Let’s face it, winter is coming whether we gardeners want it to or not. As the days cool down, we notice a lot of our plants dropping their leaves, signaling an end to the season.

Most of our perennials will do fine during the winter with some degree of care on our parts while our tropicals (if we want to save them) will need to be brought indoors soon.

Our best strategy for helping our plants survive the winter is to keep them healthy during the rest of the year. Healthy plants do much better than struggling plants. Plants that are not healthy tend to get stressed during the winter, with the cold weather tending to do them in. Healthy plants are much better prepared to deal with winter’s colder temperatures. So how do we keep our plants healthy during the year? We do this by watering, mulching, pruning, and fertilizing.

While most of us water our plants during the summer, these plants need water in the winter as well. They may be dormant on top, but they are still active underground. For the most part, normal winter weather meets most of our plant’s water needs. However, have we ever had a normal winter? So, if we go a couple of weeks without any moisture from rain, sleet, or snow, to keep your plants healthy, you should plan on giving your plants a good soaking once a month.

A good layer of mulch will also help your plants through the winter since mulch will not only help conserve water, but it will also help keep the soil warmer than non-mulched soil. If you need to add mulch for the winter, the general rule is to wait until after the first freeze since this usually indicates colder weather is here. However, we had our first freeze and now it’s warmed up again, so maybe wait until after the next freeze to add winter mulch.

Pruning can help keep your plants healthier when you remove rubbing branches etc. Rubbing branches can leave open wounds which provide easy access for disease or damage. Pruning our problem branches will extend the lives of your plants. Since pruning can stimulate growth, now is not the time to prune most plants. Pruning is as much art as science. We have a pruning guide on our website (www.tulsamastergardeners.org) under the Lawn and Garden Help section that will help you decide when to prune.

AS far as fertilizing goes, the growing season is the best time to fertilize your plants which means from spring till about mid-August. When you fertilize your plants after August, you can stimulate new growth which is more susceptible to damage during the winter.

These practices will help keep your plants healthy during the growing season and beyond. Good luck!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: OSU Ag. Comm.