Wintering of seedlings
Fruit trees can be planted in the fall, but if there is a harsh winter, they will die, therefore, spring planting is recommended in central Russia. If you have purchased seedlings, you can simply dig them in on the site until spring. The wintering place should be shaded, dry, elevated so that water does not stagnate there. Dig a groove up to 40 cm deep from east to west. Make the southern slope of the groove at a 45-degree slope. Place the seedlings in a groove at a distance of 10–25 cm from each other, depending on the size of the root system, with the tops to the south.
If the soil is dry, water the roots and cover the seedlings with soil to a third of the height of the trunk. Be sure to trample the ground poured over the roots. Compaction of the soil ensures good root contact with moist soil. If the fall is dry and warm, water once a week.
Buried trees are left without shelter until the end of October – beginning of November. When the soil is frozen to a depth of 3-5 cm, the seedlings must be covered with earth completely, to the tops.
Spring planting pits
Remove the top fertile soil layer to the depth of a shovel bayonet and set it aside. If the soil is poor, dig large holes for planting – 1 x 1 x 1 m. Pour 3 buckets of compost or rotted manure, 300–500 g of superphosphate, 100–150 g of potassium sulfate, a bucket of ash into each bucket. On acidic soils, dolomite flour can be added. Put half of the soil removed from the top into the holes, mix with fertilizers. And in the spring, plant trees in these holes.
The remains are sweet
In the first half of the month, harvest the last harvest of winter varieties of apples, chokeberry (chokeberry), hawthorn, and viburnum and red mountain ash can hang on the branches until frost. The cold will only make the berries tastier, lose their bitterness. But make sure that hungry birds do not harvest for you.
Scrape off fallen leaves from your garden beds and lawn. If the trees are sick, burn the leaves. Put healthy ones in a compost heap. In the spring there will be a good fertilizer for the beds.
After the end of the leaf fall, take a closer look at the trees and shrubs. If there is a lot of dead bark on the trunks and at the bases of large branches, it must be cleaned off. Many pests hibernate under it. Pour water from a watering can over the bark. After a while, it will get a little wet and it will be easy to get off the tree.
After peeling off the bark, whitewash the trunks and bases of large branches. Many of this work is timed to coincide with the first May holidays, so that the garden after winter is well-groomed and elegant. But the main task of whitewashing is not beauty, but protection of the trunks from cracking and sunburn. And they most often happen towards the end of winter, when the sun begins to bake during the day. The dark surface of the trunk heats up during the day, expands, and then at night, when it cools, the bark and wood burst. Deep non-healing cracks appear.
Water trees and shrubs abundantly before frost. This will increase their frost resistance. Loosen the trunk circles slightly.