Protecting Your Herb Garden for the Winter
By: Larry Gildea
Preparing your herb garden for the coming winter can actually be done in late summer or early fall. In order to prepare your garden for winter, do not fertilize when you are within about one month of a first hard frost. Most of your annual herbs will begin to die back during late summer and early fall months.
To properly prepare your garden for winter, you may mulch and use cover crops to prevent soil from eroding from rain or snowmelt. In many cases, gardeners may also grow small patches of annual herbs between the perennial herbs in the garden. Perennials should be mulched during the winter. In most climates, except for the warmest ones found in the Southwest, such motions can provide insulation to the soil that will keep it warm during those winter months.
However, wait until plants are dormant and about one inch of ground soil is frozen before you apply such mulch. If you are not sure, wait until temperatures at night have dropped into the 20s for at least three days and daytime temperatures have maintained a freezing or below average.
Mulching with rotted hay, shredded leaves, our straw make ideal winter mulches. Cover the entire area with about eight inches of mulch and if the garden is exposed to wind, try to anchor the mulching material with boards or branches.
In early spring, pull mulches back from plants, but leave within reach in case of an unexpected frost or snowfall. Remember that wind can cause as much damage as freezing, so protect plants by erecting winter barriers whenever possible.
In late summer or early fall it is time to start preparing your herb garden for the coming winter. In order to prepare your garden for winter, do not fertilize when you are within about one month of a first hard frost. Most of your annual herbs will begin to die back during late summer and early fall months. In early spring, pull mulches back from plants, but leave within reach in case of an unexpected frost or snowfall.
Copyright © Larry Gildea, All Rights Reserved.
About the Author:
Dr. Larry Gildea has authored several articles on gardening. Dr. Gildea has created these gardening websites, http://www.gardeningbonanza.com , Gardening Bonanza.com covers many types of gardening, including, bonsai design and cultivation, container gardening, flower gardening, rose gardening, hydroponics gardening and several others. http://www.organicgardensystems.com Organic Garden Systems .com is dedicated exclusively to organic gardening. And in his blog, http://larryseasygardening.com Dr. Gildea discusses all types of gardening.
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