Dear Gardeners and would be Gardeners,

This is a magical time of year; we put not very attractive lumps in the ground and in a few months beautiful flowers come out. We split up overgrown perennials and the following spring they are comely and in good proportion. We plant little seeds in the dead looking grass and they come up lush and green when the weather warms again. We tie up stragglers from vines and lightly trim back shrubs that can experience broken branches from the autumn winds and they look nice when the leaves start to sprout. We go after those late summer weeds so that they set fewer new ones to pull when spring comes.

In other words, there is no end to what one can do for the garden in the fall. In truth, anything you can do in the waning days of summer and on into frost will make next year’s garden more attractive and less work.

We are so fortunate here in the Northwest as we can grow anything short of the most tropical of plants (and we’ve been known to try a few of those!). Personally, unless you have a greenhouse, I think the denizens of the tropics are best living in the tropics. We have such an enormous variety of plants that do well here with even a modest amount of care that it would be difficult to run out of plants that thrive in our very temperate climate.

Every now and again we will have a cold year and some of the borderline material, which we have gotten away with as we expand the reaches of our plant zone, will suffer and perish in the exceptional cold. But it is not often and we merrily site greenery that would more naturally grow in an area like coastal southern California and watch it adapt and grow in our piney woods.

So, as the weather cools and the leaves start to turn to their wonderful autumnal hues, get on your gardening gloves, let the inside slide for a while and work on the garden. Think about those things that need to be planted in the fall so that they will come up in the spring and those things that like to have the dormancy of winter to put on root growth so that they can support lush beauty when the warm weather comes again.

We have lots of help available in our communities to provide information and assistance. Just ask around and you’ll get to know many interesting and interested people. There are also many good books and magazines with information on all aspects of gardening from flower boxes to vegetable gardens.

Happy gardening!

At last we can start gardening on those days that are not too blustery. It’s time to do any pruning you haven’t done yet, (particularly roses and some shrubs).

Try to get as many of the pop weeds out as you can before they bloom and go to seed. These are very pretty with little white flowers and little circlets of leaves that are easily mistaken for a small perennial. (I did it when I first started gardening and lived to regret it). When they go to seed they spray seed when you try to pull them; hence, the reason for the name Pop Weed. They come back every year. It’s much better to get them out early and do it every time you see one come up. They can seed when they are very small.

This would be a great year to grow some of your own produce.   [Read more...]

This hardly seems like a time for much gardening, but other than clearing up fallen branches etc., there are just a few jobs that need to be dealt with during the winter.

It is a good practice, if you know it’s going to get very cold, to water a little, at least the container plants. Once it gets cold it’s too late and the plants still need water.

If branches break, it’s best to cut them off cleanly so that they don’t tear extensively and will heal faster.

Now that the ground has frozen, it’s a good time to mulch.  Don’t cover the base of the plants, that can encourage rot, and keep an eye out for slugs which love to hide out in the mulch. Mulching will stop some of the freeze-thaw cycles which are hard on plants. The mulch also breaks down gradually and provides nourishment for the plants. [Read more...]