What you need to do in the fall to prepare your garden for the cold winter

Where to begin

The warm summer is over - it's time to start preparing the garden for wintering. The task of the summer resident is to correctly assess the condition of the plants growing on the territory of the summer cottage and to correctly distribute the upcoming work. You need to start by preparing a working tool. In the process of garden processing you will need:

• garden cart;
• shovel and bayonet shovels;
• rake;
• garden pruner and sharp knife;
• spray;
• covering material and homemade caps;
• protective gloves and overalls.

Experienced gardeners recommend looking at the trees and shrubs growing in the garden first. It is necessary to identify plants injured by fungal and bacterial infections, as well as to find crops damaged by rodents and harmful insects. Perhaps some trees and bushes can be saved by sanitary pruning and treatment with special preparations. Other plants need replanting and soil replacement.

Be sure to harvest the entire crop from the site. Do not leave fruits on fruit trees and berry bushes. Over time, fruits and berries will fall to the ground and begin to rot, which can cause the development of diseases that are dangerous to plants.

So, we bring to your attention a brief overview of preparing a garden for winter for beginners.

Video "Preparing the garden for wintering"

From the video you will learn how to properly prepare plants in the country for the upcoming cold and frost.

Cleaning

Fruit trees and shrubs growing in the garden, flowering and decorative perennials require special attention in the autumn. The harvest of the next year depends on the correct preparation of plants for the upcoming cold and frost. Failure to comply with pruning, watering, shelter and fertilizing technologies can have irreversible consequences for plants.

You need to start preparing the garden for the upcoming cold and frosty conditions with cleaning. Autumn cleaning is a mandatory hygienic measure aimed at reducing the risk of developing fungal and bacterial infections. Leaving a beautiful and colorful carpet of leaves falling from trees on the territory of the summer cottage, novice gardeners endanger all garden crops. Deciduous foliage provides an excellent hiding place for small rodents and harmful insects.

The collected dry foliage, shoots cut from shrubs and trees, rotten fruits can be used as a basis for compost. But leaves and branches affected by diseases and harmful insects cannot be used to fertilize the site and insulate plants. To prevent the proliferation of parasites and the spread of pathogens, burn the collected branches and leaves outside the garden.

Loosening and watering the soil

Autumn care for fruit and ornamental crops in the garden involves tillage. In the garden and in the aisles, the earth is dug to a depth of 15–20 cm, around the plants - by 10–15 cm.Loosening the soil helps to get rid of pests that prefer to winter in the ground, and also enriches the soil with oxygen and various nutrients. To increase fertility and improve the composition of the soil mixture, it is recommended to fertilize with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. Nitrogen-containing preparations should not be used in the fall. In winter, trees should be in a resting and resting stage.

If the fall is not too rainy, you need to take care of moistening the soil in the garden. Moisture-charging irrigation is carried out in early autumn, when the average daily air temperature is kept within 15 ° C. Make sure the water used for irrigation is warm. Moistening plants with cold water can have negative consequences: the soil will not have time to dry out before the first frost, drizzle will appear in the air layers in the soil, and the root will begin to freeze.

The plants are watered in several stages, the soil in the near-stem circle should be moistened to a depth of 80–100 cm. The approximate water consumption per adult tree is 50 liters. In the Crimea and the Kuban, where winters are warm and dry, orchards are moistened more abundantly.

Pruning trees and bushes

In autumn, when the process of sap flow in the branches slows down, pruning of fruit and flowering plants is carried out. This procedure helps to get rid of old, damaged and injured branches. During the period of rest and rest, trees and shrubs have time to recover, wounds heal completely.

However, thoughtless pruning of the crown can have the opposite effect: plants stop growing and develop, the number of flowers and fruits is significantly reduced. When choosing a pruning scheme, it is necessary to take into account the varietal characteristics of each crop. So, rejuvenating walnut pruning provides for the removal of not only damaged shoots, but also old skeletal branches that are located at the bottom of the trunk. Mulberry, on the other hand, is difficult to recover from autumn pruning. Therefore, the crown is formed mainly in the spring, the removal of shoots in the fall is not carried out every year.

With sanitary pruning, you do not need to touch the young branches, which will give new shoots with the arrival of spring heat. Do not forget to carefully treat the resulting wounds with a solution of copper sulfate and garden varnish.

Transfer

Autumn is the perfect time to plant new seedlings and transplant bushes on the territory of the summer cottage. It is better to plant and transplant plants in September or October, so that the seedling has time to adapt and take root in a new place of growth.

When choosing new plants, it is recommended to pay attention to the varietal characteristics of the crops and the climatic characteristics of the growing regions. For example, some evergreen and exotic plants are best planted in the spring. A pomegranate seedling, planted in the fall in open ground in the gardens of the Moscow region, may not take root. But the pomegranate planted in the warm Crimea will successfully cope with the first winter. In the southern regions, the planting of persimmon seedlings with an open root system can be delayed until early November. As for central Russia and colder regions, it is better to postpone this procedure for next year. Young trees of chaenomeles (Japanese quince) are planted in open ground only in spring. Autumn planting may not be successful, and the tree will die with the first severe frosts.

Rodent protection

In winter, when there is not much food, hares and mice feed on the bark of fruit trees and bushes. Rodents are especially fond of apple, hawthorn, quince, hazel, walnut, plum, apricot, pear, cherry and other stone fruits. Hares can damage not only the trunk of a tree, but also shoots up to 7 mm thick.

To protect your garden from rodent attacks, you need to carefully prepare the plants for wintering. First of all, the trunks of trees and the bases of shrubs should be coated with lime with the addition of various odorous substances.This method of protection from hares and mice is ineffective, since closer to spring any smell disappears. A more reliable protection against pests is considered to be tying a tree trunk with burlap, agrofibre or roofing material. Plastic bottles can be used as a protective material.

Make sure that plants covered with dark roofing material and plastic are not exposed to the sun. The lack of air circulation under the influence of sunlight can lead to rotting of the plant trunk.

Pest control

Autumn preparation of the garden for winter involves the processing of fruit and flowering crops from harmful insects and various diseases. In October, when the foliage has not yet fallen, the garden is sprayed with a solution of urea (5%). For 5 liters of water, 250 g of urea will be needed. It is recommended to spray not only disease-injured and insect-damaged plants, but also healthy-looking crops. All plants in the garden need to be protected, as spores of fungal infections quickly spread from one tree to another.

After harvesting the leaves, it is the turn of the soil cultivation in the near-trunk circle. For the treatment of flowering perennials, deciduous and fruit trees, a 7% urea solution is taken. Spraying the soil is carried out with a more concentrated solution: 350 g of urea is needed for 5 liters of water.

Instead of urea, you can use a soap solution with the addition of soda ash. To prepare a protective agent against pests and diseases, you will need 10 liters of water, 30 g of crushed laundry soap and 300 g of soda ash.

In order to prevent and combat parasitic individuals and pathogens of various infections, it is recommended to use special preparations. Contact and systemic fungicides are highly effective in the fight against scab, powdery mildew, coccomycosis, late blight and other diseases:

• "Antrakol";
• "Garth";
• "Topaz";
• Fundazol;
• "Debut".

Insecticidal preparations "Aktellik", "Aktara", "Calypso", "Caesar" and others are used against harmful insects.

In regions where the first frosts can be expected in mid-autumn, trees and shrubs are sprayed much earlier. So, in Siberia and the Urals, the processing of an orchard from pests and diseases is carried out in September.

Shelter

Insulation of plants protects against wind, frost and glaciation. Many novice gardeners incorrectly believe that all crops growing in the garden should be covered. Roses, clematis, rhododendrons, calla lilies, large-leaved, oak-leaved and rough hydrangeas, Sargent's hydrangea, Chinese and oval-leaved privet, viburnum, St. John's wort, honeysuckle, grapes, boxwood, cypress trees, thuja, etc. need insulation.

Spruce branches, coniferous branches, dry foliage and sawdust are used as a covering material. Such insulation is suitable for the Volga region, Kuban, Krasnodar Territory and Crimea. Plants in the northern regions are covered with agrofibre, non-woven fabric, roofing felt and other denser materials.