News Category: Current Events
As the weather begins to cool and summer ends, the next stage of gardening begins. Autumn is a great time to plant wildflowers, bulbs, and native plants so that they will sprout in spring. Though not all plants are best suited to be planted during early fall, this period of time is great for preparing your garden for many new flowers, herbs, and plants. Fall is also a great time to prepare your garden for the harshness of winter and prepare for the boom of growth in spring. Here is a checklist to help guide you in preparing you garden:- Clean your vegetable garden. Remove weeds and debris so pests won’t make your garden their winter home. Dig up spent and dead summer annuals and put them for composting. Clear away debris from the bases of roses because fallen rose foliage can give diseases a safe place to stay over winter and create problems in your garden next year. Rake and mulch fallen leaves and branches. If left unattended, fallen tree leaves may suffocate your lawn. Shred them as they make great mulch. Remove dead or diseased limbs from trees and shrubs.
- Divide and cut back perennials. While you’re digging them up to divide them, try rearranging plants if they haven’t been working in their current location. Hold off dividing asters, chrysanthemums, and other fall-blooming perennials. It’s best to split them in spring.
- Amend your soil to get the ground ready for next year’s beds and your fall bulbs by tilling the soil and adding home-made compost. Feed your lawn with fertilizers. Don’t let your lawn go into winter without the nutrients it needs to battle the long sleep.
- Fall is a perfect time to plant bulbs, wildflowers and native plants for spring flowers in your garden. Check the nurseries or garden store for variety of selections. Cool-season vegetable seedlings can be planted such as: cabbage, kale, chard, and spinach. Carrots may also be seeded now. Plant shrubs and evergreens in early fall, which gives new plants enough time to get their roots established before winter. Plant fall annuals in your garden for flowers such as mums, pansies, violas, primroses, and ornamental kale. Fertilize azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons with a fertilizer for acid-loving plants.
- Bring tender potted plants indoors. Keep an eye out for pests. Before bringing plants indoors, spray them, if necessary, to keep aphids, mealybugs, or other harmful insects out of your house. Control slugs and snails with an organic, pet/animal and food-safe slug bait. However, do not forget to help birds. Build bird keepers and keep them full.
- If you are putting away your garden tools for the winter, give them a good cleaning. Rub them with alcohol after each use to prevent the spread of disease. Prevent rust with a light coating of a lubricant grease (such as lithium grease). Shovels and saws may be stored in a bucket of sand with a little oil (5 parts sand to 1 part oil).
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