. You don’t need wax or a sealant on the cuts.
• If branches are bending over, support them with a wood brace or improvise with an inverted broom. You can also tie branches together (loosely) to provide them support as they heal.

Herbaceous plants

• Cut back herbaceous plants that are brown and mushy.
• Mulch heavily around the base to protect from a future freeze.
• Plants that are newly planted would benefit from an extra layer of mulch during this cold weather to help insulate the root system. Be sure to remove the mulch after threat of frost is over (generally considered to be around President's Day).

Containers

• Be sure all planted containers are stored near your house. If they are under your eaves you will need to water them regularly.
• You can wrap your containers with cloth to protect the root system. Do Not wrap in plastic as this may not allow the soil to breath.

What you should not do:

• If we get another icy rain be careful in your treatment of plants. It is interesting to note that ice actually acts as an insulator from very cold weather. Ice is stable at 32 degrees and will protect buds from much colder weather. To prevent unnecessary damage, do NOT shake the ice off the plants that are not weighted down to the point where they could break. The buds are very fragile and you can damage tender stems.

For more information on this topic visit: http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1645/eb1645.html