From The Ground Up: Random acts of winter garden kindness benefit critters

'One kind word can warm three winter months.” - Japanese Proverb

Without adequate means to bestow kind words on our garden critter friends, we can do kind things for them this fall to allow them a healthy, warm and more comfortable winter. This means making their ecosystem in your garden a better place to winter-over.

I know it's hard to leave an untidy garden, but fight your instincts and let your perennials stand through the winter. Leave leaf mulch on the ground or in beds until spring. Tidy up but not too much. Mice, voles, shrews and other little critters burrow into mulch piles for warmth and cover.

A brush pile tucked away behind a shed gives rabbits and foxes a place to spend a cold night. A few greener branches on the pile may deter rabbits from stripping bark from young trees in your yard. Hollow plant stems give insects a place to hibernate or stash eggs. Provide a pre-made bug hotel or make one from bamboo straws or other hollow stems.

Hedges may provide berries, ornamental grass heads provide seeds, and seed pods feed many winter visitors. Stack the wood pile with spaces to allow nooks for overwintering guests. You could even tuck in some bundles of grass or leaves for a particularly comfortable site. Leave bird boxes up for birds to gather communally for warmth. Toads and snakes may take up residence in your mulch pile so be careful when you turn the pile.

Water is an important for animals in winter. Consider a heated electric coil in your birdbath or a heated bird bath. This provides a water source for birds and other critters throughout the winter months. If you have a pond, keep an open space in the ice. Never use a tool to strike the ice, rather place a pot of boiling water on the ice surface to soften a spot to push open to the water. Don't dump boiling water on the surface since it could kill the fish.

Some winter visitors wreak havoc on gardens and trees. Wrap young deciduous trees with burlap or trunk tape to reduce rabbit, vole, mice or shrew damage. Fencing with hardware cloth or chicken wire can help keep deer from stripping the bark or eating the branches. Fencing can help but nothing can prevent winter animal damage completely.

In particularly harsh weather, clean out the vegetable drawer and toss yard critters the odd wilted lettuce or rubbery carrots. Keep bird feeders and suet hangars full. Once the bugs come back in spring, feeding can be cut back.

A little care as we head into winter will repay you tenfold with songbirds, beneficial bugs and wildlife.

For questions, call the Linn County Extension Master Gardener Hotline at (319) 447-0647.