September did not prove to be as great a gardening month as I had hoped. The temperatures were up and down and all over the thermometer. Some days the temperatures were in the 60s and 70s only to be followed by a heat dome offering extreme temperatures in the high 90s with heat indices over 100°. The drought not only continued but worsened in most of the state. Reluctantly, I guess I will have to accept the fact that it is time to put the yard and garden to bed for another season. But that in itself includes a number of outdoor chores, and hopefully we have another month or more to tackle them before we have to “button down the hatches” and shut ourselves indoors for the following few months.
The University of Minnesota Extension recommends that if we do nothing else this fall that we continue to water. The latest Yard and Garden News says:
“As we go into another dry fall throughout most of the state, it’s important to continue watering our landscape plants — especially herbaceous perennials, trees and shrubs. Saturate the top 6-9 inches of soil and mulch the root areas to help hold in the moisture, protect roots and moderate the soil temperatures. Watering and mulching help plants transition into winter dormancy gradually with less stress.”
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. In the past it was recommended that you cut the foliage once it has browned. 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 and seed heads for the birds. Tests now show that garden mums survive the winter better when the above ground dead plant stems are not removed in the fall. This also proves to be a beneficial technique to use with other herbaceous perennials. Annuals on the other hand have lived their lives and should be pulled up and composted or put in your lawn bags.
Fall is also 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 your 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 side of your house are likely to bloom first. While we are anxious to see our first flowers in spring, plants that bloom too early may be damaged by spring frosts.
The primary fall chore is, of course, leaf raking. We are very fortunate to have the magnificent tree canopy that we do in our community; but we may not feel so fortunate in the fall when it comes to raking leaves. It can be a tedious and time consuming chore, and one that we may be inclined to skip; however I would advise you not to. Leaves left on your lawn will mat down and make the lawn more susceptible to snow mold. On the flip side, 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. For that reason it is, in fact, 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. Last winter we had record snowfall and when we experienced the freeze/thaw cycle in the spring 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 that the streets were flooding 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.
Hopefully the weather this fall will allow us to spend time outdoors completing these chores before the eventual closing of windows and doors.