Good morning. Well, the signs are just too many to miss now. They are all around us as we drive down the road or walk in the forest. The leaves are in full color, hydrangeas are turning brown on their bushes and pumpkins are everywhere. Decorating for fall can be an adventure if you have the time and inclination. I went to Longfellow’s in Manchester to get the bushel basket of millet that I am so fond of and to my surprise – gourds. Well, I think they are just really big gourds or maybe misshapen squash or something else entirely, but they are really fun. (You will see a few in the photos I have included.)
Finding different things is one of my favorite activities whether it’s fall or new plants and annuals in the spring. Cinderella pumpkins which my neighbor Gloria at the Nezinscot Organic Farm always grows are just more fun than regular ones, although I always get those as well. The grandkids like to pick them out of the pumpkin patch as we ride the wagon to pick honey crisp apples at Boothby Orchards in Livermore. So many fun places and so little time as well as so many apples to go with those recipes that someone has to eat – but aren’t these wonderful problems to have?
I have received a fair number of e-mails about fall plant preparation and thought I would share some usual fall reminders with you.
*For those who want to give their plants a big head start in the spring, here is a simple solution. Clean up all debris around your plants, especially rose bushes. After the ground freezes, meaning one or two hard frosts, put a slow release organic fertilizer, some greensand and some phosphate around the base of the plants. Scratch it into the soil and cover with mulch, if you plan to mulch. If you are not going to mulch, just scratch it in. In the spring, when the snow melts and the ground thaws, your plants will get an instant boost before the garden is even dry enough for you to walk in. This is especially helpful to spring blooming plants like primroses, weigela, roses, candytuft and pasque flowers — but all of your flowers will appreciate it. You should not be adding fertilizer to any plants this time of year because they are all starting to go dormant to survive the winter.
*Cutting back is a personal preference. If you want a neater garden in the spring and don’t want your daffodils coming up through fall’s debris, then cut back and clean up. It does no harm to let plants stand without cutting, but it will create more mess in the spring, which may make you feel pressured to get out there and clean up when you don’t want to. If you have gardens surrounded by hardwood trees, I think it is best to allow the flower stems to stand. The leaves collect in the stems and form their own kind of mulch.
However, if you have cut everything back, the leaves can form a blanket that in the spring will prevent the sunlight from thawing the soil and the rain from reaching it. This is especially true of maple trees with their large leaves.
The big exception to this rule is peonies. You need to cut each stem back about 1 inch above the ground. This helps prevent many diseases in these lovely shrubs. Do not mulch peonies; they don’t like it.
*Keep up the watering until the ground freezes. Your plants need to go into winter with moisture. This is especially true of rhododendrons. Most are lost in the spring because they have run out of water to access from their shallow root system. Give them some additional help with Wilt Pruf. This is a product you spray onto the leaves, top and bottom, that prevents moisture loss. Rhodies are just a type of azalea, so the same rules apply to them.
*At some point in the past, someone decided it was a good idea to prune roses in the fall. I don’t know why, but it has been my experience that if you wait until spring, pruning makes more sense. Many roses will not lose their canes over winter, but it doesn’t matter if you have already cut them in the previous fall. Wait until spring and see how they came through winter. If you did not prune in the fall of 2009, this spring you had beautiful roses ready to go on much larger bushes. Now we all know that we will probably not get as warm a winter as we had last year for a long time, but hope springs eternal.
*Allow the dahlia foliage to blacken from frost before digging up, drying and storing the bulbs.
*Plant tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, crocus and other spring blooming bulbs no earlier than the second week of October.
*It is too late to dig and divide at this point. Wait until spring.
*For those who planted perennials in containers along with annuals, they need to be in the ground as soon as you finish reading this — as in now.
I have a terrible time with this and am sure others do as well. I have included a picture of beacon silver cascading from summer pots on my front porch. They are in one corner across from the kale, pumpkins and cabbage. Fall is a competition at my house. I always want to do fall decorating, but I have so many flowers that are still blooming that I just can’t make myself dig them up or throw them out.
I leave the containers that are filled with summer annuals until the frost gets them which, at my house, is usually Halloween. Behind that fall millet in the picture, I still have snapdragons, dahlias and dianthus just going to town. But, by the time you read this, that beacon silver on the porch will be in the ground. Beacon silver, a type of lamium, is beautiful in pots, but is also a wonderful ground cover.
Each year I plant it in containers and then each fall I put it in the ground. At some point, during the summer of 2009, a seed or a piece of plant got transported to the mulch under one of our pine trees. My husband, Ike, has a tendency to make nice mulched circles under trees that dot our lawns and two or three plants of beacon silver showed up this summer. Both he and I like the way it looks there, so these plants will go under that tree to join the volunteers.
Along with beacon silver, containers also look nice with miniature coral bells, primroses and little rose bushes, all of which can be transplanted to the garden in the fall. It is a great way to add new plants to the front of the garden each year.
*If you go shopping for spring bulbs, don’t forget to pick up some paperwhite narcissus to force in the house for Thanksgiving, Christmas or the dreary days of February. I have explained this before, but if you missed it, just e-mail for directions. They also make a lovely Christmas gift if you place them in a watertight container and just add a bow. The recipient only needs to add water.
*Now is the time to repot any pot-bound house plants while you can still make the mess outside instead of on the kitchen table, and don’t forget to buy a couple extra bags of potting soil for winter repotting chores.
*Lastly, bring in all those tools that have served you so well this season. Wash them well with hot soapy water and don’t be afraid to scour those rust spots. Let them dry thoroughly and then oil springs etc. on clippers and pruners, put a coat of WD-40 on the metal and wood parts, wrap them up nicely in an old towel and store them away. Wash all those pairs of garden gloves and weed out the ones with holes in the fingers. When the wind warms and you can smell the dirt, you will be ready to walk outside and begin again another year.
Until next time, I wish you sunny days for long walks in the fall leaves, a Halloween filled with happy munchkins, a Thanksgiving of blessings and a Christmas of smiles and peace. I will talk with you in the spring if God is willin’ and the creek don’t rise!
Happy gardening.
Jody Goodwin has been gardening for more than 25 years. She lives in Turner with her husband, Ike, her dog and two cats. She may be reached by writing to her in care of the Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston, Maine, 04243-4400 or by e-mail at jodyike@megalink.net.
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