Fall is here and you know what season is coming.
To help you get through the fall season, here are some gardening chores to help put your garden to rest, which will make getting started in the spring much easier.
You can start by continuing to nurture your landscape by watering flowers, pots, trees and shrubs throughout October. Water evergreens and shrubs before the ground freezes to help them get through the winter.
Also, keep weeding your garden and picking up debris from your flower beds, eliminating potential diseases that can be carried by leaves and debris. You can save the seed heads for coneflower, coneflower and daisies for feeding birds and for the winter.
Leave the tall grasses standing in your landscape to enjoy during the winter. You can mulch around tender perennials such as roses, rhododendrons and azaleas. Trim dead wood from roses, shrubs and trees.
September is the perfect month to plant and fertilize your lawn, but use October to water and maintain your lawn. Mow the lawn regularly and lower the blade to achieve a lawn 1.5 to 2 inches in length by late fall.
Later in the fall, you can mulch the lawn with leaves that you cut/mow for a healthier spring lawn. Don’t make a habit of leaving leaves on the lawn, as this can harm your lawn due to disease and pests.
Take inventory of your garden – before and after photos help. Then you will not forget the planting locations in the spring.
Fall is the perfect time to plant shrubs, trees and perennials. Garden centers may have a sale on your favorite items.
You can also dig and divide perennials for yourself and your friends. This can be a big money saver.
Another good fall task – until mid-October – is to move hostas, peonies, daylilies, coreopsis, lady’s mantle, heliopsis, agastache and rose campion to better locations. in your garden for next year.
Fall is also a great time to swap perennials with your friends, or better yet, host a plant swap. Label your new plantings for easy identification of plants in the spring as they emerge.
You can collect seeds in the fall from perennials such as oriental poppies, primroses, phloxes, coneflowers and penstemon. Also collect seeds from annuals such as cleome, larkspurs, calendula, marigolds, zinnias, blueberries, sunflowers and cosmos.
This fall activity will save you money. If you have more than you need, donate to a local seed library.
Dig up your tropical plants like canna, caladium, and elephant ears to keep them from dying in winter. Do the same for non-hardy plants such as dahlias, tuberous begonias and gladioli bulbs.
These can be dried, cleaned, and stored at 60 degrees Fahrenheit for tropicals and 45 to 55 degrees for others. Be very careful when digging them and remove the soil that adheres to them so as not to damage them.
October is a good time to take cuttings from plants like coleus, geraniums and chrysanthemums and root them around the house. They can then be transplanted into pots once they have developed roots, another money saver in the spring.
If you’ve taken your houseplants out for the summer, bring them inside now if you haven’t already. Check them for hitchhikers or spray insecticidal soap as a precaution.
Fall is the perfect time to plant bulbs. Hardy spring bulbs can be ordered online or picked up at your local garden center.
Once your bulbs arrive, plant tulips, daffodils, alliums, fritillaries and hyacinths for lots of spring color.
Store garden ornaments and decorations that you don’t want damaged by winter weather.
Empty jars and containers to prevent them from breaking due to the freeze/thaw cycle. Stack them in your garage or shed.
Clean and sanitize your birdbath or if you have a heater, prepare it now. Your feathered friends will love it.
If you have a water feature, be prepared to take care of the fish as well as the plants. Your water feature must be emptied and cleaned.
Do the same with the pump, which can be wrapped in plastic and stored in a safe place.
In late fall, after watering is complete, drain the hoses to prevent cracks or bursts. Winterize your faucets by turning off the water inside your home and outside.
There’s nothing worse than damaging your home or your favorite pipe when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. Winterizing your pipes and faucets will prevent a potential disaster.
Freeze-resistant faucets are available at your local nursery or store. If you have a sprinkler system, cause the system to shut down by blowing it out with compressed air to remove all the water.
Dispense all the gas from your mowers, blowers and trimmers or use gas stabilizers.
Finally, organize your shed or garage.
Cleaning and sharpening your garden tools now will make you much happier next spring. Clean and disinfect your pruners, hoes, tillers, trowels, pitchforks, spades and shovels.
Clean them by removing dirt, scrubbing them with steel wool and scrubbing them with soapy water. To disinfect your tools, you can use a 10% bleach solution, a 70% alcohol solution or disinfectant wipes.
After cleaning, you must dry your tools to prevent rust. You can protect any wood on the tools by coating them with linseed oil. Store other gardening supplies, fertilizers and chemicals out of reach of children. Read the manufacturer’s instructions for storage instructions.
Be sure to take good notes of your fall activities in a binder, journal or computer. These notes will make opening your spring garden much easier.
Although this list is not exhaustive, it will help you get started. It’s never a bad thing to be more organized. Happy gardening.
A gardening question? Volunteer master gardeners are in the office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon. You can stop by our CCE office at 420 E. Main St. in Batavia, call (585) 343-3040, ext. 127, or email them at [email protected]
Our next garden conversation, “A Harvest of Apples,” will take place at noon on October 6 on Zoom or in person at the CCE office. Learn which apples should be used to eat, dehydrate, freeze, bake, or which make the best pies.
Learn how to make apple butter. Recipes will be shared.
Garden Talk classes are free, but registration is required for your Zoom link at http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu/events. Call the office to register if you plan to attend in person at (585) 343-3040 ext. 101.
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