Winter Gardening

YouTube Thumbnail for Mulching Strawberries

How to Protect Strawberry Plants in Winter | Winterize Your Patch with Straw Mulch Winterizing your strawberry patch with mulch can help protect your plants from extreme cold temperatures and ensure a healthy harvest next spring. One simple and effective way to do this is by using straw mulch. Here's how to get started:

Keep Apples Fresh Longer - apples in a basket

Keep Apples Fresh Longer - Proper Storage for Your Apple Harvest Make the most out of your crop by storing your apples properly. With the right conditions, apples can remain fresh for months – in some cases even up to a year! It starts with choosing a variety that stores well and then harvesting and storing with care. Even without a root cellar, apples can remain fresh for a surprisingly long time!

Protecting Fruit Trees From Frost Damage Freezing temperatures can damage the flowers on the tree and any potential fruit production from those blooms could be lost. How much your harvest will suffer depends on how low temps get and for how long. It also depends on the stage of development.

Man spraying tree with dormant oil - youtube thumbnail

When and How to Spray Dormant Oil Are you overwhelmed with the thought of spraying your fruit trees for pests and diseases? Let us help! Once you understand why and how to spray your fruit trees, this will become an easy routine every dormant season.

Chill Hours for Fruit and Nut Trees There are two important factors in determining if a particular tree or plant will grow well in your part of the country. First, you must live within the recommended USDA Hardiness Zone and if you are planting a fruit or nut tree, you must determine if your area receives enough annual Chill Hours.

Thumbnail of terry adding limb spreaders to apple tree. Click to play 5 Easy Steps to Pruning an Apple Tree.

How To Prune An Apple Tree: Step by Step - With Video Terry shows us just how simple it is to prune an apple tree using the central leader pruning method.

Adding Fruit to Your Homestead For over 200 years, Stark Bro's Nursery has been helping homesteaders across America live more self-sufficient lifestyles. As the oldest continually operating nursery in the country, we've curated a time-tested collection of over 300 unique varieties of fruit trees, nut trees and berry plants.

Natural Holiday Ornaments Sharing your bountiful harvest doesn’t have to stop at the end of the growing season! These handmade ornaments from the fruit you’ve harvested can be shared with friends as gifts and serve as a representation of what you’ve grown each on your tree at the end of the year.

Preparing Your Soil for Winter Whether you are growing ornamentals or edibles, preparing soil for winter is essential for year-round success in the home garden. Give this a try this fall!

Pruning Fruit Trees: Central Leader The central leader/main leader structure is based on a fruit tree's natural upright growth form. Central leader pruning benefits apples, pears, and more.