ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot

Rake leaves and debris from your lawn. Check your tree ties; strong winds can uproot newly planted trees. Tie up cypress and cedar trees; heavy snow can break or damage them. Also, fasten climbing plants to supports to protect them against damage from high winds.
You can reduce the effects of wind and snow by a third by pruning hybrid tea and floribunda roses. Strip the leaves from remaining canes, but don’t compost them; they may harbour black spot, mildew or rust spores. Bury them in the garden instead.
Remove dead, damaged, diseased and spindly growth first from your climbing and rambling roses. The aim is to maintain a vigorous framework of healthy canes. Ramblers tend to be more vigorous than climbers, so more wood may be removed. Prune side shoots back to three buds. To keep your rose bushes healthy, rake fallen rose leaves and mulch underneath to cover any spores.
Keep on mulching, especially newly planted trees, bushes and semi-hardy perennials. Tip: Avoid contact between mulch and stems to prevent rotting. Save leaves from large trees, such as maples, oaks and chestnuts. A covering of leaf mulch insulates roots, feeds the soil, helps retain moisture, improves soil structure and smothers weed seeds.
Protect container plants by moving them closer to the house, under the eaves or deck, a sheltered corner, a cool greenhouse, or inside a brightly lit entranceway or garage.
When the last crops of raspberries have been harvested, cut the woody fruited canes down to soil level. This helps prevent pests and diseases from developing, and lets in light to promote new cane growth. Prune out the fruited canes of blackberries and hybrid berries, such as boysenberry, tayberry and loganberry. Finally, tie the remaining canes onto their supports to prevent winter damage. Prune grape vines while they are dormant; leave one or two strong buds on each stem.
Young rosemary and bay trees – one or two years old – may not over-winter successfully, so keep them protected. Plant them out once the roots have fully developed.
When the fern-like asparagus foliage yellows and dies, cut the asparagus down to an inch (2.5 cm) above ground, then mulch; asparagus is a heavy feeder and relishes aged manure, compost or what-have-you. Cut back stalks of Jerusalem artichokes. The tubers are sweeter after a few hard frosts and can be harvested from the garden throughout the winter.
The best way to prevent disease is to remove disease. Go through all the plants in the greenhouse and remove any mouldy plant parts. Keep checking throughout the winter for infections. The damp, confined environment of a greenhouse is a perfect breeding ground for fungal spores and disease. Water greenhouse plants sparingly and preferably in the morning so they don’t sit wet and cold at night.
If you have a pond, remove any decaying plants and leaves to prevent methane and hydrogen sulfide gas build-up. These gases can be poisonous to fish. Cut back dying, marginal plants and remove fallen leaves from the water, before they sink and break down, causing algae to bloom.
To protect fruit trees from dormant fungal diseases, spray all tree surfaces with a mixture of two tablespoons (30 ml) of wettable copper to a gallon of water. The wingless, female winter moth walks up fruit trees to lay her eggs on the branches; the resulting green caterpillars feed on spring foliage. To keep winter moths off your fruit trees, tie grease bands around fruit tree trunks. Use one or two six-inch, removable wraps, such as burlap sacking tied around the tree with twine, and coat them with a sticky product, such as Tanglefoot.
Remember that cold snaps leave birds vulnerable, so keep bird feeders filled with nuts, seeds, fatty scraps and fruit.
Pat yourself on the back. You have worked hard and performed miracles in your garden this past year. It’s time to look forward to a brand new gardening year, working in co-creation with Mother Nature.
From A Year on the Garden Path: A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide by Carolyn Herriot. $29.95, Earthfuture Publications, Victoria, BC. Available at Banyen Books, Duthie Books or at (www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath).