Green Thumbs Feelin’ Blue?
Here are a few winter tips and tasks that will keep your landscape brain busy until spring!
Need a “salt-ernative” for clearing your pathways?
Rolling out the welcome mat in the winter months often means more work, including shovelling snow and de-icing any slippery patches. Whether you are maintaining your front step, driveway or public sidewalks, there are some best practices for de-icing that you can adopt to protect your landscape (and our rivers and streams while you’re at it!).
De-icing products work by lowering the freezing temperature of water, melting snow and ice, even when it’s cold out. The most common de-icer is rock salt, or sodium chloride. It is inexpensive, readily available and effective for melting ice and snow, but its runoff can do serious damage to soil and plant roots or even kill your plants and trees. Salt also washes into ground and surface water, harming the environment.
While de-icers may be necessary to ensure pedestrian safety, you can minimize the impact to your landscape. Here are some proactive tips:
Keep on top of snow removal while it is easy to move; remove as much snow and ice as possible with a shovel before de-icing to minimize product use and increase its effectiveness.
Try sand or kitty litter as an alternative to salt; they provide traction and absorb heat from the sun to promote melting. Fireplace ash and coffee grounds are additional organic materials you may have lying around, and you can cut salts with any of these items to reduce the amount of salt used.
Use alternatives to rock salt such as potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and acetate compounds. These salts are generally far less harmful to plants and the environment.
Avoid overusing product by following the instructions.
Planning Next Year’s Landscape?
Keep these tips in mind that will help you next winter:
Avoid planting where there may be de-icing (salt) exposure: near roadways, sidewalks, etc.
Plant trees and beds far enough away from pavement to avoid risk of damage when performing snow removal.
Designate an area where snow can be piled up without risking damage to grass or shrubs and reducing landscape exposure to salt.
Why Prune in Winter?
Pruning is a critical practice for the health and vitality of your landscape that allows you to cut out unproductive or unsightly parts, improve aesthetic appearance and promote rejuvenation. Here are some of the benefits to pruning in the winter months:
Fungal diseases, infections and pests are typically dormant, making them easier to eradicate.
When your plant is dormant or sleeping there is no stress and sap loss is curbed.
No new buds means no life lost when trimming.
Fallen leaves reveal the shape of the plant/tree and make it easier to access.
Pruning in the winter preserves more food and energy in the roots for new growth in the spring.
Understanding what to prune and when is important because plants and trees behave differently across the seasons (with the exception of hardy evergreens which can be cut at any time). Crabapple and Poplar trees are dormant and well suited for pruning during winter, but other perennials like Birch and Maple should be pruned in late-fall because they reproduce during winter (among other reasons).
Have questions about your plants and trees? Feel free to give us a call or send us a message – we are happy to help!
