While the temperatures may say otherwise, the calendar and meteorologists tell us that it is autumn! After temperatures in the 80’s in mid and late September I am ready for fall and it appears that it has finally arrived. Although we may still see a few days in the 80’s the sun will continue to be lower in the southern sky, the daylight hours shorten and finally there can be no denying that autumn is in the air. It is time to think about preparing our yards and gardens for their long winter’s sleep. I am a little weary of the yard and garden chores, especially in the heat, but I know that everything I do this fall will go a long way to lightening the load of spring cleanup and can also be good for the health and vigor of my lawn, trees, shrubs and perennials.
If we do nothing else this fall we should continue to water. While we enjoyed an abundance of rain in the spring and summer, September proved to be a fairly dry month – bringing us back to dry conditions in most of the state. With the regular rainfall this summer I got out of the habit of watering until mid-September when plants started drooping and ‘frying’ and it dawned on me that I had to resume watering. So if it remains dry this fall remember to keep things watered – especially trees and shrubs – until the ground freezes.
The other main fall chore is, of course, leaf raking. It can be tedious and time consuming, and one chore that we may be inclined to skip; however I advise you not to. Leaves left on your lawn will mat down and make the lawn more susceptible to snow mold — plus raked up leaves can be an asset to your lawn and garden if they are added to a compost pile or used to mulch your perennial beds. They can even be turned directly into a cleaned out vegetable or annual bed where they will add organic material and nutrients as they decompose. Whatever you do with the leaves be sure you do not rake them into the street where they can wash down the storm sewers and add unneeded phosphorous to our river and lakes. In fact its against city ordinances to rake leaves into the street, even in advance of street sweeping.
While you are out there raking, take some time to clean out the storm water catch basins near you. Besides preventing vegetation from washing into the rivers and lakes, it will keep the catch basins from plugging up and freezing over. Two of the last three winters we had record snowfall, and when we experienced the spring freeze/thaw cycle the water that was running off our frozen yards (and streets) had nowhere to go because the storm water basins were clogged with trash and frozen over with ice. The results were flooding streets and then freezing into sheets of ice. We can prevent this from happening next spring by keeping our storm water basins cleared this fall and winter. In fact you can commit to keeping a storm drain clog free by ‘adopting ‘it through the Adopt a Drain program. Go to adopt-a-drain.org/ for information and possibly adopt a drain.
Late summer or early fall is the best time to fertilize your lawn. The advantages of fall fertilizing are a lengthened period of green in the fall and an earlier green up in the spring without an excessive amount of shoot growth. The primary purpose of fertilizer is to replace nutrients or essential elements that may be deficient in the soil. The primary nutrients needed by grasses (and most plants) are potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen. Our soils have abundant phosphorous and the greatest need is for nitrogen. A nitrogen deficiency leads to slow growth, yellowing, thinning and weed infestation in the lawn.
Fall is the time to plant the spring flowering bulbs. This includes corms, rhizomes, tuberous roots and true bulbs. These hardy bulbs require a cold period to break their dormancy – our winter is their cold period. Plant these bulbs by mid-October so that they have time to grow roots before the ground freezes. The exception is tulips, which can be planted any time before the ground freezes. When planting bulbs remember that they require warmth and bright light to break dormancy in the spring, thus those planted near foundations or on the west or south are likely to bloom first. While we are anxious to see our first flowers in spring, plants that bloom too early maybe damaged by spring frosts.
In the garden, as long as the foliage on your perennials is still green it can make food and store it in the roots for next spring. Fall flowering plants, such as asters, mums and tall sedum may still be green and flowering when the snow flies and are often left for some winter interest in the landscape. In the past it was recommended that you cut the perennial foliage once it has browned; now we recommend that you leave some of your perennials standing over the winter, not only for the winter interest but because it offers places for beneficial insects, such as bees to overwinter and provides seed heads for the birds. Annuals on the other hand have lived their lives and should be pulled up and composted or put in your lawn bags.
Hopefully cooler temperatures have invigorated me to spend some time putting my yard and garden “to bed” so that my plants and I can settle down to cocooning over the next of the four seasons in Minnesota.