Fall Gardening Tips

Fall is a great time to  spend time in the garden. The days are sunny and night temperatures put  a brisk nip in the air. Planting trees, shrubs and perennials at this time allow for rooting properly establishing them well before Winter. There is still time to plant Spring flowering bulbs too. Fall is for planting and October is Autumn at it’s best!

• Mulch in spring-planted trees and shrubs. Don’t permit them to get too dry; water them throughly and deeply

• Start amaryllis and paperwhite narcissus for holiday blooms. (Allow 5-6 weeks for paperwhites and 12 weeks for amaryllis).

• Apply fall lawn fertilizer at this time

• Apply lime to lawns to raise pH. A 50# bag of lime will raise lawn pH about .5 point per 1000 sq ft.

• Re-seed areas damaged by grubs with insect resistant seed varieties

• Fall is a great time to start a compost pile. Start out with brown leaf and add the last few trimmings for nitrogen. Remember to alternate layers. Shred brown leaf to speed decomposition

• Apply an anti-dessicant, such as Wilt-Pruf, to spring or fall planted broadleaf evergreens and specimen conifers. Make sure temperatures are above 50 degrees. Newly planted Arborvitaes could be wrapped in burlap to protect from snow load.