Prepping Your Yard for Winter
It’s that time of year again – yes, winter cometh. Here are 5 Tips to help prepare your yard and garden for our cold winters.
Fall Walk-about:
The exterior of your house needs attention throughout the year and this is a perfect time to do a walk-about around your yard and inspect your home. Sometimes parts of your exterior envelope can come loose during wind storms. Refasten these so they are unable to become worse while the weather is warmer. Trying to do this in the winter cold days can be a challenge. Look for areas water can penetrate as well as cold air, like your door and window seals.
Harvesting your garden:
Your lettuce, spinach and chard does not need to be harvested for a while yet. It thrives in cooler temperatures down to -3C or -7C range depending on the variety. If I know a night will drop below this range or we're expected snow, I'll cover it up with tarp.
What to do with all the leaves?
Yes, you can definitely bag and drop off at the city compost sites. Or, why not utilize the compost yourself? You do not need a composter to take advantage of the nutrients these provide. What I do is rake them across my yard into the front 
of my garden then run my lawn mower over it, mulching and blowing the leaves across my garden. This will decompose over the winter and provide valued nutrients for next years garden. Especially in Calgary, we do not have the best ‘natural’ soil in our yards. This is a great way to beef it up. Spreading the leaves in this manner is pretty much the final task closing down my garden for the season.
Winter Lawn Care
Preparing your lawn for winter is also very important to maintain its health. It's recommended you fertilize, aerate and over seed (make sure it's cool weather seed). Most people aerate in the spring - you can definitely do this in the fall to avoid the rush. Doing these will give your lawn a solid head start over your neighbours.
Getting Your House Ready for Winter
Taking care of your home’s exterior as well as your yard will make your spring a little bit easier and will also help prevent any unwanted issues poor weather can toss at us. Tips to Prepare Your House for Winter.
House and Yard Tips for Home Owners
