Gardeners’ Fall to do List

Autumn in New England is most people’s favorite season. The dog days of summer are behind. The heat and humidity were survived for another year.  Seems everybody looks forward to the beautiful days and cool nights.  The brilliant colors of the changing leaves bring people from all over the country to enjoy. The phrase: “winter is coming” means more than a Game of Thrones quotThinkstockPhotos-520659237.jpge to a garden enthusiast.  As much they enjoy the fall weather there are tasks that must be before the snow covers the ground.

Seed the lawn. Like much of the country, our part of Connecticut has suffered drought-like conditions. Lawns have suffered and need to be reseeded in the fall as opposed to the spring. Now is the time to do it unless your town has enacted water restrictions.  Planting grass seed in the spring is harder because the seed has to compete with lawn weeds, especially crabgrass; the bane of any northeast homeowner!

Remove leaves. Those same leaves that we “ooh” and “ah” over become an annoyance when they cover your yard and need to be raked and disposed of. It is easier to keep up with raking rather than do it all at once in case of heavy rain or an early snow. Also, keeping leaves off the lawn will prevent killing the grass and snow mold.  Check with your towns’ public works for lawn debris disposal information.

Clear garden beds. Pull all flowers and cut back perennials to the base at the end of the season. This will give the plant as much time as possible to replenish itself for next year. It has become popular to give your lawn a fall/winter feeding to promote root growth.

Check trees. Be aware tree limbs that overhang power lines, roof and driveways.

Plant bulbs. If you like early spring color, plant bulbs that flower early, crocus daffodils and tulips. They will provide your yard with color before the nursery will have them to sell.

Transplant shrubs & perennials.  Now is the perfect time to thin out and transplant.

Prevent animal damage. A good idea for homeowners that suffer from deer, rabbit and squirrels browsing is to treat the bulbs with Bobbex bulb dip. Of course a late season spraying of Bobbex will protect your valuable landscape for the winter.

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