There is a knack to applying mulch

Looks like the garden is clear sailing until spring.  So when you clean the garden debris from “stem to stern” (from the front to the back of a boat) and “take a new tack” (from the sailing term meaning to tack into the wind) you can be said to be running a tight ship.  In order to sail, a boat needs the ropes taut or "tight" and in good order.

Raising an anchor, or heaving an anchor, was easier with a shouted rhythm such as
"heave ho."

But in a garden heaving or “frost heaving” is when the soil itself lifts or heaves plants out of the ground.  When ice forms in the garden soil it grows up toward the soil surface.  This heaving not only breaks up the soil, it exposes plant roots and can lift or “heave” the plants out of the soil, where they freeze, dry out and die.

Newly planted perennials, strawberries and roses are especially vulnerable to frost heaving

One of the best ways to prevent frost heave is with an insulating mulch.  Use pine bark, straw, wood chips, leaves or even evergreen boughs after the ground freezes.  Bear in mind that evergreen needles or boughs will make your soil more acidic so you may have to add lime in the spring. Any of these will curb temperature fluctuations and keep frost penetration to a minimum.

Mulch is a useful protection for many garden plants, especially shallow-rooted strawberries.  A summer mulch is great for retaining soil moisture, preventing erosion, and holding down weeds, but a mulch applied in the fall works as insulation for the garden and plant roots.

Freezing and thawing usually occurs mainly in the fall and spring.  In the fall this can keep perennials from hardening off before winter.

Since mulch helps hold in soil heat it protects roots.  At first, the mulch keeps the garden soil from freezing deeply, so your plants can keep taking up water, preventing them from dehydrating in the dry winter air.

The knack is to not to mulch too soon. Wait until the soil starts to freeze, but before the first major snowfall. If you apply mulch too soon your plants might not be completely dormant.

Straw is one of the most effective mulches because its hollow shape traps air, making for especially effective insulation.  Put down a layer of mulch about three to four inches thick around each plant. Do not put too mulch down as you can actually smother the plant.

Plants such as azaleas and rhododendrons are especially vulnerable to suffocating under deep piles of mulch.

Once the mulch is down pull it slightly away from stems so the plants have room to breathe. This also helps prevent crown rot or diseases.  If your plants are in windy or exposed areas you may want to apply even more mulch.

Be sure to gently pull back the mulch in early spring so your soil warms up and the pants can sprout.  Otherwise you may have to “deep six" them, a nautical slang that is perhapsa reference to the usual grave depth of six feet.  And no sailor or gardener wants to give his plants the old heave ho.