19 Fall Gardening Tips
- There's still time to plant perennials, especially late bloomers
such as asters, helenium, joe-pye weed (Eupatorium), Russian sage
(Perovskia), sedums like 'Autumn Joy' and ironweed (Vernonia).
- Look for shrubs with good fall and winter interest, such as
corkscrew hazel (Corylus 'Contorta') microbiota, ninebark (Physocarpus),
red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea) and any of the false cypresses
(Chamaecyparis).
- Don't fertilize or prune plants any more this year. You want them to
settle into dormancy without having tender new growth, which is apt to
die off over winter.
- Remember to water newly planted or newly divided plants regularly, especially if it's a dry autumn.
- Collect seed from ripened flowers and vegetables.
- Leave seedheads on perennials such as coneflowers, rudbeckias, and teasels to provide sources of food for overwintering birds.
- Cut back foliage on spent perennials. Don't compost foliage that has had disease, such as powdery mildew on phlox and bee balm or blackspot on roses. (Compost heaps do not heat up enough to kill off disease pathogens.)
- Divide perennials that prefer autumn division, such as peonies, Oriental poppies, irises, lily-of-the-valley, and spring-blooming perennials like anemones and candytuft.
- Take stem cuttings of annual flowering plants such as geraniums, begonias, heliotrope, coleus and impatiens.
- Before the first frost, dig up tender perennial bulbs and tubers such as gladiolas, dahlias, caladium and cannas. Clean bulbs and let dry off before storing in a cool, dry location.
- If purchasing spring-flowering bulbs, buy them now for best selections from nurseries or mail order catalogues, but don't plant them until after a frost. Store bulbs in a cool, dry place until you're ready to plant, usually after Thanksgiving. If squirrels are troublesome, cover beds with fine-meshed hardware cloth to prevent them digging up your bulbs. Don't forget to remove this protection in spring!
- Edge your beds now, so you'll have one less chore to do in spring.
- If you have areas where plants have not been doing well, particularly vegetable or fruit patches, take soil samples for testing. Soil tests are done by provincial agriculture departments (there is a fee for tests.)
- Clean up around fruit trees and bushes, placing dropped fruit to compost.
- Empty out your compost bin and apply compost to garden beds. Now you have room for all those fallen leaves.
- Bring your hose and sprinkler nozzles indoors before a hard frost.
- Clean garden tools with soap, water and a little bleach. Dry well, then oil lightly to prevent rusting. Oil wooden tool handles, then put all tools away where you can easily find them come spring.
- Don't apply protective mulch until there has been a hard frost and cold weather for a few days. Plants will keep growing under mulch unless they have gone into dormancy.
- Start reading all the articles, magazines, books and blogs you didn't have time for during the gardening season. Time to plan for next year.
Written by Jodi DeLong
Wednesday, 06 October 2010