Winter Bed Prep

The following tips have been provided by the MCOE Youth Garden. The MCOE Youth Garden is currently winterizing their garden sites and would like to share some insights with you:

Chris Nelson writes:

1.Compost dead plants to create a good soil conditioner. Hot, active piles of compost kill weed seeds and diseased pathogens. Make sure you throw questionable plants into the trash or put on the burn pile.

2. To prevent rodents from nesting in the soil, wait until the ground is frozen before adding a 6 inch layer of winter mulch.

3. Protect the tender bark of young trees from growing critters by wrapping stems or trucks with wire or commercial tree guards.


Miguel Pereida writes:
1. First, clear out the bleached stems and foliage of annual plants. The cool weather is a good time to make a cold frame to protect winter starts.

2. Man, if it snowed in Ukiah it sure would make a great mulch. Snow covers and isolates the soil like a mulch!

3. Protect your rose trees from the winter! Make sure to stake and wrap burlap around the rose stems. Also add a 6" layer of mulch. This will help protect them from the cold.



Jose Nunez writes:
1. Now is the time for bare root season. It's time to plant new trees. Make sure you pick a spot with good soil that has lots of worms and microbes. It is very important to put in new mulch when prepping the area. Old leaves work really well and break down easily.

2. Pruning time! You should cut off dry stems off of trees that are dry. You should also cut out any dead or dying plants. Put them in the compost and have them serve you in their next life as a soil builder.

3. STOP FERTILIZING YOUR ROSES! Fall brings on the dormant season for roses. Make sure your last rose feeding is 2 months before the first frost.

Daniel Alvarez writes:

1. Cut back dry stems of perennials to soil level after the first frost to neaten the garden and remove pest eggs and disease spores that may linger. Leave stems with attractive seed heads for winter sowing.

2. Compost dead plant debris to create an organic soil conditioner. Hot, active piles of compost kills weed seeds, inactive piles do not.

3. Cut off diseased foliage from evergreen plants, shrubs, and discard it in the trash. Rake up and discard the old disease bearing mulch, too.