Even this late in the season, there are still things you can do to prepare your lawns and gardens to manage the winter and emerge healthier next spring.
Late fall gardening
Remove buckthorn from your landscape
Common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) retains its green leaves late into the season while other plants have dropped their leaves. This makes it easy to identify and thus eradicate buckthorn in November. We have more information about Common buckthorn.
Protect plants from animal browsing by installing fencing
It can be difficult for animals like rabbits, voles, and deer to find food in winter, so they sometimes browse on trees and shrubs in the landscape. Voles and mice hide in protective grasses and feed on the bark of young trees and shrubs and those with thin bark like crabapples and maples. Deer deform trees and shrubs by eating terminal buds (on the top) and side branches, and leave their scent by rubbing on the bark.
Protecting trees and shrubs in winter has more ideas about how to deter wildlife damage.
Continue to water trees and shrubs
Continue to water trees and shrubs until the soil freezes, if weather permits and your conditions are dry. Moist soil stays warmer than dry soil and is less stressful on plant roots.
Also, apply a few inches of wood mulch over plant roots and bare soil. Mulch protects roots by moderating soil temperatures, conserving soil moisture, and reducing plant stress during acclimation (fall to winter) and de-acclimation (winter to spring). Read our recommendations on watering established trees and shrubs.
Cover strawberries and tender perennials with leaves or straw
Make sure you cover your strawberries before snow begins to accumulate or the temperatures drop below 20F. Strawberries should be covered with 2 to 3 inches of mulch—either straw or leaves.
If you are growing strawberries in containers, you can bury your containers in the ground with the strawberry leaves at ground level and then cover the leaves with mulch. Alternatively, you can insulate the roots by mounding soil around the base of the pot and then covering the entire container with mulch.
Growing strawberries in a home garden has everything you need to know about growing and maintaining your plants.
Late fall lawn care
The most important thing to do at this point is to not stress your lawn out before winter. It is too late to fertilize, aerate, or dethatch Minnesota lawns.
Mowing
Mulch tree leaves to return nutrients to your soil and improve habitat for overwintering insects. Your lawn may need multiple mowings in perpendicular directions to help mulch higher amounts of tree leaves. It's after mowing you see more tree leaves than lawn, collect the tree leaves with the next mowing(s) to be added elsewhere in your landscape or composted off-site.
Excessive tree leaves can smother the lawn and increase snow mold and other winter stresses. Consider lowering your mowing height gradually to 2.0-2.5 inches. This can help with mulching tree leaves and reduce snow mold damage over winter.
Weed control
Between now and when soil temperatures freeze can be the best time for managing aggressive perennial broadleaf weeds like creeping Charlie or wild violet. The weeds are generally easier to control this time of year, and there is reduced potential exposure to insects. Read more about controlling weeds in lawns and gardens.
Irrigation system maintenance
If you haven't done so already, be sure to clear out your irrigation lines of any water. Water in the lines will freeze and break equipment over winter. If you are not familiar with this process, It's probably best to hire a professional irrigation specialist.