Preparing Your Garden for Fall

Even though the dog days of summer are here, gardeners need to be thinking about fall. Preparing your garden for the fall so that you are ready for spring is what we gardeners do. So here are a few suggestions to think about while enjoying your iced tea in the summer shade.

Go over what grew this year and what did not. Figure out if anything needs to be moved to a different or better location. Or maybe you don’t even want to grow that particular plant next year and want to try something else.

Remove debris, such as dried leaves and stems of plants. Fluff up the mulch around the plants to help water go deeper into the soil when you give them that last watering. Also, now’s the time to collect any seeds for spring planting. If you’re feeling bold and daring, toss a few handfuls of hardy annual seeds around. They’ll be conditioned after being under the snow and come up in the spring. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the variety.

Another way to prepare your garden for fall is to plant any evergreen shrubs or trees.  Green Velvet boxwood is a round evergreen for limited space. Another nice selection is the Hollywood Juniper. This shrub is drought, wind, cold and salt tolerant. It also attracts birds that make a feast from its blue berries in winter. You can also still purchase deciduous flowering shrubs as well. The cool autumn soil will push for strong root growth. One thing to remember when planting either is to water well. The root systems of evergreens pump water through the winter so give them a final watering before the ground freezes.

Remove all debris from your summer annuals and clean up everything. If you’re planning on leaving some of the annuals and perennials seed heads for the birds, leave those but clean everything else up. Rake the dead leaves and fallen petals so there is not anything for insects to nest in to start an early destruction on next year’s flowers.

One last thing, clean, sharpen and store your gardening tools. When spring does finally arrive after the long cold winter, then you’ll be ready to go!