Winter is here and it is time to put your garden to bed.

First thing you need to do is rake up all those leaves and remove all the dead plants. When removing the dead plants make sure to remove as much of the root system as possible. If the plant died from disease make sure to remove it from your garden (do not compost or mulch it) or the disease may come back next year. Some people like to put down a layer of compost for the winter to allow all the nutrients to leach down into the soil over the winter and then till it all together in the spring. One school of thought is to add your summer compost now and then in the spring add you winter compost as you till all your soil so you will have wonderfully amended soil.

If you like spring flowers, now is the time to plant your bulbs. Tulips, Trumpet Daffodil’s, Crocus, Dutch Iris, Bearded Iris or maybe Fragrant Hyacinth. Check out tulipworld.com for great bulb selections!

For more ideas, check out Winterizing Garden at Home Addition Plus.