Moorhead Public Library offers tips for preparing yards and gardens for winter season

MOORHEAD, Minn. — With fall here and winter up next, you might be surprised to learn that there’s just as much to do to prepare your yard and garden as there is in the spring.

University of Minnesota Extension held a lunch hour seminar on garden prep during this season.

Covering strawberry plants can help protect them over the winter.

Certain invasive plants like creeping charlie or buckthorn are easier to remove now that the plants are preparing to go dormant for the year.

Fallen leaves make a good source of nitrogen for your lawn, but they need to either be mulched or turned into compost.

“Make sure to get all your planting done, if you’re doing ay fall planting of trees, and shrubs, and perennials here in the next couple of weeks. Get that all finished up,” said Jillian Patrie, an extension educator specializing in horticulture for Clay County. “Make sure you keep watering until the ground freezes up if we don’t start to get consistent rain. Then make sure you have all those planting protection things ready to go so when the snow flies, you have all that stuff done.”

Starting October 20, Patri will be teaching classes at the library about caring for houseplants over the winter season.