How to Prepare your Garden For The First Frost

When the evenings begin to come earlier and the foliage on the leaves begins to change, it’s time to think about preparing your garden for the first frost.

Here is how to get your garden ready for that first nip in the air:

1. Remove Weeds

It can be tempting just to let the frost kill the weeds – but the problem is, the frost doesn’t kill them; it makes them go dormant. If you don’t pull them out now, they will be the first plants to spring up next April.

2. Clean Up

Whether you have a vegetable garden or a flower garden, some fall cleaning is necessary to prepare your garden for spring. Rake up old fruits, vegetables, fallen leaves and twigs.

3. Transplant

If you want to move plants, this can be a good time. Plants are just going into dormancy and won’t be so shocked by the move. So take a look and see if you want to make some changes. If you have perennials that need to be dug up and divided, this is the time.

4. Bulbs

Break out the fall planting bulbs this time of year. Plant them after you have moved any established plants you want to relocate. It’s also important to dig up non-hardy bulbs before the first frost and overwinter them in a garage or basement.

5. Mulch

Applying a good layer of mulch helps revitalize the soil as the organic matter breaks down over the winter. Mulch also helps keep perennial roots and annual seeds warm.

6. Cut Back Judiciously

If you have perennials that do not look nice during the winter and do not provide seeds for birds, cut them back to just a few inches above the ground.

7. Container Plants

For container gardeners, it’s time to move your containers to a place where they can spend the winter or prepare the containers to withstand the cold. A cool garage or basement that gets some light is a good idea. You can also put mulch around the base of the plant in the container, then wrap the container with insulating material such as foam or bubble wrap.

8. Water

Give your garden a good watering before frost. Sometimes plants die over the winter from lack of moisture rather than the cold.

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