Time to get the lawn and garden ready for winter

By: Gena Johnson | C&G Newspapers | Published November 11, 2025

METRO DETROIT — Warm autumn days will soon be followed by winter’s frigid temperatures, frost on the plants and frozen ground. With this in mind, the owner of Red Chair Gardens and a consumer horticulture educator shared tips on preparing the garden for winter.

Each day, trees are dropping leaves that can be used to enrich the soil.

“We bag and throw away our leaves, and this is a great time to just mulch them into the grass, and it provides 25% of the fertilization your yard needs throughout the year, and it’s free,” said Louise Sloan, owner of Red Chair Gardens in Bloomfield Hills and a certified master gardener.

Sloan uses a push mower and slowly goes over the leaves multiple times until they are very fine and it forms a thin layer of mulch.

Studies have shown that in addition to fertilizing the lawn, this creates a mulch barrier in the spots in between the grass, preventing future weed germination, according to Sloan.

“After three years of using this technique, they saw a 100% reduction in dandelion production,” Sloan said. “It’s not going to get rid of all your dandelion seeds, but it will reduce it by a lot.”

Some gardeners cut back their ornamental grasses this time of year, while others leave them up throughout the winter and cut them back in late February or early March. It’s the gardeners’ choice, she said.

“I do that, so I can see something in the landscape,” Sloan said. “I found that it is really pretty when the snow falls on them.”

This is the time to plant spring bulbs.

“Daffodils are great because the deer don’t eat them. Hyacinths, also, deer tend to leave them alone and allium bulbs,” Sloan said. “Plant them now and come spring you’ll have some beautiful flowers to welcome you into the new year.”

The bulbs should be placed a couple of inches below the soil. They will not be damaged by the cold weather if they are planted correctly, according to David Lowenstein, consumer horticulture educator at Michigan State University Extension.

If there are old vegetables in the vegetable garden, Lowenstein suggests adding them to the compost bin or to get rid of them. This is to prevent spores from germinating and infecting the plants the next season.

“You don’t want to accidentally introduce any kind of fungus that might have been on the vegetables,” Lowenstein said.

Plants, shrubs and trees that are less than two or three years old should be watered regularly until the ground freezes.

According to Lowenstein, the current climate in southeastern Michigan is in a drought even though there have been a couple of days of rain.

“Just because we’ve had a frost already doesn’t mean you don’t need to water again,” Lowenstein said. “If the ground is not frozen and it has been dry, it’s a good idea to water those trees or plants in the garden that remain alive.”

According to Lowenstein, the lack of water is the reason plants and trees don’t do well the next season.

For proper pruning, identify when the plants bloom and prune after that. Pruning is cutting off parts of the plant that are not growing in the right direction. It thins out the branches that are too rooted together. Although the plant will survive if pruned too early, the blooms will not be as plentiful, Lowenstein said.

“This is a great time of year to divide your plants that have outgrown their current locations,” Lowenstein said.

If the lawn has not been reseeded yet, wait until the spring.

“The seeds need about two-three weeks for the grass seed to germinate. The lawn has to be gently watered every day. If the lawn freezes in that two-three weeks, your lawn is not going to set well,” Lowenstein said.

Other tips include:

• Clean up the garden by removing weeds, dead blooms, leaves and vegetables.

• Don’t cover roses with the white container coverings. It can present a hot/cold differential in the environment, which is not good for the flowers, according to Sloan.

• Think about what went well in your garden this year and what you would like to replicate. Conversely, think about what didn’t go well and determine how you will change it.

• Clean and oil tools to reduce rust. Make sure they receive proper maintenance for another season.

“Once the ground freezes and there is a good snow cover, there is not much else to do,” Lowenstein said.

For gardening questions, the Michigan State University Extension gardening hotline can be contacted Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon at (888) 678-3464.