Fall is officially here.  The days get shorter, the nights get cooler and your garden starts to slow down.  Don’t be lulled into thinking it’s time to pay less attention to your garden.  Now is the time it needs you most! 

 

There’s cleaning to do, plants to pull up, soil to prepare, mulch to put down, plants to transplant and best of all, new plants to buy! The good news is that the pace can be a little slower.  Take your time, make a list and start checking things off.  If you can’t complete all your garden chores that need to be done, make sure you get to these three things:

Buy Bulbs (and things that look like bulbs)- soon you’ll start seeing huge racks of sacks full of bulbs, cormers and tubers with a great photo of what this dried up garlic looking thing is supposed to look like in the spring.  Go for it!  You can find all kinds of cool looking flowers, they’re usually pretty inexpensive, easy to grow, and the work you do now can make your garden look great during early spring.  As always there are a few tricks, tips and special care instructions for the different varieties, but the most important piece of advice is to chill your tulips in the refrigerator for six weeks.  WHAT?  That’s right, most tulips you buy around here need it to be cold for about six weeks (you’re tricking them into thinking it’s winter).  If you don’t do it, they probably won’t have any flowers – that sort of defeats the purpose – right?!

Buy Bare Root Plants- Another funky looking thing you’ll soon see at garden centers are bare root plants for sale.  Sometimes they look like dead twigs sticking out of a bin of wet sawdust, and sometimes they look like dead twigs sticking out of a plastic bag.  Either way they look dead – but they aren’t!  These are plants that are dormant (sleeping) and are waiting for you to take them home.  The nice things about buying bare root plants is they are much cheaper than buying a plant in a pot and the wide variety available this time of year.  This is especially true for fruit trees and berry vines.  Planting them is about the same as for any plant, dig a hole, prepare the soil and water well.  Come spring these little dead looking sticks will bust out with new growth, beautiful flowers and great tasting fruit (depending on what kind you buy of course!)

Plant Trees and Shrubs- Fall brings cooler nights and warm days and this makes for the best time to put permanent landscape plants in the garden.  The soil is still warm, it’s not blazing hot during the day (which stresses newly planted trees and shrubs) and the transition from pot at the nursery to ground in your yard is much easier.  So if you’ve been thinking your yard needs a new shade tree or it’s time to add a few shrubs now is the best time of year to do it.

Good luck, happy Fall and don’t forget your garden!

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