DENVER — There's only a couple weeks of the winter season left, but there's still time to spruce up your yard before spring officially arrives.
Kim Jewel with GroundMasters, in partnership with the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, met up with Denver7 to explain what we should be doing in our yards during the winter months.
Jewel said pruning is very important for tree health. For most species, she said you can prune any time, but dormant pruning of some species is important. Dormant pruning is imperative for some species like crab apple, pear, mountain ash and hawthorn apple to prevent fire blight. It's a bacterial disease that is extremely easy to spread during the growing season while juices are flowing. Additionally, winter pruning causes less stress on trees and allows for robust new growth in the spring, Jewel explained.
While our forests are rich in organic matter, our urban soils are very low in nutrients because in our homes and commercial landscapes, we remove those nutrients: grass clippings and leaves, and rake them away, Jewel explained.
She said we need to replenish nutrients with fertilization to boost resistance to winter stress. The key to a healthy landscape is to inspect it. You want to catch damage or disease early to keep your trees and plants healthy, Jewel said.
- Watch the video below to see what you should consider doing for your trees and shrubs this time of year.