Maid To Garden

In The Garden Of Good Living - October 2009: The Fall Garden
by Pat Hendrickson

Fall is a time to enjoy great color the Delmarva garden. It’s also a very busy time preparing the garden for both winter and next spring.

Gardener's Tips

If you're using pruners on infected materials, be sure to clean them before moving on to the next plant. Dip them in a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water.
If there is no disease present, leaves and small twigs can be used to build up your compost. Leaves of perennials and trees are perfect for building up a really rich compost to mix into your flower beds come springtime.
When cutting back many of your woody perennials, leave a stem of at least six inches so that you know where they are in the early spring. For all other perennials, mark them with stakes.
Add a 3" layer of mulch to those parts of your garden that are particularly exposed to the harsh winter elements. This will help keep winter weeds down and possibly bring back some of those plants that might not normally winter over.
Pull summer annuals, collecting seeds if possible.
Plant Spring bulbs, peonies, poppies and irises.
Dig up and store tender bulbs such as elephant ears, begonias and caladium.
Divide and transplant perennials and ground covers.
Plant bare-root trees, shrubs, ground covers and vines
Stop cutting roses. Good time to transplant roses and/or plant bare-root roses.

Plant Recommendations
Great shrubs for a colorful Fall
Burning Bush
Red Chokeberry
Viking Black Chokeberry
Sumac
Virginia Creeper
Blue Mist Shrub (Caryopteris)
Fothergilla
Oakleaf Hydrangea
Witch Hazel (hamamelis virginiana)
'Tor' Spirea
Blackhaw Viburnum
Virginia Sweetspire

In my world, there is a lot of confusion about when to fertilize in the garden. The following links give a clear picture of how fertilizing works and why it is beneficial to trees and shrubs:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/fertilize_woody.html
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,198603,00.html

Comments To Date

Post A Comment Or Ask A Gardening Question

Click here to report problems with this blog.