Gardening: Tips, tricks for getting your yard ready for approaching winter

We are finally settling into fall and that brings up a list of projects to do before the weather really breaks.

The first project is a holdover from our crazy summer: How do you get the last of the tomatoes ripe or do you just give up and find recipes for green tomato anything? It was cold in June, so the plants wouldn’t grow. Then the excessive heat arrived in July, which shut down any more growth. The plants spent the first half of August trying to catch up, which means they weren’t flowering until late August, which means we are now dealing with green tomatoes as the temperatures begin to cool off. Are you following me here?

At this late date there are only a couple of things you can do to salvage the crop. First is to cover the tomato plants with floating row cover to keep the daytime temperatures under the cloth a little warmer. The trade -off is that you will need to watch for freeze warnings and hustle to get them picked. Gardeners north of Spokane and cold pockets in the city have already had a light frost.

Second, you can pick any tomatoes that have a hint of yellow and ripen them indoors. If you have just a few tomatoes, they can be ripened on a kitchen counter or window sill. If you have lots, they can be stored in a box as a single layer in a warm space. Don’t let the fruits touch to reduce the chance of spoilage. Use the tomatoes as they ripen.

Next, there are lots of recipes for using green tomatoes such as green tomato relish, green tomato mincemeat, roasted green tomato salsa verde, green tomato pie and corn meal dusted fried green tomatoes.

On to another topic. Last week’s windstorm brought gardeners a bounty of fallen pine needles that can be used as garden mulch for beds, protecting tender plants like roses and for adding to the compost pile. The needles can be shredded along with the grass with a lawn mower to make a perfect mix of green and brown material for the compost pile. The mix is perfect for mounding around rose grafts as the needles allow moisture to easily drain away. Remember last winter when we had no snow cover?

As we get into October, more needles and leaves will come down and can be raked out of garden beds, shredded and returned to the beds as mulch to deter weeds and keep moisture in the soil next year.

Before you shut down your sprinkler system for the winter, give your plants a deep soaking so their roots go into winter well hydrated. This is especially important for plants that might be on the edges of the spray patterns. Set up a spot sprinkler in these areas and let it run for three or four hours.

Last, now is a good time to apply lawn fertilizer so the grass roots go into winter with reserves for next spring.