Here’s How to Winterize Your Albuquerque Garden

Well-prepared Albuquerque homeowners winterize their homes every fall. Just like boats and cars, your Albuquerque home needs to be prepared for the coldest season with gardens included!

If that’s news to you, let me take you under the hood to explain all the benefits of doing so. Not only does it help prepare your existing plants for the short, harsh days and bitter nights of winter, it promotes new growth in the coming spring. If you garden in a region with frost, you will want to learn how to properly winterize your garden.

Know your USDA zone

Local agriculture tools have compiled data that enables you to predict weather, including when you might see your first frost and how long you can expect to have your soil at freezing temperatures. The USDA site cites this statement in every county in the United States.

Chop, Clip, Cut and Clean

Clear the garden of debris and dying parts. These can be a breeding ground for disease and pests, both of which you do not want. This will also leave your garden looking tidy all winter, and help mitigate spring to-dos that could be easily avoided to free up time. Maybe to welcome some new arrivals?

Remove Invasives

Remove any unwanted plants or weeds. If they are an invasive species such as this particular raven, it is strongly recommended to toss these in a lidded bin in order to prevent spreading.

Be mindful of the seed heads and do not throw them into a compost pile or similar. Another good option is to burn what you don’t want to proliferate.

Divide Perennials

If you are looking to thin or spread out the perennials in your garden, fall is the best time to do it. And the period to do so is recommended to be roughly six weeks prior to the season’s first freeze, thus allowing any clones to establish themselves before punishing weather takes hold.

The best candidates for division are those that are becoming thinned out or bare at the center or are simply not flowering as profusely as they used to do.

Give The Bulbs Some Love

Not all bulbs may be healthy enough to face a freeze. You will want to dig these up and give them a bit of TLC before tucking them away for the season.

You’ll tent them out of the ground on newspaper to dry for a few weeks, then put them in a container and cover them with a medium like vermiculite, sawdust, perlite or sand until you’re ready to replant. It is smart, too, to place an additional layer of mulch to snuggle the bulbs you’ve left in the soil into their snooze season.

Baby The Beds

Top-dressing the garden beds (we’re talking 3-4 inches) with compost, post-tidy, is a key element in this process. Nutrients will plunge into beds with assistance from moisture at winter’s end, and any remnants can be worked back into the soil in spring.

Spread Mulch

This is really important to protect some of the less established root systems of your newest perennials. The ideal time to add that extra layer of protection is when ground has begun to freeze.

This will maintain the earth below them consistently cold or frozen until spring, which is what you want.” Soil may eventually reject and uproot new plants, especially as it undergoes cycles of freezing and thawing. Around January or February, check on the mulch, to see whether winter winds have thinned it out, and add more as needed.

Hydrate Evergreens

If the autumn has been dry, giving evergreen plants a thorough soaking before winter arrives can help. Broadleaf evergreens, including boxwoods and hollies, and conifers, including yews, can experience winter burn because they lose moisture through their leaves year-round.

Particularly those broadleaf types in south/southwest facing coastal/estuary conditions that are subject to afternoon sun – certainly extra attention and water (as required) here.

Protect Bark on Young Trees

Fruit trees – and other newly planted trees – have thin bark. This relates to possible cracks and sun scald due to changing temperatures day to night. The good news is plastic spiral protectors and tree wrap tape can easily fix the issue.

Create Wind Breaks

The exposed evergreens could also be at risk for wind burns. Before the frost sets in – any time up till then, really – drive three stakes into the ground in a “V” shape on the windy side of plants that need protection. The V’s tip should point into the wind. Next, wrap them in such materials as burlap or landscaping fabric. This will protect against wind without having to wrap the whole plant, so you can still enjoy your evergreens all year long in the way they were meant to be.

Saving the Shrubs

If long or particularly severe freezes are forecast, vulnerable shrubs should be covered up. However, this is not a full season treatment – you can use the same materials that were recommended for creating windbreaks.

When the temperature rises, the fabric should be removed from the plants to prevent the plant from overheating. Plastic is not an option as it does not breathe and can kill the shrub through overheating.

A quick-fix effort to shield plants in those areas from heavy cascades of snow as it dislodges from the roofs in autumn and melts is to build teepees to cover with cloth when the timing is right.

Water Features

Ensuring that your water pump doesn’t freeze is incredibly important. If you have doubts about your equipment, check with local maintenance pros to see whether your pump can keep the water moving all winter.

If you would like your pump and plants to survive to next season, you will need to remove it and store it before it freezes.

Fresh Veggies

Some crops can even be grown in some regions during when gardens are covered with snow and freezes. Crops in that category include things like beets and leafy greens such as spinach and lettuce. You can keep their integrity by creating a cold frame of agricultural cloth and simple wire hoops.

It’s not too late to take steps today to winterize your garden.

Contact the team at ASAP Sands Outdoor Services at (505) 293-4014 to schedule when you’d want your garden ready to go for the spring of 2025.