How to Protect Your Garden and Backyard from Snow
The winter chill and snow can be extremely harsh on your garden’s foliage. This risk intensifies as the temperature continues to plummet, and snowfall gets heavier and prolonged. Protecting your garden from frost and freeze in the winter is important if you want to help your plants survive the cold weather.
If you want to know how to protect your garden from snow, you’ll need to plan for it and get started a little before winter arrives. You can start by figuring out where all of your garden beds are located. This will help you clear up the snow without harming the beds when the time comes.
To Protect the Garden from Snow, Don’t Let the Snow Pile Up
Protecting your garden from frost and freeze starts with not allowing snow to pile up on your plants, especially the delicate ones. Even when you use the blower, try not to shoot the snow over the top of your garden to avoid burying your foliage into the ground with it.
1. Insulate the Soil with Mulch
If you’re concerned about accidentally covering plants with snow, don’t fret. Head to your local landscaping material supplier and get your hands on some mulch. Spreading a thick layer of this mulch will go a long way in protecting your garden from frost and freeze.
Alternatively, you can use other kinds of organic materials, like shredded leaves, to protect the roots of your plants. Make sure, however, to leave about a half inch of space around the base to prevent the roots from rotting.
2. Wrap Young or Weak Plants and Fruit Trees
Wrapping vulnerable foliage is a great way of covering plants from snow. You can use burlap, plant covers, or a garden blanket for this purpose.
Floating row covers can also do the trick in protecting the garden from frost and freeze. You can easily buy these from a local landscaping material supplier.
Whatever you use, make sure to immediately brush off any snow that starts weighing down your plants.
3. No Salt on Snow
Still, wondering how to protect the garden from the snow? Here’s a simple tip: never throw salt on snow in your garden or on top of your plants. Also, avoid blowing or tossing it into the grass. Salt will melt the snow, then absorb the water your plants need as well. Salt is basically too good at its job, so you need to be careful. It’s only recommended for hard, non-living substances. This easy step can make a huge difference to your garden’s health.
4. Don’t Remove Snow by Shaking the Plant
Removing snow from plants by shaking (or hitting) them can cause irreversible damage. So, handle frozen branches and/or stems with care as they can become extremely delicate and easily break.
Gently get rid of the accumulated snow from bent branches using your hands or a broom. This is a crucial thing to know about how to protect the garden from snow.
5. Harden Off Seedlings
Keep an eye on the weather forecast for your region and start hardening off seedlings around a few weeks before or as soon as you can before the predicted frost date. That’s when the weather will be slightly better to perform this task.
Doing so will prevent your foliage from shock as well as sun scalding, both of which can negatively impact its growth. It’ll also help your seedlings grow into healthy, lush plants.
4. Water the Night before a Frost
If the weather forecast calls for a hard freeze, and it hasn’t been raining, take the opportunity to water your plants. Sunny, cold days that result in a daily freeze-thaw cycle can affect your plant’s water consumption, leading to dehydration and damage.
5. Move Potted Plant Indoors
This one’s a no-brainer, but an important point nevertheless. Bring your potted plants indoors, especially the young and tender ones.
Potted plants are highly susceptible to winter damage as they aren’t as insulated as the foliage planted in the ground.
However, don’t place your potted plants somewhere that is too warm. A conservatory, indoor garden space, porch, or greenhouse can work well.
Pioneer Is the Landscaping Material Supplier for All Your Yard Needs
Educating yourself about how to protect your garden from snow is key to helping your plants get through the cold months in good health. While light snow won’t do any damage, heavy or prolonged snowfall can cause major issues. In fact, it may cause irreparable damage to your helpless foliage.
Hopefully, the above tips and tricks will not only help you protect your greens but also enable healthy plant growth once winter winds down. If you need any further guidance on what to purchase or want to buy quality yard supplies, talk to our professionals at your local Pioneer Landscaping Centers.
Pioneer is a leading supplier of high-quality landscaping and hardscaping materials. We’ll get you the products you want, delivered where and when you need them while providing unmatched customer experiences. That's the Pioneer Difference. Contact us today.