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PrintPutting the Plants (and yard) to Bed
Advice on prepping for next summer’s beautiful bounty
Photo By Susan Traylor Lykes
When frost crinkles the summer squash and aspens turn golden, it’s time to put our gardens to bed. Cooler fall days invite a more leisurely gardening pace. We can lean on our rakes for a moment, watch the geese fly south, and ponder what new plants or features we’ll add to the garden and landscape next year.
In the months between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, tackle these gardening tasks to help your garden better manage our long, harsh winter, plus to lighten your workload in our short, frenetic spring.
Veggie Garden
❑ Start a compost pile, if you don’t have one already, with this fall’s plant waste. If you do have one, turn it to help speed decomposition.
❑ Clean up the veggie garden. Leftover plant refuse can harbor pests and disease. Uproot spent vegetable plants and toss into the compost.
❑ Apply a quarter- to half-inch layer of compost to cleared vegetable beds. Turn or till to expose roots of remnant weeds.
❑ Plant flower bulbs from early to mid-October. Plant garlic in the vegetable garden in this same window, pressing individual cloves three to four inches deep into soil, about six inches apart, in a prepared garden bed.
❑ Sow a patch of leaf lettuce seeds in a prepared bed, just before snow permanently blankets the ground. The timing is tricky, but worth it; the seed will lay dormant in the cold, sprout at first melt, and yield the first salads of the season. Yum!
Perennial Garden
❑ Deadhead perennial flowers, clipping the stalks at the base, and composting them as well. Or buck conventional wisdom and leave some attractive flowers, like yarrow, lamb’s ears, and purple coneflower, to dry on the stalk. As snow settles into perennial beds, dried flower heads will nod above the drifts, a fleeting reminder of the summer past.
❑ Dig new vegetable or perennial beds, or renovate older, weed-choked beds. With soil generally drier than in spring, and autumn gardening tasks less intensive, fall is the best time of year to prep next year’s planting projects. Soak the soil if it’s exceptionally dry with a hose or sprinkler before digging or tilling. Apply a quarter- to half-inch layer of compost, and let the bed (and yourself) rest for the winter before planting.
❑ Prune and tie raspberries. For summer-bearing varieties, like Latham and Canby, cut out the cane that produced fruit during the summer. Identify these canes by their brittle texture and peeling bark, and cut at the base. Tie remaining canes into upright bundles with garden twine. This treatment gives the patch enough stability to withstand our winter snow pack.
Pots & Containers
❑ Discard potting soil from containers of annuals. Use fresh soil next spring for maximum fertility. Dump the old stuff—you guessed it—into the compost pile.
❑ Plant ornamental grasses from nursery containers into prepared beds. Slowly cooling fall weather will allow these landscape gems to establish now and thrive in spring.
❑ Plant a few pots of indoor flower bulbs, like narcissus or amaryllis, to reward you with fragrant and colorful blooms in the depth of winter.
Lawn & Landscaping
❑ Lawns should enter winter healthy and fed, according to Tanya Walz of MD Nursery in Driggs. Apply a winterizing fertilizer to help it stay green in the autumn, and green up faster in spring. Maintain regular watering and mowing. Apply vole repellent or bait to control these damaging rodents.
❑ New trees and shrubs can be planted until the ground freezes, according to Jason Calderwood at Trail Creek Nursery in Victor. Prune broken branches on older trees and shrubs. Cut back on watering established trees, but keep watering trees less than three years old. If possible, give all trees and shrubs a deep soak in late fall. Rake up deciduous leaves, which can carry a fungus.
❑ Seed native wildflowers, too. Some need a chilling period before germinating in spring. Research the requirements of your specific seed or mix before sowing.
❑ Mulch vulnerable plants, those rated for Zone 4 or higher, to protect them from winter injury. While straw is often used, it invites rodents; wood chips or shavings are more attractive and less risky. For best results, wait until late fall to mulch. When temperatures dip into the teens and snow lingers, spread a ten- to twelve-inch layer around and over selected plants.
Systems & Equipment
❑ Blow out your irrigation system. Water pockets in sprinkler and drip systems can freeze, possibly rupturing pipes and fittings. Hire a landscape contractor or nursery to complete the job before cold weather, with temperatures consistently below freezing, sets in. (Homeowners with an air compressor and knowledge of their irrigation system might consider handling this job themselves.)
❑ Mix additives into the gas tanks of mowers, tillers, weed whackers, and other gasoline-powered implements. Be sure to follow the label directions. Available at hardware stores, these additives prevent gas from gumming up engines while the tools are retired for the winter.
❑ Store garden ornaments in the garage, as statuary may not withstand winter’s wind and cold. Drain hoses and sprinklers, and haul inside to add a few seasons of longevity to their use.
❑ Survey your garden and landscape, and jot down all your ideas for next season. File under “garden,” and don’t peek until February or March!
