Gardening
Gerald Filipski
Fall Gardening
Fall is the time to roll up your
sleeves and get your garden ready
for next spring. Spending the
time now will mean far less work
to do in the spring. Your garden
and your plants will thank you for
the extra effort, and you will be
ready to enjoy activities in your
garden rather than spending the
time doing the menial tasks. So
what can you do in the fall to help
get ready?
Cleaning up your beds is very
much a personal choice. When it
comes to perennials, the leaves
and stems can act as insulators
over the winter and, in some
cases, tell you where a plant was
so you don’t accidentally dig it
up in the spring. If you are intent
on cutting things back in the fall,
make sure you wait until the plant
has been killed back by the frost.
An actively growing
plant can be
damaged if cut back too early.
Some experts will tell you that
by cutting back and cleaning up
in the fall the parts of a plant
that will rot in a wet spring and
may harm emerging plants are
removed. They may be right, but
my feeling has always been that
if I get out early enough in the
spring I will clean things up before
they have a chance to rot. For me,
getting out early enough in the
spring has never been a problem.
I’m out there in the snow looking
at things, pulling things out that
need pulling, and seeing where
the plants were growing.
Over the winter I actually like
seeing the snow and ice sitting
on the spent plants. While I like
to cut back the taller perennials
that have fallen over and just
look messy in the bed, I do like to
leave plants like my echinaceas
standing so that they catch the
snow and ice, creating winter
interest in places where there
would only be snow. Ultimately
the choice is yours as a gardener,
and I am not certain there is a
right or wrong way to do this
gardening chore.
Planting is a great fall chore.
Dormant plants are exposed
to less stress being planted or
transplanted than if they are
actively growing. A bonus of fall
planting is that many nurseries or
greenhouses offer good discounts
as they downsize their plant stock
for the winter. Fall planting is
my way of saving money and
reducing stress on both me and
the plants.
Get your fall bulbs in the
ground. You will thank yourself
in the spring for doing this chore
when you walk out into the yard
and are greeted with a blast of
colour from the tulips, daffodils,
Fall planting is my
way of saving money
and reducing stress.