In many ways, gardening in northern climates is similar to gardening the world over: ya put the plant in the ground, make sure it has water, and pray like mad that it survives.
But in other ways, growing a northern fruit garden is like no other challenge on earth.
In addition to battling the typical challenges of drought or damp, pollination or pest infestation, you have to deal with those same summer challenges AND the unpredictable impact of winter weather on your fruit garden. Winter weather can damage your fruit garden through ice storms, extreme temperature fluctuation, late-frost damage to blossoms and early-freeze damage to fruit.
It ain’t easy growing fruit in the north, and that’s just the sad truth.
Increases Wildlife Browsing Pressure
You don’t have to be a rural gardener to find yourself contending with wildlife damage to your shrubs and buds.
Even in suburban — and urban! — areas, rabbits abound and deer still find their way in.
I happen to live in a fairly rural area, but even in the neighboring cities I’ve looked out a window to see deer wandering through the gardens in the snowy gray dawn.
Although wildlife can be a problem anywhere, for northern gardeners, browsing pressure is significantly more severe when there is heavy snow on the ground.
Bottom line? A heavy snow means fewer food sources, and your garden becomes target #1.
In a light snow, deer still have options and can find areas where they can get through to greenery. In a heavy snow? Forget it. Trees and shrubs are suddenly high on the hit list, and you’ll find your fruit garden sustaining heavy damage.
Wrap your fruit trees. Cover your berry bushes. Winter protection is everything, people. Make sure you know how to winterize your fruit garden or orchard!
Increased Susceptibility to Wildlife Browsing
Nope, this isn’t a repeat of the previous topic.
In addition to making the local rabbit population want your garden more, a heavy snow helps them reach it.
Wrapping the bottom two feet of the tree might protect from rabbit damage in a light-snow zone. However, if you garden in a northern zone where two feet of snow is common, that protected section of the trunk will be buried anyway.
If the snow is heavy enough, rabbits can girdle the tree bark three feet off the ground!
I’ve lost count of how many trees we lost this way, but it was a lot. YEARS of time and way too much money, completely wasted.
Ouch.
Solution? Wrap your trees WAY higher than you think you’re going to need to. If your snow typically piles up three feet, add that to your bunny-safe calculations and make sure you wrap to at least eighteen inches higher than the predicted snowfall.
Flooding Damage
One of the biggest ways a heavy snow can damage an orchard or berry patch is when early-spring runoff floods low areas with a high water table.
In your fall plantings, you may have selected a dry patch of soil for fruit bushes – but fall water permeation doesn’t necessarily mean that that section of ground is dry in the spring.
Heavy snowdrifts translate to significant runoff — and if your land isn’t sloped enough, that snowmelt can saturate the soil and sit in massive puddles for weeks.
A dormant fruit tree, bush bramble or vine is fairly resilient, and the winter snow itself may not cause any damage. As long as the tree is asleep and the snow is in solid state, you are probably safe.
However, once that bright spring sun warms up your fruit trees and rouses them from dormancy, weeks of “wet feet” combined with still-cool soil temperatures can rot out their roots and kill the tree.
(Ask me how I know.)
Avoiding this problem is easy. Just be VERY thoughtful about where you plant.
Be aware of:
- Nearby rivers, creeks, or swampy areas that may flood or raise the water table in the spring;
- Surrounding hills and elevated areas that may channel runoff into the garden zone;
- Soil consistency (many of my problems are due to clay that is notoriously challenging for drainage);
- … and related risk factors.
If possible, observe the area for a full season ahead of time so you know what to watch out for and when.
Impact on Soil Temperature
Here’s a little secret. I have never bothered to gather up piles of organic matter to mulch my strawberry garden. Ever.
Why? Don’t laugh — I mulch with snow.
Every year, we plow snowbanks over the strawberry garden and as far as my strawberries are concerned, that thick drift of snow works just fine.
When done correctly, heavy snow as a mulch can prevent winter die-off.
The downside is that it takes a bit longer for those deep drifts to melt off in the spring; while the rest of the lawn is starting to green up, my strawberry bed is only just getting the first rays of spring sunlight.
To address this issue, I don’t plant early-bearing strawberry cultivars. This ensures the late melt-off has no negative impact on production / yield of the strawberry bed.
Now there’s a win for northern fruit gardens!
(CAVEAT: This is personal experience, not a professional recommendation. I haven’t seen any evidence-based studies from the top dogs like Cornell or the Farmer’s Almanac that address snow as a mulch, but it sure works for me.)
Weight Damage & Breakage
Northern gardeners have to take factors other than temperature into account when winterizing fruit trees.
Your fruit trees, berry bushes, grape vines and fruiting brambles might well be rated to take the cold temperatures of a northern winter — but don’t forget to factor in the damage caused by the weight of the snow itself.
Light snow is typically not a problem. Most trees and shrubs can handle the average snowfall, if they are rated to survive your climate.
However, if you have a major snowstorm that dumps a thick, wet blanket six or more inches deep on your plants, how many of those little branches are going to be crushed under that weight?
Give yourself a mental picture of the potential damage by imagining a heavy folded quilt suddenly dropped on top of your bushes’ fragile branches. Not good.
You can tackle this problem by — once again — taking some extra time to choose the right growing environment for your fruit trees.
- DON’T put fragile or tiny bushes in a spot where snow tends to drift too heavily.
- Provide snow protection where necessary to counteract the weight of the snow.
- And whatever you do, avoid planting under a sloped roof or overhang that might suddenly dump a mini-avalanche of ice and snow on your fruit plants!
Planning Gardens for Heavy Snow Climates
Heavy winter snows are an annual part of life for most northern fruit gardeners, and they’re just one of the many winter-season threats to growing fruit in zones 4 and colder (make sure you know how to find cold-hardy fruit trees before you buy!).
However, the snow damage to your orchard or fruit garden can be largely avoided by careful placement and protection.
Awareness of the potential dangers is key. Know your own gardening zone; be aware of special circumstances that affect your orchard (if you don’t know what a microclimate is, it may be time to learn!); and prepare your trees for the winter by planning and winterizing.