How to Make Your Backyard Winter Ready

Winter will be here before you know it, and that means preparing your yard for the harsh winter weather. If you’re dreading having to do this task, then keep reading as I gathered some tips on how to make your backyard winter-ready. Once you finished, you’ll be back to sipping hot chocolate under fluffy blankets in no time.

Outdoor Furniture

I know, it’s probably the least favorite task of preparing for winter. However, it doesn’t have to be as tedious as the previous year. If you have a shed, basement, or garage to store the furniture in, great! Just stack your chairs and place them in storage and you’re good to go. 

If you don’t have a place to store them, don’t worry. If you cover the furniture with a tarp properly, you can leave your furniture outside this winter. If you’re wondering what the best tarps are for your backyard, then click here to learn more.

Prepare Your Plants

Don’t leave your plants in your backyard high and dry this winter. The first step is to pull up any dead plants. You don’t want them to interfere with the alive ones. If you have sunflowers, coneflowers, thistles, or blackberry lily, Keep them around! They provide food and sanctuary to butterflies. Cutting them down will severely damage the butterfly population.

If you have perennials, then once that first frost hits, be sure to cut them until they’re about 4-6 inches tall. Cutting them too early will interfere with the energy that’s stored in the roots of the plant during winter. If that energy dies off because the plant was cut before the first frost, then it may not grow back next season. So wait until that first frost has killed the plant before you cut any in your backyard.

Say Goodbye to Slimy Leaves

If you notice any slimy and decaying leaves in your yard, be sure to get rid of them asap. Insects love to live in those kinds of leaves. Getting rid of those leaves also prevents diseases from harming your other plants. 

However, for the rest of the leaves, you may be in luck if you want to avoid raking. It’s said that you can leave about 10-20% of your yard with leaves. Nothing more than that though, since having an excessive amount of leaves could lead to smothering the grass, which can stop it from growing in the spring. 

It could also promote snow mold in your backyard. One of the causes of snow mold is snow landing on top of the wet and soggy leaves. This causes a breeding ground for fungi, and before you know it, in spring you’ll be greeted with a lawn full of snow mold. 

Take Care of Your Garden

Know the type of vegetables you have in your garden, as some will grow through the winter weather. Some of those vegetables are beats, garlic, carrots, kale, onions, and peas to name a few. Click here to read more about the vegetables you can grow in winter. 

Be sure to put compost on your garden beds in late fall, just before winter starts. This way, the soil can soak up nutrients over the winter. Then add a light layer of mulch or straw to keep soil erosion, nutrient leaching, and weed development from happening. Your backyard will be winter-ready in no time.

Leave the Fire Pit Out

If you have one of our fire pits, then you have saved yourself a whole extra step in your backyard winter preparations. Our fire pits last through all seasons. That means you can leave your fire pit out during the winter months and not have to worry about any damage to it. 

How do you prepare your backyard for the winter? Do you have any tips to share on how to make the process as easy as possible? Let us know by tagging us @thefirepitgallery.