Gary Emmett

Fall, in its splendid awesomeness, is all around us. We have been blessed with temperatures that have been mild, allowing for the beautiful colors to explode in their glory, which causes me to get distracted. And before I get much more distracted here are my top five fall tasks to accomplish before the snow flies.

1.Planting Trees, shrubs, flowers and garlic!

Trees and shrubs: Yes, there is still time to plant trees and shrubs in your yard. If you can dig a hole in the ground, you can plant a tree. However, make sure that it is watered well. As the ambient air cools, the ground soil temperature still stays warm, allowing for better root development. So, if you still want to plant a fruit tree or an evergreen tree, it can be done.

Tulips and perennials: A little extra work now will pay off in beautiful flowers next spring. If you enjoy tulips and daffodil flowers in the spring, they need to be planted now in the fall. Hopefully you have transplanted your Iris rhizomes too, if not get them transplanted. Fall is a perfect time to divide and move some of your perennials around your flower beds. This will allow for root development now in the fall, which then will help with better, bigger and showier flowers.

Garlic: Do you like to eat fresh garlic? Plant garlic now! Planting garlic bulbs in the fall is a must, allowing for the chilling vernalization that causes bulb development and leading to a bountiful harvest next July! Make sure to apply organic fertilizers and water in the newly planted bulbs. Don’t forget to add a layer of mulch, at least an inch thick, to protect the garlic bulbs during the winter months.

2. Watering and Fertilizing your Lawn one last time

Before the water goes out of the ditches and canals, or you winterize your water pump, make a conscience effort to water your lawn one last time. It is also a perfect time to add your last fertilizer step or winterizing fertilizer to your lawn. This will not cause your grass to grow, so you don’t have to worry about mowing your lawn one more time, but the roots of your grass will go into the winter healthier, and it is a sure way to ensure that you have the first green lawn in your neighborhood, come spring. A healthy lawn will turn green earlier than a neglected lawn.

3. Pruning and trimming your trees and bushes

If you have any birch or maple trees, make sure that you do any necessary pruning to them this fall. Depending on the winter, spring sap can start flowing in January. If you prune them now, they won’t “bleed sap” all spring long. Also, fall is the best time to do any maintenance pruning on your shrubs and flowers around the yard. Be careful in how well you clean up your flower beds, because there are many beneficial insects that winter over in the fallen leaves of flowers.

4.Cleaning up the garden

It is always better to clean out the old dying vegetable plants in the fall rather than waiting until spring. If you garden in raised beds, like I do, it can be very easy. It also doesn’t allow for old seeds to winter over and surprise you in the spring. I have often been surprised at what pops up on occasion throughout my garden. The random plant variety know as “I wonder what that is” has been found more than once. Another variety known as “I don’t remember planting that” has also been known to grow too.

Fall is also a great time to add organic mulch or fertilizer to your garden beds. If you don’t want to add fertilizer, I would highly recommend at least adding soil sulfur to your garden and flower beds in the fall. This will slowly break down over the winter, increasing soil fertility. Trust me, your garden will reward you with better and higher yield productions next year.

5. Protecting Your Roses

I could write a whole article about preparing your roses for the winter. Don’t prune them yet. It is still too warm! It’s warm enough that pruning roses now, can and will stimulate new growth. Allow the spent rose blooms to naturally fall. Do cut back your how much watering you do. Roses need a good soaking going into winter, but not too much. Add magnesium sulphate and potash around the rose bush but not directly inside the crown. 

Closer to Thanksgiving time is the ideal time to put your roses to bed for the winter months. Prune any wild or broken rose canes out, prune the other remaining canes down to about 18 inches. Mid-to-late November is the time you will want to mulch or cover your roses with leaves or dry compost. Cover to a depth of at least a foot. You can use boxes, old plastic buckets, even Styrofoam Rose Cones to hold the compost in place. Then you wait till spring, leaving the protective layer of compost covering your roses until early April. 

The mild temperatures of fall have allowed me to take a slower pace in getting my fall gardening tasks done around my yard. But I had better hurry, because I keep finding more to do and the weather won’t stay this nice forever.

(Gary Emmett is the owner of Successful Gardens. For more information visit Successfulgardens.com or see his YouTube channel for other gardening tips at youtube.com/@SuccessfulGardens1.)