Today, let us learn winter gardening tips, care, and ideas. Caring for plants in winter is very easy. In winter, you should just be quiet without disturbing the plants with activities like over-watering and pruning. They will be hibernation in winters and can be left undisturbed. Making your plants rest in winter is like cleaning them and eradicating the unnecessary dead and diseased parts and also covering them with mulch. This is done as the temperature becomes low, then the watering and fertilizing requirements of the plants will also get reduced.
Different variety of plants will show different methods of adaptation to low temperatures. Few plants which have broad leaves will lose their leaves for the conservation of very limited energy which they take from the sun. Few plants which are evergreen such as conifers will develop leaves which look like needles with slanting canopy and allows the snow to slide through and does not collect over the plant. Few plants such as Poinsettia will go into the mode of flowering at the time of winter season by having foliage which is developed in an active manner at the time of warmer periods. In this article, we will discuss how to take care of plants in winter in India or winter gardening
Winter gardening tips in India:
Cleaning the plants is very important. It means that you will need to remove the dead parts and the infected parts of the plants like stems, leaves, and flowers. If the infected parts of the plant are not removed, then the parts which are unnecessary may enhance the fungus or eggs of insects at the time of winters which may, in turn, infect the other parts of the plant too. When you are removing the dead, diseased and the rotten parts of the plant, you will need to use clean and disinfected scissors or gardening shears in order to prevent the spreading of diseases from one plant to another.
You have to remember removing the weeds which are undesired and are growing near to your plants surrounding them. You should remove the weeds because, if they start growing, then they will compete for nutrients from the soil with your garden plants leading to unhealthy growth of the plant. The top-soil has to be tilled for removing the weeds from its roots, otherwise, it will grow again. It would be better if you water the topsoil prior to tilling so that it will become softer which will, in turn, makes it easier to pull out the weeds which are unwanted. Take very good care that you are not just throwing away the weeds near to your plants as there are chances that they may spread and grow back at the time of spring. The weeds can be used in the process of composting.
After you remove weeds from the soil, you should cover the soil with some organic mulch like bark and shredded leaves. Always make sure that you are using the dry leaves which have fallen naturally like mulch, shed by deciduous shrubs and trees which will decompose readily. Mulching will keep the topsoil in warm conditions at the time of winter which will protect the plant roots from the damage caused by the frost. Anyways, make sure that you are not spreading the mulch too nearer to the stem as it may cause rotting in the stem.
Few plants which will be tender like caladium can be kept in indoor locations at the time of winter where it would be warm and humid to some more extent than the weather which is in the outdoor locations. Few deciduous plants can also be moved indoors or to shade as the winter arrives so that they will lose fewer leaves because of less exposure to cool weather conditions. Few tropical plants like ferns will require high humidity for their growth and survival. Hence you will need to shift them to indoor locations after the autumn as the air in winter is dry and also less humid which does not suit for such plants.
If you are located in an area which will get heavy rainfall at the time of winters, make sure that you are taking care of relocation of your plants present in containers to shade, as over -watering at the time of winters will cause rotting to the roots leading to the death of the plants. If you are unable to move the plants, then make sure that you are checking the drainage of the planters on a regular basis in order to prevent the roots from standing in water. Mulching will decrease the impact of heavy rainfall on the top-soil and will let the water to drain better, by improving the soil’s porosity.
Winter is the best time for starting seeds in the indoor locations for many annual herbs and also flowers. This is done as the conditions which are present in the indoor locations will be perfect for them to undergo the process of germination as it would be warmer and also more humid than the outdoor locations. You will be required to wait till the spring for sowing seeds directly in the outdoor locations. If you wait till spring, then you will have less time for your plants to come to the stage of maturation and also for the development of fruits and flowers will the start of next winter. This will decrease production.
Flowering bulbs like Gladioli and Dahlias are very much sensitive to cold temperatures and they will also die in grounds at the time of winter. If you want to divide the bulbs, then winter is the perfect time to perform this. You will just need to dig the bulb out from the soil by making sure that you are taking good care of the plant from not getting the bulb gets damaged by digging to sufficient depth. After that, remover the small offset bulbs which are growing around the main bulb by making use of a knife which is very sharp.
Dividing the bulb for every 3 years is very much important for the prevention of overcrowding of the plants which are growing from the offset bulbs as it will decrease the flowering and will badly affect the plant’s health. New bulbs, as well as the old ones, can be planted with a good amount of spacing in the coming spring.
Read:Container Tomato Gardening.
Things you should not do to your plants in winter:
Do not prune your plants too much at the time of winters as they will not be able to develop new growth at the time of months which are cool. As the plants will store their food in their stems and leaves which they will use for survival in the winter months, they will not be able to recover from too much pruning which will also lead them to death. You can anyways cut off the infected parts or old parts of the plants without even causing any disturbance to the other parts of the plant.
Activities such as root-pruning and repotting should be postponed will the spring starts. This has to be done as the transplantation will disturb the plant roots and damage them making them not to regrow and also recover.
There is no requirement for the fertilization of your plants at the time of the lean season of growth. As the metabolism of the plants will decrease at the time of winter, they will not need a large number of nutrients for survival. If you fertilize your plants too much, then it would be leading to problems such as wilting of leaves, brown tips, decreased flowering and it may also lead to the death of the plants.
Plants will require water when they are growing in an active manner at the time of warmer months as the water will help the roots in the absorption of nutrients from the soil. Hence, you will need to avoid the soil to dry out and you can wait for few more days prior to watering the plants again. In the months which are cooler, the rate of evaporation of soil moisture will become low. Hence the frequency of watering plants in winter should also be decreased.
