Summer can be a chore, spring and winter are a breeze, but fall is the time to make the garden sing.
While I love all seasons in my garden, autumn is my favorite with its wonderful sunny days, cool nights, flowers and breathtaking autumn tones.
Summer can be an ordeal, giving water, keeping things alive and protecting from the heat. However, in the fall, the pressure is less when the worst of the heat passes.
While there is always a sense of relief that I (or should I say my garden) survived the summer and made it to fall, this is no time to rest on my laurels. In fact, it’s time to get busy because what we’re doing now will prepare us for the months ahead.
EVALUATE YOUR AUTUMN GARDEN
Now is a good time to think about how our gardens fared during the spring and summer and see which plants are thriving and which are not doing so well. Do plan to add some of the good performers to parts of your garden that can be improved a bit.
It’s also a good time to look at the design and structure of your garden and see where it can be improved. Maybe you need more summer shade, protection from hot north winds, privacy from neighbors, or just to make your outdoor living area cooler so it is more comfortable for summer entertainment?
Prepare your floor
However, before you plant anything, you should prepare and improve your soil as this will give your plants a head start. To quote a common gardening adage, ‘plant a $ 1 plant in a $ 10 hole’. Clay floors benefit from the addition of gypsum and sandy, non-wetting floors from the addition of clay in the form of a clay slurry or a bentonite clay. Adding organic matter in the form of aged animal manure and compost is also a great benefit, whether you’re preparing for new plantings or working on existing garden beds.
When preparing a new bed, try to get this organic matter through the soil to the depth of the fork. For existing garden beds where you can’t dig around without disturbing established plants, just toss compost on the ground and let the worms work through it. When you run out of your compost, you can also start a new batch that takes the leaves of deciduous trees into account as they fall. An exception is when you plant native plants in natural soil as they are adapted to your natural local soil conditions. However, most soils are no longer “natural” today because they have been changed by development.
PLANT NOW FOR SPRING JOY
Fill in any gaps where plants may have died or start a new garden bed. By spring, the new plants will have settled in your garden and look great. Use an algae-based herbal tonic to help develop a good root system and overcome transplant shocks.
TRANSPLANT VOLUNTARY PLANTS
Fall is a great time to get a feel for your garden.
In my garden, I find some perennial and annual plants that self-sow while others layer themselves, with branches touching the ground, developing roots, and creating new plants. Fall is the best time to transplant those “freebies” elsewhere in the garden, fill in a void, or simply add color in one area, or extend the flowering period in one area.
Dig them up with as much soil as possible and plant them back where you want them to grow. Treat these with an algae-based herbal tonic as well. As long as you water them well while they are tiny, they will move away.
NOURISH AND CARE
Now feed your entire garden and lawn with an organic fertilizer. As always, it’s best to feed on a cool day and then water. If you’re smart enough to properly plan your feeding, feed just before the rain and let the rain wash in for you.
In areas with cold winters, the secret to a good looking lawn in winter is to make it strong and healthy in the fall and to increase the cutting height when the weather cools. Most of the waterfront lawns like Kikuyu, Couch, and Buffalo are active in warmer weather and rest over winter in cold weather. So when they are hungry and go into winter, they look very sad during that time while being greener and stronger the more they deal with the cold now. In very frosty areas, however, all of these summer-active running grasses can turn brown.
GROW ON GROWTH
Now is the time to prune summer flowering plants that have finished their main flowering season. Always-flowering plants like Seaside Daisy will respond well to a harsh haircut at this point, as long as you water them well. Cut them to just 2 inches above the ground to remove the old straw. This encourages fresh new growth and flowers.
Lightly prune hedges that have become unsightly all summer before they bring in new growth with the rains.
So enjoy autumn in your garden and try to do as much as you can during the Easter break to set up your garden for the rest of the year.
CREATE COMPOST
Over the next few months, gardens of deciduous trees and plants will have access to an abundance of autumn leaves. Consider them a valuable resource for organics and recycle them either by adding them to your compost or, if they are small, soft and easily decomposable, use them as mulch directly on your garden beds. When you have large amounts of fallen leaves, too many for your compost bin, use the leaves to make leaf mold, a wonderful addition to your soil to increase the soil’s water holding capacity.
To do this, just make an enclosure out of wood, corrugated iron, or even chicken wire wrapped around 4-star drippers. If you choose to use chicken wire, line the inside with large pieces of cardboard that are held in place with twitching wires or zip ties to best accommodate the leaf shape. Then just stack your leaves in it and add a layer of organic fertilizer every 15-30 cm. To speed up this degradation, first run your mower over dry leaves to chop them up. Keep the stack moist and rotate it regularly.
PLANT OF THE WEEK: CHERRY PIE
This long-flowering dwarf shrub is grown for its deliciously fragrant clusters of purple or lavender flowers, which have an intoxicating vanilla-like scent. There are several shapes including a gold leaf shape and ‘Lord Roberts’ with dark purple green leaves. This plant blooms from spring to autumn. They grow well in the ground, but also in pots or hanging baskets, but prefer a sunny, warm position without being too hot. They are sensitive to frost and are best grown in containers in colder climates so that they can be brought under cover in the dead of winter. Cut the plants back in half in the spring to keep them nice and compact.
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