Preparing your garden for winter at your Oakville home should begin before the first frost and during the cooling off days of late September and October. Putting the effort to prepare your beautiful Oakville garden will greatly pay off when the spring season arrives.

It is very important to protect plants that are less hearty with either burlap, foam or hedges that will provide protection from the wind and extreme cold. The use of mulch is also necessary when preparing your garden in Oakville for the winter months. Mulch helps to insulate the soil against temperature extremes. Some tips for preparing trees and shrubs in your garden are to prune overhanging trees and shrubs and protect newly planted evergreens with a temporary windbreak until they are established. To prepare for strong winds all decaying or dead branches on established trees are to be removed. It is also important to cut back one-third of the summer’s fuchsias leaving the remaining bare stems as protection over the winter as well as to shorten hybrid tea roses and floribundas to reduce the damage from the wind in your Oakville garden. Any newly planted trees, shrubs and shrubs of minimal hardiness should be protected with any type of insulating material such as fleece or straw. After a snowfall brush heavy snow from shrubs conifers and hedges so that there is no danger of the branches breaking.

It is important that toward the end of October a to do list is made on what needs to be done in your garden. Whether your Oakville garden is big or small it needs to be prepared for the long cold winter months. Both plants and gardeners must plan their schedules around the months and seasons. When the spring comes it will be a time for tilling and nourishing the soil as well as planting. The Oakville summer months will be a time to tend, nurture and enjoy your garden that was so carefully cared for.

For more information Contact Joanne Hardy

Advantage Plus Realty Corp., Brokerage

Tel: 905-844-4444, Cell: 416- 230-1425, Fax: 905-827-6694