Walk through garden; plan for next year’s plots
“For it’s a long, long time/from May to December/and the days grow short when you reach September.”
Suddenly, it seems, summer is over. The kids are back in school. Sunrise is later; sunset is earlier. Vegetables are ripe for picking. Except for those with blooms we wait patiently for all summer, annuals are looking a little weary from the season of their robustness. Birds are gathering for their return to more tolerable climates. Crickets are singing from late afternoon till early morning.
A new season is soon upon us. We should welcome autumn as we welcomed spring and summer with enthusiasm in the garden. Roses, if we have them, will bloom longer, and more abundantly with cooler weather. Some flowering plants, such as chrysanthemums, botina, sedum Autumn Joy, wait for light frost to bring them into fullest bloom. The Japanese anemones are emerging with their long stemmed open-faced blooms of white, and several shades of pink. (If you don’t have one of these in your perennial garden, read the article about them in the October issue of Fine Gardening.)
As a step in planning for next year’s gardening, consider the following actions for perennials. Walk carefully and thoughtfully through the garden. Identify and label (using Popsicle sticks and colored markings) plants that should be: a) divided either later this month or next spring, b) moved to a better location because they don’t fit where they are or are not thriving to your satisfaction, c) removed from the garden and composted.
While you’re doing this for next year, collect and dry stems for fall and winter arrangements. Some ornamental grasses are good. Tall, flowering sedums fit well with Chinese lanterns and statice. Using your aesthetic sense and good eye for the unusual, you can create memorable arrangements that continue the garden’s beauty beyond summer.
Autumn is a great time to replenish your garden with aged manure. If you know someone with llamas, ask about getting some of this odorless and nutritious manure. Check your compost pile for its readiness to be spread around. Otherwise contact a public or commercial compost operation that will assure you that their products are weed-seed free to prevent surprise work for you next spring and summer.
Finally, sit back, relax, luxuriate in your garden, and quietly, positively appraise your accomplishments. Forget the expense, the dirty fingernails, the lower back pain, the plants that didn’t make it, the vegetables that were too abundant (how much zucchini did you give away?), and the damage from last winter’s freeze.
Congratulations on your successes this year! Such promise you’ll have for next year!
This week in the garden
If you didn’t get your fertilizer over Labor Day, do it now and once again at Halloween. These are the two most important feedings for the lawn.
The cooler weather has invigorated the weeds. Check underneath all your big floppy plants for the seed head that got away.
After you put down manure and compost, put a layer of mulch on top of it in areas you know had weeds. It will help now and in the spring suppress their access to light.
If you want or need to move a large shrub next spring, get some new growth on it now. Insert a sharp shovel about a foot or two out from the center stem and push all the way down. Skip a shovel width and repeat the process all around the plant. This forces the plant to start making some new roots now and it will help get the plant off right when you move it.
Set out sticky spider traps in the house. The spiders are looking for a warm place to spend the winter and are moving in. Sticky traps are better than sprays because they are nontoxic and attract spiders with an irresistible scent. Sprays don’t always get into all the nooks and cracks where spiders hide.
Plant garlic now for nice large heads next July. Several garden centers have a selection of different types. Experiment and try a few of each. Break the heads apart and use the largest cloves. Use the rest in the kitchen. Work compost into the soil and plant the cloves large end down about 2 inches deep. Mulch once the ground freezes solid.