The Importance of Winter Watering
The Importance of Winter Watering
While your favorite ski resort may be open for business, snowfall in the mountains as well as the front range is down this year. Reports show that snowpack levels across the state are 47% of normal levels. The southern Colorado region has below-average snowpack for this point in the season. While snowfall has been variable and not consistent even as far back as the 1800’s, there are some trends that we need to consider as gardeners. While not very strong, there is a correlation that has become apparent for lower elevation areas in the state (and could be an indicator for us in future years). If the first snowfall is not until November or later, this correlates to a lesser snowfall total for the area as a whole. This concern aligns with recorded temperatures, indicating that our region is experiencing warmer and drier autumns. This is significant for our landscape plants: trees, shrubs, and perennials. To break it down further, without any supplemental water, our outdoor plants are going longer without moisture after the main growing season and receiving potentially less water even when they do finally get snow. Additional food for thought includes that every foot of snow is roughly one inch of rain.
This corresponds to what we hear and see from our customers who come in the spring to replace plants that have experienced “winter kill.” While the term winter kill is traditionally used to describe icy or extremely cold temperatures that cause plant death, customers are using this term to describe plant death in general over the winter season. The type of death these plants are experiencing is completely preventable. They are dying of dehydration. Dry soils do not insulate roots, and thus plants are more susceptible to freeze damage and the swings of freezing/ thawing that we experience in this region.
When we have mild months, like this past November or December, we need to be winter watering. Winter watering requires you to manually water after irrigation or sprinklers are turned off prior to a freeze. Manually watering sounds labor-intensive in our world of automation, but it is rather simple. Remember, dear reader, gardening is one of the last bastions of manual labor. Enjoy the little labor it takes to have beautiful plants! There is a reason the phrase, “labor of love,” exists after all. I digress. Take a garden hose, if you are up for connecting and disconnecting a hose to a spigot, and let the hose trickle at the base of your plant(s) for a little bit. If you have a mature tree, let it trickle for about an hour or two. Less for smaller or less mature plants. If you don’t want to deal with a hose, take a bucket of water and pour it at the base of the plant for a drink. If you want to water your tree properly, you are shooting for ten gallons of water per inch of the tree trunk’s diameter. Which may be even more work than just pulling out your garden hose, that may or may not be mangled under your lawn mower. Pouring buckets of water repeatedly in the same spot may also cause some erosion, so I prefer the slow trickle method. Do this at least once a month on warm days (above 40- 50 degrees Farenheit).
Some individuals look for quick fixes, so they do not have to manually water. I caution against these methods, even if we carry the implements at Rick’s. Tree donuts, water gators, or water bags that have been designed to slowly water trees should only be used during the growing season, and outside of freezing temperatures. If the tree donut freezes at the crown of the tree, this can also cause death. This invention does not mimic snow. Snow slowly melts without creating a solid barrier. A frozen tree donut of ice prevents the tree’s surface roots from “breathing” or completing their nutrient exchange and absorption. Do not look for a shortcut on winter watering.
While many people believe that plants go to sleep during the winter and therefore do not need any care, this is not the case. This would be like a human being in a coma, but never being given an IV. An IV is to ensure that they are receiving liquids and nutrients until they wake back up! Apply this metaphor to your landscape plants. When we do not have the winter moisture and fail to winterwater our landscape plants, they die a perfectly preventable death. Enjoy the sunshine that is common in a Colorado winter, and pull out that garden hose to give your tree a drink!
New School Fall Gardening Stretegies
By Katherine Placzek
With fall approaching, many of you are getting ready to put your garden beds and other portions of the landscape to bed. With a more eco-friendly mindset, we would like to suggest a couple of tweaks to your typical routine.
Old school: Raking and bagging leaves, tossing them out for the trash.
New school: Rake leaves from below trees, and use them as mulch around your perennials, shrubs, or on top of your vegetable garden beds. You can also run these over with a lawn mower to mulch them into your grass.
Why: Organic matter, including yard waste, is the most prolific item in United States landfills. Consequently, this unsustainable practice directly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, organic material returned to the soil reduces your environmental impact while providing a useful garden resource. These local sources of organic material and nutrition (from your own yard’s leaves) will feed and insulate your yard all winter long! Decomposing leaf matter enriches the soil, adding carbon and nitrogen to the soil, while plants “sleep.” Leaves also create safe places for native bees and other pollinators. Did you know that almost three-fourths of Colorado’s native bees nest and overwinter underground? Tip: Deeply water the leaf litter in after it has been placed. This creates a wet decomposing mat that will not blow away as easily.
If you have excess leaves that you are not going to be using, please feel free to bring your bagged leaves by our nursery gate (located at 600 N. 18th St. Colorado Springs, CO 80904). This is a community pile that other members come to gather for their own gardening usage.
Old School: Trim any perennials and remove them before the first snow.
New School: Leave all of your woody stalks, leaf matter, and ornamental grasses all winter long!
Why: This allows for winter interest and provides shelter for any hibernating insects. This is especially true for native plants that act as habitat for many native and beneficial insects. Larger life forms, including birds and mammals, will also benefit from grass seed heads left standing, and other plants that provide shelter in the harshest months. If this is unsightly for you, trim your plants, but leave the stems and other leaf matter on the ground to help create shelter throughout the winter. When soil temperature has reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit it’s the preferred time to begin trimming these perennials in the spring, after many insects have completed their wintering cycle.
Old School: Let the winter snows water your outdoor plants.
New School: Water trees, shrubs, and perennials on nice days throughout the winter.
Why: Unfortunately Colorado Springs does not get enough reliable winter moisture to overwinter many plants. This is especially true for newer plants that do not have an established root system yet. Many trees and shrubs, even those that are well-established, should continue to be watered on warm winter days from October through March. When it gets up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, pull out a hose or dust off your watering can and soak up some of those winter rays, yourself, while you water. Make sure you unhook any hoses after use, as temperatures can cause freezing in the hose bib and other hardware.
Old School: Say goodbye to gardening until spring.
New School: Fall and winter sow, including vegetable and perennial flower seeds.
Why: Many annual vegetables and perennial flowers have a natural cycle where they drop seeds or fruit in the fall. Mimic nature and plant some of your own seeds in the fall to see what comes up earlier and hardier in the spring! In the vegetable garden, this especially works for cold hardy greens. Think spinach, lettuce, arugula, radicchio, etc. For perennial flowers, like wildflowers, it is recommended to put these seeds down in the fall, as many of our native flowers require a cold stratification period. While many people may set up sections in their freezer and fridge for cold stratification processes, direct seeding in the fall eliminates the juggling of space in your fridge/ freezer. Let the ice cream stay where it is!
Old School: Wait until spring to amend any of your garden beds.
New School: Amend your garden beds in the fall so you can plant right away in the spring.
Why: Fall is a good time to test your soil so you know how to amend your beds. Our soils typically fall in the basic pH range here in the greater Colorado Springs area. This can impact how readily available nutrients are to our plants. Do your research and get your soil properly in shape for your spring! Remember that you can also amend with what nature provides; leaves, manure, compost, and other organic matter. These sources do not have a precise N-P-K (macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), nor spelled out micronutrients (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc) so it is recommended to test your soil in the spring again to see how your soil has changed due to any unregulated organic material. We offer pH and N-P-K, testing in-store, but the CSU extension office also offers a wide range of soil tests.
Now that you know these new school techniques, you might just try other new gardening techniques in the growing season. I know, I know- I am getting ahead of myself! Happy gardening!
Rick’s Deep Freeze Guide
In preparation for our first deep freeze coming this Sunday, Rick’s Garden Center would like to remind our fabulous customers to take some steps beforehand to help your plant friends and tools out.
- Water in outdoor trees, shrubs and perennials and cover root balls with mulch. Do not mulch up to the trunk. Moist soil conducts earth heat better than dry soil. The mulch will help keep in the heat and protect the sensitive root ball.
- Rose bushes, mulch up to the graft union at the base of the rose trunk. You can use a rose collar or just pile up mulch up to and above the graft union. The graft union will look like a bulging area on the main trunk just above the soil line.
- Bring in any tropical plants, cacti or succulents that are not at least a zone 5 inside.
- Check and move any plants that are blown on by heat vents. This will dry out the foliage in no time!
- Outdoor trees, shrubs and perennials planted in pots should be insulated with burlap bags or mulch and placed against a south or west wall of your home. Avoid watering these before the freeze.
- Water in newly established lawns and grass.
- Go ahead and plant those mums you bought in the ground.. They may come back next year!
- Disconnect and drain all hoses and drips lines from spigots
- Cover newly planted bulbs with leaf, needle or straw mulch.
- Blow out that sprinkler system!
- After the freeze, you do not have to pull up all of the dead material, so that pollinators and other insects have a place to overwinter.
