When it comes to winter protection for crops and fruit trees, many wonder if this is even necessary. After all, trees, wild strawberries and other plants in the wild survive the winter without additional care. However, since cultivated plants are not as resilient as these plants, winter protection and preparing the soil for the cold season make perfect sense.
Lime protects fruit trees from frost
fruit trees
Especially when they are still small and young, you should prepare trees for the cold season as follows:
- The best time to apply winter protection is before the first frost.
- Spread a warm layer of leaf mulch around the tree grate.
- In the case of newly planted trees, you should also protect the crown of the tree in rough locations. To do this, wrap them with a special plant fleece. Foil is unsuitable because heat and moisture can accumulate here.
Trees cultivated in pots are placed in a sheltered corner. To protect the roots from freezing, tie jute around the jar and lay pine branches on the ground.
lime fruit trees
Surely you have seen fruit trees whose bark was painted white. This ensures that the bark does not heat up so quickly when exposed to sunlight, which prevents frost cracking.
Pests that are already in the cracks in the bark are killed by the coating. In spring, when the snow melts and turns to rain, the white color is washed away.
Winterize the vegetable patch
At the latest when almost all types of vegetables have been harvested and the weather forecast announces the first night frosts, you should also prepare the vegetable patch for the cold season:
- Dig up to a depth of about eight inches in heavy soil. You can simply work leftovers of onions, spinach or lettuce into the soil, because the plant parts are a valuable green manure.
- Normal soils are loosened up with the digging fork.
- Cover the beds with a layer of straw or leaves.
- Hardy vegetables such as leeks and cabbage remain on the bed. If the temperatures drop very sharply, you can protect these plants with a garden fleece and pile them up with some soil.
tips
If you cannot overwinter empty planters in the basement, they also need winter protection. Bubble wrap around which you wrap jute is suitable for this. Also place the troughs on a styrofoam plate (€35.50) so that the frost cannot penetrate from below. If soil remains in the pots, you should cover them with fir branches.