17 mandatory works to prepare the cottage for winter
Even in late autumn on the dacha the gardener still has a lot of work. Until the moment when frost passes and the ground is covered with a thick cap of snow, it is necessary to continue caring for plants and perform as many useful works as possible, which will help the garden to survive the winter. In this article we will talk about how to prepare your garden for winter and the most important tasks in the garden before the cold weather sets in.
Table of contents .
Harvesting
1. Harvest the fruits
Both trees and shrubs require special attention in the fall. At the beginning of the month, be sure to carefully inspect the crowns of the plants: there are almost no leaves on them now, and you can easily see if there are any fruits left there. If so, they should be removed immediately. On the fruits and inside them can overwinter pests and diseases. Usually, rotting fruits and berries are not used for compost: most often, they are just thrown away.
Check the wool and trunk; these should also be removed from all fallen berries and fruits.
leaf litter
2. Handling Fallen Leaves.
All fallen leaves on the property should be collected. A variety of rakes can be used for this purpose. For example, combine a wide- and narrow-toothed rake to gently pick up the fallen leaves.
What to do next with the leaves? If leaves are collected from trees that were not injured last season, they can be used to cover shrubs, tree trunks or compost. Leaves collected from diseased trees burn better, and use the ash left after burning them to fertilize the soil. This is the safest and most proper way.
Inspect all gutters and leys on the property. If they are clogged with leaves, remove them. To keep the leys clear of clogs, install plastic nets, which are commonly used for rodent control. They let water through, but not leaves.
Preparing the garden for winter: fruit trees
After collecting leaves and plant debris, you can start preparing fruit trees for winter. From this largely depends on the health of the plants, and therefore the next year’s harvest. The better care in the fall, the healthier the orchard will be in the summer.
3. Check the bark
Old dead areas that are beginning to fall off the tree should be removed and then treat the area with 1% copper sulfate. Thoroughly remove lichen and moss with a wooden scraper and also treat the area with 1% copper sulfate or its equivalent in a concentration of Bordeaux liquid.
Tip
Check for cracks in the bark at an accessible level. It is advisable to moisten them with Bordeaux liquid, as infection, pests and diseases can accumulate there for overwintering. This way you will protect the tree.
4. Remove the hunting straps.
If hunting straps have been installed, you must now remove them. The paper ones (disposable) should be burned (they will no longer be useful) and the cloth ones (reusable) should be washed, dried and put away until spring. This is a necessary job.
5. Sanitary cleaning of the crown.
All dry shoots Signs of disease and lower crowns, must be removed with a coach, garden knife and garden saw. This will definitely cause the crown to thicken. Be sure to insulate all cuts with garden varnish in a viscous state or, better yet, garden color.
6. Pest and Disease Treatments
When most of the leaves have fallen off, which is usually in mid-November, you can start treating the plants against pests and diseases. If plants suffered from mold or other fungal infection last season, they should be treated with three percent burgundy. If the trees have been affected by lithium, scab, mildew, and other similar diseases, you should moisten the crowns with urea. Prepare a solution and dilute 500 g of this nitrogen fertilizer in a bucket of water. Sprinkle 3 percent Bordeaux liquid around the plants.
This treatment will help with all dormant phases of pests and diseases. For maximum effect, you can loosen the aerial trunks and fuselage to a depth of about 20 cm – careful not to damage the top layer of soil. This will promote more active frosting of the top layer and the death of dormant pest stages.
7. Tree nutrition.
Fall fertilization is necessary. Now nitrogen fertilizers are not used as top dressing, but phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and wood ash can and should be applied.
Under trees older than five years, it is necessary to make a tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate, under young trees – half as much. Under shrubs less than five years old, several teaspoons of superphosphate and potassium sulfate are applied. For young specimens, the dose should be halved.
Wood ash can also be applied. Under trees and shrubs, apply 25-300 grams, which are scattered on the surface of the layer and the root zone.
8. irrigation systems
Irrigation systems in late fall mean watering. A moist base freezes more slowly, and this irrigation provides the root system with additional moisture, which protects it from drying out (especially if there was a lack of moisture in the fall).
Under mature trees (older than 5 years), you can pour 5 buckets of water for free. Further it is necessary to add a bucket according to the age of the tree. The limit is 20 buckets. For young trees and shrubs, two to three buckets of water is sufficient.
Ideally, this watering should provide moisture to the soil to a depth of one meter. Soil absorbs moisture better if about 10 liters of water per hour is poured on it.
Tip
If the floors are tight, you can make grooves or other depressions and fill them slowly with water. In this way, the moisture will penetrate into the ground and will not spread over the site. You can install a hose, calculate the water pressure and the time in which a certain rate occurs. In this way, gardeners can easily carry out the discharge.
During this period, the water temperature should be about a few degrees above the air temperature.
At the end of watering, be sure to pay attention to bites and segments. You can use humus or compost. Mulch protects moisture from evaporation and serves as additional protection for plant roots.
9. Vitta Trees.
Trees should be whitewashed in late November. This will also protect them from pests and diseases, as well as sunburn in winter and spring. It is necessary to whitewash the trunks and the bases of the skeletal branches. For this purpose, it is best to use ready-made whitewash and garden paints, which can be purchased in stores. However, you can make a solution yourself – dilute 3 kg of lime and 500 g of copper sulfate in a bucket of water.
Start whitewashing when the risk of heavy rains that can wash away the whitewash, is minimal. That is in late autumn. You can later, but not before.
Tip
You should not whitewash trees planted in the current season, this can harm them.
10. Protecting against rodents.
Winter damage caused by rodents can be detrimental to plants, especially ring damage.
Special plastic nets can be purchased to protect the base of the logs from rodents, which are inexpensive and can be used for several seasons.
If plastic netting cannot be purchased and installed, the trunks can be wrapped with nylon tights, roofing material, or plastic bottles cut lengthwise.
Ideally, the trunks should be protected to the height of the snow cover, on average about 90-110 cm, but this may vary depending on the region.
grape protection
11. Preparing grapes for wintering
Pay attention to the grapes. After all the foliage has fallen, the vine should be pruned and treated with 3% iron sulfate. Then the bunches should be covered with spruce branches, and if winters in your area are very harsh, then with reed mats or straw, to provide mandatory protection against rodents in the form of poison.
Autumn shrub work
12. Removing shoots.
Excess shoots from the soil surface, all withered and diseased shoots should be cut off. When removing shoots in the middle of the crown, be sure to make incisions on the outer bud so that the shoot grows on the outside of the bush, not inside.
13. Pay attention to currants.
It’s time to prepare currants for the cold weather. If black currants have branches over five years old, they should be removed. In red currants and other flowers, cut off shoots older than eight years old. You can start such pruning at the end of November. This way you will rejuvenate the bush, and it will begin to grow with renewed vigor.
14. Overwintering raspberries
The plant is not capricious, but regardless of whether it is a remontant or conventional, it is necessary to remove all fruit-bearing shoots from the soil surface.Inspect the bush; if the shoots are more than 15, then throw out the extra, the weakest, even if they did not yield this season. The area around the raspberries can be recultivated to prevent the spread of overgrowth. The main thing is to do it properly, to the full bayonet of the shovel.
15. Care for blackberries.
For blackberries, separate the shoots from the supports, lay them on the ground and cover them with fleece. Take care to protect against rodents: spread poison. Every gardener should have these means in his arsenal, mostly in the form of pellets.
working with the ground
16. Dig over the ground.
In dry weather, dig over the garden without breaking up the clods, so that the soil is well frozen and harmful microorganisms are killed.
To summarize.
17. Sort out your tools.
Shovels, cleavers and similar tools are worth paying attention to. Tools should be cleaned of dirt, wrapped in oiled paper and hidden in a shed or other outbuilding.
All hoses and irrigation systems unscrew, blow through, clean of dirt, and remove, otherwise they will freeze.
At this point, preparing your garden for winter in the fall can be considered complete, such care extends the healthy life of your plot.
Watch a video from the YouTube channel on rodent control:
Read also about other fall chores in the fall:
What garden chores in November How do we cultivate the soil in the fall we cultivate the lawn before winter ___________________________________________ and how do you prepare your garden for winter? Share helpful tips with other gardeners in the comments.
Getting your garden ready for winter: What to do in the fall?
Traditional fruit and berry crops – apples, pears, plums, cherries, currants and gooseberries – are well adapted to our harsh winter. But they also suffer in recent years – the weather has become very unpredictable. Therefore, the plants need help. What should be done at the end of the season to make the garden winter-proof?
Fertilise trees and shrubs
Why it’s necessary. In autumn, plants store up food for the winter. And the more of them will be accumulated, the easier it will be to endure adverse weather. However, at this time there are very few nutrients in the ground – everything was used in the summer. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an autumn fertilization.
How to do it. For each fruit plant has its own timing and rates of fertilization (doses are given per plant):
- Apples and pears – immediately after harvesting: 1.5 cups of superphosphate and 1 cup of potassium sulfate;
- Plums and cherry plums – after harvesting the fruits: 3 tablespoons. spoon of superphosphate and 2 tablespoons. spoon of potassium sulfate;
- Cherries and cherries – at the end of September: 1 cup of superphosphate and 3 tablespoons. A spoonful of potassium sulfate;
- Currants – in late September to early October: 0.5 cup of superphosphate and 1 cup of potassium sulfate;
- Gooseberries – at the end of September – beginning of October: 1.5 tablespoons. Spoonful of superphosphate and 4 tablespoons. Spoonful of potassium sulfate.
It also makes sense to sprinkle tree trunks with humus or compost – they also increase the winter resistance of plants. Organics are put under berry trees every year, and under fruit trees – every 2 – 3 years recultivate, 3 – 5 kg per 1 sq. m. of the regular circle (1).
But on no account should mineral nitrogen and fresh manure be applied! They delay the maturation of the wood, which significantly reduces the winter hardness.
Carry out dewatering.
Why this is necessary. It is water that carries nutrients through the plants, which greatly increases the winter hardiness of the trees (2) and helps them survive the harsh winter. That’s why it’s necessary to do dewatering in the garden.
How this can be done. This takes place in October, when the leaves are falling. At this time, the soil should be moistened to a depth of 40 – 60 cm, for this you need to water under each plant:
- on sandy – 4 – 5 buckets of water;
- on clay – 6 – 7 buckets;
- on sound – 8 – 9 buckets.
Even if it rains, it is necessary to carry out moisture watering!
Elimination of pests and pathogens
Why it is necessary. Why in the autumn? Yes, we mostly pester all of our uninvited guests in the spring and summer, and they are in short supply in the fall. But at the end of the season, they are easiest to do away with – they go into winter and can’t fly away or crawl away out of spite.
How to do it. The first step is to collect all the fallen fruit and those stuck on the trees over the winter. And not only collect, but burn! Or bury deep into the ground – at least 50 cm.
Then you need to rake up all the fallen leaves. If there were only a few pests and diseases during the summer, the leaves can be placed in a compost heap. But remember: your layer should not be more than 10 – 15 cm, and be sure to pour a thick layer of soil or peat (at least 30 cm). Only in this case, next spring, the spores from fungi and pests will not be able to get out and die.
If there are many pests and diseases, the leaves should be mulched and burned! But you can safely use ash from them – it is an excellent fertilizer.
And only if there are no pests in the garden (and this happens very rarely), and there are only diseases, the leaves should not be buried, because first it is a good mulch, and then (if they start to decay) an excellent Fertilizer! And disease spores are very simple: you need to spray the fallen leaves with urea – 500 – 800 g (4 – 6 cups) per 10 liters of water.
The next step is to clean the stems and thick branches of mature trees from dead bark. Remove all larvae and cocoons. But before you start, spread a cloth or paper under the tree so that all debris and pests can be collected and burned.
Stems and skeletal branches affected by disease should be cleaned from healthy wood with a sharp knife. Then disinfect the wounds with copper sulfate (10 g per 1 liter of water) and cover them with a thin layer of garden varnish.
When the damaged tissues cover the branches in a ring, they are cut off and burned. And if the shoot is damaged, remove the entire tree.
All dry and wilted, thickened, panicles, and cracked bark shoots are immediately cut down and burned!
Remove cherry trees as often as possible – aphids eat them.
And finally, under trees and berry bushes, dig over 2-3 cm). There is no need to break up clumps of earth – leave them for the winter. Most pests will be in them. And when the frosts come, they will die. This is one of the most important stages of garden preparation in the fall.
Find the trees
Why it’s needed. Many people are sure it’s for beauty. But no. The importance of whitewashing is to protect trees from sun exposure, which causes burns and frost bunches on boles and skeletal branches. These occur in the winter, when the rays cause water to rise up the boles and freeze at night, and the ice tears the bark. The problem usually occurs in late February and early March (3). So in the fall you need to be on your guard and be sure!
How you can do it. The easiest way is to buy special acrylic paint for trees at the garden center. It only needs to be used, it does not wash off for a long time (it will definitely suffice until spring), and modern compositions also include substances that protect trunks from pests and diseases.
If you are a supporter of organic farming, you can use a mixture of clay and mulch as white broom. Tone perfectly protects trunks from sun, frost, dryness, and at the same time the pores on the bark are not clogged and allow plants to breathe. The gauze glue does not leave or make it disappear. It also contains many nutrients and biologically active substances. You can add some lime and iron sulfate to this mixture. This is a good prevention of diseases, and the beauty that has undergone “white washing” has an unusual yellowish color of fat and looks very spectacular on the tribes.
But traditional lime should not be used – it draws precious moisture from the trunk and can completely destroy young plants.
