By Betsy Martin
Late summer/early fall is such a great time in the garden—you can actually put your tools down for a minute and just sit and enjoy the view of all your spring and summer labors.
But when you’re done with that, be sure to do a few end-of-season chores:
- Gather seeds for next year from this year’s dried flower heads (zinnia, dahlia, black-eyed Susan, hollyhock).
- Split and replant tired perennials (peony, lily, geranium, hosta, liriope).
- Leave coneflower heads for the goldfinches to enjoy.
- Leave dried stems either where they are or collect them and put them on a woodpile or compost pile—there’s next year’s bees and beetles in them!
- Leave the leaves that fall in your garden beds. Mulch over them.
- And here’s a tip from me who’s learned this one the hard way—mark your plants! This will save you digging them up by accident when you plant more bulbs later or yanking them out like weeds when they pop up next spring!
Oh! I tend to forget things that aren’t flowers, like lawns and trees. Fall is the best time to add grass seed to bare spots. It’s also a good time to prune up shrubs and trees to remove dead branches and debris—less mass for snow and ice to catch on.
I’m hosting a follow-up to the Plant Swap at my house on Saturday the 19th at 10 AM (6822 Silver Lane). Please join, whether you were at the plant swap or not.
We can share successes and failures in the garden, things you would do differently and/or plans for next year, and how to over-winter some of our more fragile friends.
See you outside!