Putting the Garden to Bed

We've had a few frosts; winter is definitely on its way.  The weather forecasters seem to all be predicting a tough winter. My coleus is dead and the begonias are hanging on by a thread. Leaves are turning fast, then falling from the trees.



Leaves are falling, but the last show before winter is beautiful!

Yes, Old Man Winter is knocking at the door.
Some of my favorite garden tasks are included in the list of things to do to put the garden to bed. Cutting back the dead leaves of perennials, pulling the last cold hardy weeds out of the garden and stirring up the compost pile to pull out beautiful compost to top my vegetable planting beds is somehow therapeutic. As plants are cut back, I inevitably find a few plants, usually perennials, that had yet to get planted. They'll get into the ground just in the nick of time to send out roots over the winter.
Here are some of the things on my to-do list for my next day off at home.

1. Cut back dead foliage on perennials. Leave ornamental grasses, black-eyed Susans and daisy seed heads available for winter birds.

   

   Pat Sherman cuts back some milkweed that has turned brown

2. Remove spent annuals, tropical and vegetable plants.
3.  Pull compost out of the pile and add to top-dress annual and vegetable garden beds.
4. Take a soil sample into the garden shop at Valley View Farms for a free pH test. Add lime if the pH is on the acidic side.

   

   John checks soil pH for our customers

5. Pull winter hardy weeds now before they take hold over winter into spring.
6. Root prune any shrubs that are to be transplanted in spring.
7. Mulch any recently planted trees, shrubs and perennials with shredded leaves, straw or compost. Two inches of mulch should suffice. Use evergreen bows to keep leaves in place.
8. Use vinyl deer guard or fencing around young trees to avoid damage by deer.

   

   Deer Stopper Ribbon will keep deer out

9. Use brown paper tree wrap on young trees to deter sunscald.
10. Spray recently transplanted evergreens with an anti-desiccant like Wilt-Pruf to avoid water loss in the leaves of these plants. I spray my rhododendron that tends to get wind-whipped in the winter to keep the leaves from getting all shriveled.

    

    Wilt Pruf diminishes water loss in cut trees and greens too!

11. Make sure all the bulbs have been planted. One year they didn't get in the ground until January 5th. (They bloomed beautifully.)

    

    Plant bulbs before the soil freezes

12. Take note of plants that have overgrown their area. I will usually wait until early spring to divide many of them as my gardening friends are more likely to add them to their gardens then.
13. Empty all of the containers of soil. Clean pots with 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.  I'll usually stagger-stack my planters in or behind my garden shed. Smaller containers will be stored indoors.
14. Neaten things up but not too much. Keep plants and foliage to provide cover, water and some food, like berries, available for wildlife.
15. Most important--- thank my neighbor Chuck who mows my fence line all summer to keep the multiflora roses and other vines from taking over.

It's amazing how fast these chores are completed as one task just rolls over to the other. In the meantime, I'll get to enjoy the cool temperatures, the beautiful fall colors and a day outside with my canine companion working in the yard I so enjoy.