Garden care in autumn: how to prepare for winter? Caring for a winter garden Caring for a garden in winter

It’s getting cooler outside, and autumn is about to give way to winter, but you must admit, it’s so nice to keep a “piece of summer” at home. An excellent solution for such purposes would be a home winter garden. By definition, a winter garden is an architectural element with a glass roof, artistically decorated with ornamental plants planted in the ground or displayed in pots.

Providing competent care for this oasis of summer is not an easy task, especially when it comes to caring for a winter garden in an apartment, but by using our advice, you can make your life much easier.

The most popular and necessary type of garden care is, of course, daily winter garden care. It includes the usual light garden cleaning: dusting, removing wilted or dead leaves on plants, sweeping the floor, necessary cleaning of window sills and other surfaces. So, let's look at the basic care tips.

During such daily garden care, plants are also watered with the necessary regularity. It should be remembered that the need for water is proportional to the intensity of plant growth, and the main task facing households is not to dry out or flood the plants.

Since there is a large concentration of various plants in the winter garden - both moisture-loving plants and those that do not like moisture or are completely undemanding, it is worth designating those flowerpots that should be watered more often than others - do this using small stickers or a marker. This will be especially useful for beginning gardeners.

Once a week, garden care should be accompanied by wet cleaning, which will not only improve the overall microclimate of the winter garden, but also give it a neat, clean look.
Wet cleaning should cover not only window sills and stands, but also the plants themselves.

Particular attention should be paid to the leaves - they must be wiped on both sides. Cleaning plants, as a rule, is required once every 1-2 weeks. To do this, use a sponge or soft cloth or napkin, soaked in warm water and wrung out thoroughly so that no streaks remain after wiping.

In order for the plant to grow better and not get sick, you should use a variety of fertilizers. The choice of fertilizer type depends on many factors, in particular, on the type of plants in the winter garden. And if your knowledge is not enough, then in this matter it is better to take the advice of a professional, and also read the instructions on the fertilizer bags.

A prerequisite for maintaining the ideal state of “operability” of the winter garden is the correctly selected temperature regime. The temperature is maintained at the level required by the plants, so either different temperature conditions are created or plants are selected with similar temperature requirements.

The second option is, of course, less labor-intensive and more versatile. By selecting plants with similar temperature conditions and the same watering requirements, you will greatly simplify the care of your winter garden and provide comfortable conditions for indoor plants.

The higher the temperature, the higher the humidity, otherwise serious problems cannot be avoided. Almost all plants like regular spraying and washing of leaves, and sometimes polishing.

As needed, be it a year, two or three, “general repairs” should be carried out in the winter garden. The fact is that over time, difficulties may arise associated with ensuring a favorable microclimate; maintaining humidity, temperature, lighting, drainage, ventilation, protection from sun or plant diseases. Then all broken parts should be replaced to restore the functionality of the oasis.

In the fall, after harvesting, many novice gardeners limit themselves to cleaning the area, collecting and burning old leaves. And it’s completely in vain, you shouldn’t relax. There are few nice sunny days left, and you need to make the most of them. A long winter is ahead - the most difficult time for many plants, and the gardener’s task is to prepare them as best as possible for this harsh period.

Caring for a garden in the fall is a whole complex of activities, during which the foundations of the harvest for the next year are laid, and in this short time before the onset of cold weather, a lot needs to be done.

What can you plant in the fall?

Autumn is a time not only to harvest, but also to sow. During this period, some vegetables and herbs are planted, for example:

• winter onion;
• garlic;
• celery;
• basil;
• parsley;
• mustard.

Overwintered crops enter the active growth phase much earlier and produce higher yields. In autumn, it is also necessary to plant fruit trees and fruit bushes. Before winter, seedlings are planted:

• apple trees;
• pears;
• plums;
• cherries;
• currants;
• gooseberries;
• raspberries and many others.

The best time for planting new seedlings and replanting young trees and bushes is immediately after the end of leaf fall. The plant has gained strength and prepared for winter; right now it has the greatest immunity and can most easily withstand the stress of moving. There is no point in delaying it, since a crop that does not have time to take root well before frost will most likely die.

If for some reason the deadlines for autumn planting are missed, it is better not to take risks, but to limit ourselves to preparing for spring planting - choosing places and digging holes. In the spring, this will reduce the time for seedlings to adapt to new conditions and increase their survival rate.

Why is pruning and cleaning necessary?

A fine autumn day is an excellent reason to do some spring cleaning in the garden. You can start by pruning fruit trees and shrubs. At this time, sanitary treatment is carried out, broken, dry and damaged branches are removed.

All cuts must be treated with garden varnish.

For additional protection, the trunks and lower branches can be wrapped in artificial material, for example, roofing felt, and the crops can also be fenced with a chain-link mesh. Along with fruit trees, shrubs are also pruned. All two-year-old shoots of raspberries are pruned; sanitary pruning is done on currants, gooseberries, and honeysuckles, removing dry and broken branches, and root shoots are also removed. The tree trunk circles need to be dug up. If autumn is not rainy, then it is worth watering once and mulching the soil around the plants with peat or humus.

You should not save fallen leaves of trees, since this is a real breeding ground for pests and their larvae, deposited for the winter in the tree trunks. It is better to burn the fallen leaves and treat the ground around the trunk with a solution of copper sulfate.

It is not necessary to burn cut dry branches; you can chop them up and use them as a heat-insulating layer when creating “warm” beds.

How to care for greenhouses in the off-season?

After harvesting crops growing under cover, it’s time to restore order in the greenhouses themselves. From them it is necessary to remove all remnants of vegetation along with the roots: cucumber vines, tomato shoots, weeds. If the plants were not sick in the summer, all this can be taken to the compost pit, otherwise burning is necessary.

The next stage will be soil reclamation. Increased plant growth greatly depletes the soil. In addition, under conditions of high humidity and temperature, not only the crops themselves, but also fungi develop rapidly. To prevent disease and replenish the supply of nutrients, the top layer 10-15 cm thick must be completely replaced.

If no cases of disease have been noted, reclamation can be carried out partially by digging a furrow in the middle of the beds, laying peat in it and covering it with earth. After this, the soil should be thoroughly watered with a urea solution at the rate of 50 grams per 10 liters of water. Once every five years, it is recommended to completely change the soil or move the greenhouse to another location.

The greenhouse can be disinfected by fumigating with a sulfur bomb or spraying with special solutions. The first option is suitable for tall structures with a wooden frame. Metal greenhouses rust badly under the influence of sulfur, so it is better to treat such greenhouses with copper sulfate (75 grams per 10 liters of water), 4% lime solution or 2% creolin.

If polyethylene was used as a covering material, it must be removed, washed with detergent, dried and stored until next year. Polycarbonate and glass greenhouses are not disassembled, but only opened wide. In winter, they must be covered with snow and the soil must be covered. It is better to strengthen the metal frame with supports made of wooden beams; this will protect it from possible deformation under the weight of the snow cover.

To destroy cocoons of codling moths, all trees need to be sprayed with a 5% solution of carbamide (urea); the drug Fury is suitable for leaf rollers and silkworms. To prevent fungal diseases, plantings are treated with solutions containing copper (copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture). To protect against scab, use Strobi or Impact.

Feeding before wintering

After the fruiting season, the plants are severely exhausted, but they should go into hibernation with a full supply of energy. Autumn feeding will help trees and shrubs gain strength for a good winter. Nutrients (mainly humus) are introduced into the soil by the root method. This is usually done while digging tree trunk circles. The recommended application rate for each fruit tree no older than 8 years is 30 kg, 50 kg for older ones.

For pears and apple trees, you can apply bait in liquid form, along with watering the near-root zone. For this you need 300 gr. superphosphate and 200 gr. potassium sulfate, which are diluted in 40 liters of water. For cherries and plums, the fertilizer rate can be reduced by 2-2.5 times.

When applying fertilizing, you need to take into account the nature of the soil. Heavy clay soils retain nutrients well, while in light sandy soils they are quickly washed out. In this case, the norms may be increased.

Nitrogen fertilizers stimulate shoot growth, so they should not be used in the fall.

Berry bushes also need autumn feeding. You can use both organic matter and complex mineral fertilizers for this. A tablespoon of double superphosphate and potassium sulfate is added to each berry bush. The use of potassium sulfate (15-20 grams per square meter) has worked well. After application, you can water. From organic matter, it is most advisable to use rotted manure.

How to take care of perennial flowers?

Hardly any garden is complete without a flower bed. But there is also a lot of work there in the fall. Overwintering perennials need to be prepared for the coming cold, while non-wintering ones need to be dug up, processed and stored.

Non-frost-resistant tuberous and bulbous flowers are dug up at the first frost, and it is better to store gladioli before the first drop in temperature below zero degrees occurs. Dahlias can be pulled out of the ground a little later. The dug up rhizomes should be treated with fungicides or a solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection, dried and placed in a dry place.

Some wintering perennial flowers are pruned in the fall. For example, peonies, asters and tradescantia are cut almost to the root. Clematis are cut to a height of 20 cm, and only bloom on this year's shoots. Ferns, violets, chrysanthemums and lilies of the valley are not touched at all. Before winter, the flower garden needs to be cleared of weeds, faded shoots and debris.

What about shelter for the winter?

Plants with insufficient winter hardiness must be covered, otherwise they may die in severe frost. They hide the grapevine from the cold; it is worth taking special care of. The lashes are removed from the trellises and placed in a specially dug ditch, which is then covered with boards, covered with roofing felt, film or other materials and filled with earth.

Some varieties of raspberries that are not frost-resistant also need to be covered for the winter. When planting bushes in a row, they are sequentially bent towards each other, and then the entire ribbon is covered with straw. Single bushes are simply tilted to the ground or tied into a single whole.

With the onset of winter, when the harvest has long been harvested and the plants are in greater need of care, gardeners can fully enjoy relaxation within the walls of a cozy home or devote time to matters for which there was never enough time in the warmer months. But since winter in recent years has been characterized by its instability, and an unexpected thaw is replaced by severe frosts, experienced gardeners are always ready to take the time to carry out winter work in the garden and protect green spaces.

Before the onset of frost, delicate varieties of roses, hibiscus, hydrangeas, as well as other beautiful flowering shrubs and young fruit trees were probably carefully wrapped and covered with agrofibre. Now, after severe bad weather, it would be a good idea to check the condition of the protective structure and, if necessary, correct it.

When inspecting trees, special attention should be paid to young shoots, which can simply break under the weight of snow. All foliage remaining from the fall must be removed, and the snow must be carefully knocked off the branches. Having discovered a broken branch, the damaged area must be immediately covered with garden varnish.

Some varieties of conifers also break under the weight of the snow cover. Shelter in the form of a hut will protect the delicate branches of juniper and thuja

The lack of snow also has a bad effect on the “wintering” of plants. Snow protects their root system from frost, and the above-ground part from the temptation to “wake up”. Therefore, snow must be raked from paths to bushes and trees into a mound, covering not only the base, but also the forks of the skeletal branches of the crown.

A snowless winter is also dangerous for strawberries. To protect the roots of the plant located close to the surface, it is necessary to cover them with branches, sawdust or brushwood. They will keep snow from blowing away from the strawberry bed.

The winter sun is deceptive: even if it does not warm up at full strength, it can leave burns on tree trunks. Whitewashing will protect the tree bark from cracking and frost damage. On warm winter days, when the air temperature does not drop below zero degrees, you can even carry out air removal and tree cuttings. This is a convenient time to trim and repair hedges.

In warm regions, this time is considered favorable for pruning fruit and berry bushes, stone fruit trees and ornamental varieties.

The only exceptions are varieties that bloom on last year's shoots in spring or early summer. For example: forsythia, lilac, clematis - they can be pruned only after flowering. Rhizomes and bulbs of heat-loving crops dug up in the fall also need to be periodically reviewed and ventilated.

We protect plants from rodents and pests

A young garden also needs protection from pests. You can protect tree trunks from rodents by painting the trunks with special paint, tar or carbolic acid.

To protect against rodent attacks, fruit tree trunks can be wrapped with covering material or metal mesh

If there is a lot of snow in winter, additional protection for the tree bark can be provided by covering the trunks with snow and compacting it at the base of the trunks.

Ice crust can also effectively protect tree bark from mice. Therefore, in addition to trampling the snow along the circle around the trunk, you can water this area of ​​land several times. During this period, it is convenient to identify the winter nests of goldentail and hawthorn among the bare branches of trees. It is easier to cut out the clutches of gypsy moth eggs with pruning shears directly from the branches. Mummified fruits that act as sources of disease should be removed from the branches of fruit trees. And to get rid of powdery mildew spores on gooseberries or currants, just pour hot water over the berry bushes.

Harvesting and sowing seeds

Winter varieties of Brussels sprouts, broccoli, spinach, parsnips, leeks and various greens continue to produce good harvests even in the cold season

The optimal conditions for the germination of some flowers are cold soil and air temperatures. Therefore, annuals such as poppy, grass, marigolds, calendula and lavender can be sown not only in autumn, but also in winter.

In February, when the threat of the return of severe frosts is behind us, greens and carrots can be sown. Even the newly fallen snow will not harm them in any way.

Household work in the garden

Winter is the best time to repair flower beds and arches, fences and garden furniture. During this period, you can start making supports that will be needed in the summer for installation under the branches of abundantly fruiting trees.

Don’t forget about the little helpers who destroy pests on the site - feathered friends. Winter is a real test for them, because under the thick snow they are not always able to find the food necessary to maintain their vitality.

A feeder filled with cereals, seeds and pieces of lard will be a real salvation for birds in winter

And most importantly, winter is the time to make plans to change the landscape design, the implementation of which can begin in the spring.

Uninvited guests in the garden - mushrooms and bacteria

The most harmful diseases of fruit crops are bacterial bark canker (burn) and black canker.

The first damages only the bark of trees, destroying the cambium and phloem. The second is a fungal disease and therefore affects everything.

Moreover, the leaves can become diseased immediately after the buds open (which leads to their premature fall), and on the fruits this disease manifests itself before ripening in the form of black rot.

Black cancer most often affects mature fruit-bearing trees. Apple trees growing on heavy loamy soils are very susceptible to this disease. The immunity of apple trees is greatly weakened by damage to its leaves and aphids.

Often an outbreak of the disease occurs after a year of abundant fruiting. The most favorable temperature for plant infection is from 22° to 28°.

Under these conditions, spores germinate in 6 hours, whereas at 10 degrees they germinate in 24 hours, and at 5 degrees in 48 hours. On the surface of intact tree bark, spores can persist for two years. Poor agricultural practices in gardens, periodic droughts and, as a result, poor development of trees are also the main prerequisites for the occurrence of this disease.

Bacterial spores and fungal mycelium penetrate into cracks in the bark that have arisen due to frost, sunburn or mechanical damage. The first sign that cancer has entered your garden is that the bark begins to peel off the wood and turn black, as if it had been scorched by fire. If the disease covers a branch in a ring, then its entire overlying part dies, and when the trunk gets into the “surroundings”, this leads to the death of the entire tree.

The carriers of bacterial and black cancer are the wind, flower beetles, codling moths, ants, and when pruning and grafting trees - humans. If these diseases are not dealt with within 2-3 years, all the trees in the garden will become infected with them. Chemical drugs against cancer have not yet been developed. The only way to combat it remains - prevention, which allows you to prevent damage to the bark of fruit trees.

General garden cleaning

This work must begin in the fall. Heavily affected trees should be cut down, weakly affected trees should be prepared for wintering. Then you need to clean the trunks and branches with a scraper from old bark, mosses and lichens, having previously spread the litter under the tree.

Peel the affected bark until it is healthy and then wash it with 3% copper or iron sulfate.

If there is a hollow, then everything inside should also be cleaned down to healthy tissue, disinfected, and then cemented or filled with construction foam, removing the excess after it has dried. It is also necessary to get rid of all affected and dry branches, as well as damaged fruits: all this, along with other resulting cleanings, must be burned.

About whitewashing the garden

In my opinion, autumn ones do not justify themselves. Lime paint is often washed away by rain, and therefore its reflective ability disappears. But the most important thing is that even moisture-resistant whitewash does not protect trunks and branches from frost and mice. Therefore, in the fall, before the onset of frost, it is necessary not to whitewash, but to insulate the trunks and adjacent bases of skeletal branches with any material other than film. The fabric is wrapped tightly, preventing sagging, burying it at the roots into the ground (or sprinkling it).

When planting seedlings in autumn, they can be insulated with a rubber hose, preferably black. I cut the hose into pieces corresponding to the height of the trunk plus 5-10 cm, spread it along the entire length and put it on the seedling from the north side after tying it to the stake. As the seedling grows, it will shed rubber on its own in the second or third year.

Spring – pruning, spraying and whitewashing garden trees

Now I want to tell you about what will definitely be necessary to do in the garden in spring, immediately after wintering. Pruning the crown must be completed before the buds open, carefully treating the cuts with garden varnish or natural drying oil paint.

This rule must be strictly observed during subsequent tree grafting, not forgetting to disinfect garden tools with a solution of copper or iron sulfate (3%).

I usually remove the binding in April, when the danger of sunburn has passed for the tree bark. Next, I whitewash the trunks and main skeletal branches with a mixture of freshly slaked lime (3 kg) and copper sulfate (200 g), diluting it to the state of liquid sour cream.

In this case, pests that overwintered under the strapping, as well as the remains of mosses and lichens, die. Spring whitewashing lasts for a long time, which prevents the bark from becoming infected with diseases that in the summer can be carried by the wind or pests from an infected area. It also protects trees with high trunks and bare bases of skeletal branches from summer heat burns of the bark.

To combat disease vectors inside the garden (for example, the flower beetle), I spray the trees (when the buds swell) with any broad-spectrum insecticide. I treat them with the same product again 7-10 days after the moth moths appear (a signal that the time has come is bait filled with these insects with kvass or compote). And after 2-3 weeks I repeat this procedure.

You know, any chemical pest control can be countered with folk recipes. For example, to repel weevils and the same butterflies, codling moths are ribbons of fabric soaked in an aqueous solution of tar and hung 2-3 pieces in the crowns of trees.

In early spring, at temperatures of 10°C and below, flower beetles are inactive and weakly adhere to trees, which makes them easy to shake off on a tarpaulin and then destroyed.

Two recipes for a solution for spraying trees in the garden against pests

You can use infusions and decoctions of phytoncidal plants: garlic, pepper, onion, wormwood, chamomile, yarrow.

Here are the two simplest recipes (about other spray solutions).

800 g of bitter wormwood should be infused in 10 liters of cold water, then boiled for 30 minutes, strained. The resulting infusion helps get rid of the flower beetle.

And the second recipe: soak 1 kg of dry leaves and flowers of chamomile in 10 liters of cold water, leave for 12 hours, strain, dilute with water in a ratio of 1:3 and add 40 g of soap. This remedy successfully copes with the codling moth.

But I advise you to treat ant heaps with lime milk (2 liters) or two handfuls of ammonium nitrate (only before this the anthill must be thoroughly loosened).

In general, it is possible and necessary to fight pests and diseases in your garden, but there will be almost no benefit if you ignore the most important point:

All preventive measures will bring a tangible effect only when this work is carried out simultaneously in all neighboring areas and gardens.

To enjoy a beautiful lush garden and get a rich harvest every year, you need to properly care for the plantings. The garden and plants are cared for all year round.

Young trees require special attention. During the first year of life in spring and summer, it is necessary to loosen the soil around the seedlings at least four times. At the same time, you need to carefully weed out the weeds.

Do not neglect regular watering. Each tree will require 3-4 buckets of water. After moistening the soil, it is thoroughly loosened and mulched to retain moisture. In the fall, tree trunk circles are dug up to kill pests that overwinter in the soil.

Root circle

Immediately after the end of the winter season, the soil around the trunks is dug up again, loosened and mulched.

Optimal humidity is of great importance for tree growth and fruit ripening. Excessive moisture leads to slower growth and premature death of plants. From mid-summer, watering is stopped and resumed in September.

The size of the tree trunk circle is of great importance. For a seedling in the first few years it is from 1.5 to 2.5 meters. During the first six years of life it increases to three meters and then does not change.

In autumn, the soil at the very roots is dug up to a depth of 5 cm at the very roots, the digging depth at the periphery is 15 cm. To prevent damage to the roots when digging, the base of the shovel is turned with its edge towards the tree trunk.

In order not to destroy the plant with excess moisture, it is recommended to check whether it needs watering. To do this, dig holes about half a meter deep in the garden and take a handful of soil from them. If the lump does not fall apart after unclenching the fist, then watering is not required, and if the soil crumbles, then the soil has already dried out. You can tell that plants need life-giving moisture by their drooping leaves. For one watering, 4-6 buckets of water are consumed per 1 square meter.

There are certain times for watering:

• first watering - 2-3 weeks after flowering;
• the next watering is three weeks after the first. After harvesting, trees are moistened only when it is very hot.

Watering trees through a dispenser

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Spring tree care

In the spring months, gardeners have the most work, because the volume of the harvest is directly dependent on painstaking care during this period. Much work is carried out even before the start of sap flow in the trees.

Inspection

Immediately after the snowdrifts have melted, young fruit trees are carefully inspected. If cracks or marks from animal teeth are found on the trunks, they are covered with garden varnish and bandaged with plastic wrap. Tinder fungi found on the bark must be removed.

When inspecting apple trees, special attention should be paid to the crowns, since ringed silkworm eggs may be found among the dry leaves. Dangerous leaves must be removed.

Whitewash

When the snow melts, the tree trunks are cleared of growths and coated with whitewash in a proportion of 2.5 kg of lime per bucket of water.

The functions of whitewashing include:

• protection of the surface of trunks from the scorching sun;
• protection from pests that have overwintered under the bark;
• repelling rodents.

Spraying

It is allowed to treat trees with substances that kill pests only before the time of flowering of plants. Insecticides are used to get rid of diseases and pests: scab, moths, caterpillars, spider mites.

When the fruits are set, spraying is allowed only with safe preparations designed to prevent and strengthen the defenses of plants.

Top dressing

After wintering, fruit trees require additional feeding, since by this time they have completely exhausted the supply of nutrients. Fertilizers should be selected taking into account the individual characteristics of the species (variety, age, condition).

Fertilizers are applied by root and foliar methods. The first method is to apply fertilizer to the tree trunk circles when they are dug up along with the soil. Foliar feeding consists of spraying tree crowns with nutrients.

Summer garden care

The main summer gardening tasks include watering, weed control and mulching.

Weeds begin their rapid growth with the first warming and if they are not removed in time, they can completely fill the entire garden. Weeds prevent the supply of nutrients and moisture to the roots of plants, so the circles around the trunk must be weeded before watering. Weeded weeds will subsequently serve as compost material.

Before the trees begin to bear fruit, be sure to weed out the weeds, loosen the soil and water the plants abundantly.

The watering standard for a pear tree is 3-4 buckets of water, for an apple tree – 4-5 buckets, for stone fruit trees – 2-3 buckets per 1 square meter. m. When watering, the soil should be saturated 50-80 cm deep. To moisten berry bushes, use 2-3 buckets per unit. If the summer is dry, then the norm should be doubled.

To mulch tree trunk circles, cut grass, sawdust, humus or peat are used. If the soil is not covered, then after weeding it needs to be loosened to improve air access to the roots. Loosening can be done only until August, since at a later time this process prevents the trees from preparing for winter and prevents young shoots from developing.

If the trees bloomed luxuriantly and bore a lot of fruit, you should take care in advance that the branches do not break under the weight of the harvest. To do this, install wooden supports.

Fertilizing in the summer months is carried out in order to saturate the plants with essential microelements. At this time, it will be more rational to feed the trees using the foliar method, since the leaves absorb useful substances much better than the roots.

Garden care in autumn

An autumn garden requires the same care as a spring garden, only all work is done in the reverse order - after the harvest is harvested.

For the winter, tree trunks are carefully treated with lime. This will repel rodents that prefer the bark. Additionally, the trunks can be wrapped in thick fabric, film or roofing felt.

In October, the plants are fed with mineral fertilizers, saturating the soil next to the trunk with them. Damaged and infected branches are cut off and burned.

Winter garden care

Winter garden care consists of periodic inspection of trees, repelling rodents and setting bait for them. When a lot of snow falls, it can be used to insulate trees. A small snowdrift is poured next to the trunk and compacted with feet. This will protect the trees from freezing and help conserve moisture.

After heavy snowfalls, you should brush the snow off the branches to prevent them from breaking off. The same measures are carried out during a sharp cold snap after warming in order to prevent the appearance of ice crusts on the branches.