With Labor Day now past, its time to talk fall gardening! Here are some tips to do in the upcoming weeks to prepare your garden for next spring!
- Clean out old annuals and weeds before seeds drop.
- Cut back spent perennials that create hiding places for slugs, snails, and other pests.
- Prevent problem seeds from spreading. Leave dried flowers, ornamental grasses, and seed heads that look good and provide food for birds.
- Plant a fall cover crop. A cover crop is just might be the hardest-working plants you’ll ever grow. Cover crops (also called green manure) suppress weeds, build productive soil, and help control pests and diseases. Plus, cover crops are easy to plant and require only basic care to thrive.
- Build a simple compost bin for fall leaves. Add fresh leaves and grass cuttings to your compost and cover until spring.
- Rake up and dispose of leaves around roses, apple trees, and plants susceptible to powdery mildew and other pests and diseases that overwinter on debris.
- Remove diseased tomato, potato, and squash foliage to prevent disease. Do not toss these plants in the compost. Bag and discard.
- Remove dead branches from roses and fruit trees (no pruning yet).
- Mulch the garden with chopped-up leaves and grass clippings.
- Plant spring bulbs. Think how beautiful they will look, peaking through the snow next spring!!
- Clean tool blades with vegetable oil and handles with sandpaper.
Enjoy this time of the year - temps are cooler and flying pests are mostly dormant. But before it gets too cold, now is the time to start on the garden work!