Many Canadian gardeners make a mistake: they assume that once frost arrives, there’s nothing left to do until the snow melts. The truth is, walking away completely can cause unnecessary problems, and you might also miss out on some valuable opportunities.
Whether you’re looking to give your perennials the protection they deserve or map out your dream garden design, winter offers many possibilities. We’ve put together this guide to walk you through what you should and shouldn’t do for winter gardening in Canada’s beautiful and challenging climate.
Protecting Your Plants With Winter Mulch
Let us tell you about one of the smartest moves you can make for your garden this winter: laying down a good, thick layer of mulch on your beds. This protective covering works like a warm blanket for your plant roots, shielding them from temperature swings.
You’ll need to wait until the ground freezes completely—usually sometime in late November or early December, though this varies depending on where you live. Get some organic materials like shredded leaves, straw, or wood chips, and spread them to a depth of about three to four inches around your perennials, shrubs, and at the base of your trees.
Keep in mind that what you’re trying to achieve with winter mulch is maintaining consistent soil temperatures. Canadian winters throw those notorious freeze-thaw cycles at us, and these can literally push plants right out of the ground, leaving their roots exposed to the cold and drying winds. A properly applied mulch layer smooths out these temperature changes, keeping your plants safe and dormant until warmer weather returns.
Watering Wisdom During The Cold Months
Once the ground freezes completely, you need to stop watering your garden, and never water when temperatures are going to drop below freezing overnight. Trying to water frozen ground accomplishes nothing—the water simply can’t reach the roots and ends up running off or turning into ice on the surface. Even worse, watering right before a freeze causes ice crystals to form inside plant tissues, rupturing cells and causing serious damage.
There’s an exception to this no-watering guideline. During those occasional warm spells that surprise us mid-winter, when you have several days of above-freezing temperatures and the ground thaws, go ahead and give your evergreens a little water.
Just check the weather forecast first to make sure another cold snap isn’t heading your way. Container plants that you’ve tucked into protected spots like unheated garages might also need a light watering now and then.
Pruning Practices And Perfect Timing
Winter gives you an opportunity to prune certain trees and shrubs while they’re dormant and resting. Late winter works well for pruning summer-flowering shrubs, fruit trees, and most deciduous trees. The best part is that you’ll easily spot dead, diseased, or crossing branches that need to be removed.
Here’s what you don’t want to do: prune spring-flowering shrubs like lilacs, forsythias, or rhododendrons during winter. If you do, you’ll be cutting off all those flower buds that formed last summer, and you’ll end up with a bloomless spring that’s pretty disappointing. Skip pruning evergreens during the coldest months, too, because those exposed cuts are vulnerable to winter damage.
Don’t grab your pruning shears either when temperatures drop below minus five degrees Celsius—frozen wood becomes brittle and can split in unpredictable ways.
Winter isn’t the season for heavy pruning or major reshaping projects, either. Save those aggressive pruning jobs for early spring, when plants can heal quickly and produce new growth.
Managing Snow In Your Garden
A good snow cover acts like nature’s cozy blanket for your garden beds, protecting them from harsh winds and freezing. Snow insulates remarkably well, keeping soil temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius even when the air temperature plunges to minus thirty or lower.
What you don’t want to do is pile heavy, compacted snow from your driveway directly onto delicate plants or shrubs. While natural snowfall benefits your garden, those heavy, icy chunks from snow removal can break branches and crush perennials. Never use salt-laden snow in your garden beds—when that salt melts into the soil, it will damage or kill your plants.
When snow accumulates on tree branches and shrubs, fight the urge to shake it off unless you’re dealing with extremely heavy, wet snow that’s actively bending branches to their breaking point. Light, fluffy snow rarely causes any damage and actually provides some helpful insulation.
If you really do need to remove snow, gently brush it off with a broom using upward strokes—never shake branches or hit them, because this can cause breakage when the wood is frozen and brittle.
Planning And Preparing For Spring Success
Use these quiet winter months to plan next year’s garden. This is the perfect opportunity to browse through seed catalogs, research new plant varieties that will thrive in your zone, and sketch out garden designs.
Take some notes on what worked beautifully and what flopped in the previous season while everything’s still fresh in your mind. Order your seeds early, because the best varieties often sell out by late winter. But don’t fall into the trap of ordering plants or starting seeds too early.
Canadian winters stretch on and on, and we know how tempting it is to get a jump on spring. Starting seeds in January or February usually backfires, leaving you with leggy, weak seedlings that struggle when you finally transplant them.
Winter also gives you an excellent opportunity to test your soil if you didn’t manage to do it in fall. Knowing your soil’s pH and nutrient levels lets you order any necessary amendments and have them ready to apply the moment the ground thaws.
You can also use winter to expand your gardening knowledge. The knowledge you pick up during these quiet months will pay off big time when the busy growing season arrives, and you’ll be ready to jump right in when spring finally breaks through.
