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| Put a Plant On It owner Johanna Dominguez |
By Andrew Forsyth
As seasons change, gardeners must know the best methods to winterize and weatherproof their gardens. When to plant, when to stop planting, and when to expect weather changes all play a massive factor in gardening.
Special attention must be paid to both outdoor and indoor plants in the fall and over the winter.
It is essential to weatherproof outdoor plants, although Johanna Dominguez, the owner of Put a Plant On It, 715 Elmwood Ave., says changing patterns for indoor plants in the winter is also crucial.
Cutting back on watering and giving the plants more indoor light and attention is vital to sustaining an indoor plant in the winter. During the winter season, indoor plants do not get nearly as much light due to filters in windows. Dominguez recommends intentional and artificial lighting such as grow lights for indoor plants during the winter.
The needs of a plant differ from region to region, so it is essential to know what is best for the area you live in, she said.
“It is really easy to overwater plants, it is easy to over fertilize, it is a little bit more nuanced taking care of an indoor plant, compared to outdoor plants,” Dominguez said.
When it comes to outdoor plants, there are many more factors to consider, such as weather patterns, soil health, fluctuating temperatures and pests.
“This will likely be an El Nino winter, which in the past means that there is a likelihood that we may experience a milder winter than normal. The National Weather Service seasonal outlooks call for a greater chance of above-normal temperatures for the winter and less precipitation,” Dr. Stephen Vermette, professor of Meteorology and Climatology at Buffalo State University, said.
There are many different philosophies to winterizing gardens as well. It used to be a method where you remove all of your perennials from the garden, though now the formula is to leave any hollow stalks, as beneficial insects will winter in them.
“It is kind of like closing /not closing the garden. Things like hostas that have really big leaves, when they fall they can smother the area, so you wouldn’t want to remove that large foliage that decomposes slowly,” Patti Jablonski-Doplin, general manager at Urban Roots, 428 Rhode Island St.,said.
Any trees and shrubs can be planted until the end of October because you want them to be able to build a root system before the spring. Fall and winter are good times to amend your soil to see the deficiencies. It is good to amend in the winter, as the soil will return healthier in the spring.
You don’t want to fertilize in the fall. It will trick plants into thinking it is the growing season, and they will come out of dormancy. The most that Doplin recommended was composting the soil for some nutrients. You just want to establish the root system in the fall.
Staying aware of fluctuating temperatures during the fall season is also essential. When temperatures are high, water a lot. A minute or two is not enough. Water slowly and deeply. As temperatures cool, they will still go into dormancy as usual. However, if you have a particularly windy section of your property, you should put burlap or cloth around certain plants to avoid wind burn.
