GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — After our warmest December on record, Mother Nature — and all of us — are a little confused.
What should and shouldn’t we be doing in our gardens?
A lot of you have posted pictures and comments on our Facebook pages about budding plants, green grass and out of season blooms, so we chatted with a few folks at the University of Minnesota and the Arboretum.
Here’s what we think as a collective group:
What you shouldn’t be doing is mowing the lawn. Shortening the lawn will expose the crown of the grass, and without much snow, a blast of cold will kill those crowns and you’ll have to re-seed.
You also shouldn't be cutting back any of your perennials now. Pollinators are nesting in the stalks and stems. Leave them until well into spring when highs are in the 50s for a few days.
What you can do is make sure your plants are safe from critters who want to eat them. A 4-foot fence will keep rabbits at bay, but keeping deer out requires an 8-foot fence.
Young trees should be protected with a white plastic tube wrap, not the paper wrapping. This will allow for airflow but will keep away sunscald damage.
You can also mulch perennials with a loose layer of leaves, straw or wood as long as the ground where you are is frozen.
Don’t worry about the buds you see on plants or new shoots coming out of the ground. These things happen regularly and will not affect plant growth come spring.
The bottom line is: The vast majority of your plants will be just fine. Best-case scenario from here is that we get a good snow before the ultra cold weather settles in, which looks like it might be in the cards.
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