Follow these Masterful Tips for Overwintering Balcony Garden Plants and welcome the spring season with well-maintained greens.
If you are worried about your greens this winter season then these Masterful Tips for Overwintering Balcony Garden Plants will keep them healthy all winter long.
Check out great tips on how to keep houseplants alive in winters here
Best Ways to Overwinter Balcony Garden Plants
1. Shelter or Wrap Plants
To save plants from cold drafts of air, cover them along with the pot using a bubble wrap or a piece of breathable cloth. You can cover plants with burlap too.
2. Gather Plants Together
Group plants together, place them in a north or east direction, and cover them with leaves or straws. You can also move pots to a covered area of the balcony.
3. Move Plants Indoors
It works great for tropical perennials like begonias, that keep growing in winters. You can also bring dwarf container-grown fruit trees that are placed on the patio or deck during summer.
4. Remove Finished and Rotting Plants
Old plants shelter pests, diseases, and fungus. Clean up spent plants and bury them in the soil using an empty pot. Burying old plants improve the soil tilth and add organic matter.
Few Important Points to Keep in Mind
5. Light Requirements
If you are moving the plants indoors, you need to be careful of the sunlight as plants must have plenty of light during the winter months when days are short. Also, the indoor environment stays quite dry during winter, and many perennials require humidity.
If you lack such conditions indoor, then procure a humidifier before moving plants inside.
6. Watering
Water only when the topsoil is dry to touch. Plants that are kept indoors come out of dormancy earlier compared to outdoor plants. Though, they must be hardened off and moved outdoors when the danger of frost has passed.
7. Woody Plants and Shrubs
You can avoid branches of shrubs from thrashing and breaking in winter by loosely tieing them together after leaves drop. Treat evergreen woody plants that are susceptible to desiccating winds by spraying with antitranspirantst.
8. Stop Fertilization
This is an important step for preparing your plants for winters. As most of the plants don’t actively grow in winters, they won’t utilize the fertilizer for growth, and the chemicals will accumulate, causing the roots to burn. This may also kill the plant.
9. Acclimate
Do not uncover plants too early in spring. Slowly introduce them back to the outdoor environment and gradually acclimate the plants to the temperature change. Remember that well acclimatize plants are less vulnerable to pests and diseases in the longer run.
