Fall Garden Tips
This is a great time for planting; roots still have time to grow. Look for sales at your local nursery and plant!
Divide your hostas. Hostas like to be divided, then share!
Dig up tender bulbs such as dahlias.
Start your garlic for next year.
Cut back asparagus.
Test your soil to see if it needs lime. Fall is a good time to add lime, but keep your plants' soil needs in mind.
There's still time to prune shrubs that haven't formed flower buds.
Begin your garden clean up if you have perennials that have gone by, but don't forget to think of your bird and creature friends. Leave spent flower heads that have gone to seed such as echinacea (cone flowers) and sunflowers as a treat for birds and chipmunks.
Are you missing color and flowers in your garden during the Fall? There are many varieties of aster and golden rod in bloom right now. Montauk daisies last into October. Monkshood blooms now with a beautiful purple flower. Chokeberry and blueberry are shrubs with wonderful Fall color leaves. Chokeberry has the added benefit of berries that turn bright red and are a food for birds.
Think Spring! Now is the time to plant bulbs for spring flowers - crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and grape hyacinths. Cover newly planted bulbs with chicken wire to deter foraging animals.