Fall is here and winter is fast approaching! In order to keep your garden healthy and prepare it for the spring there are some crucial steps you should take. Here are some fall gardening tips to help keep your flowers flourishing and prepare your garden for next year.
- Remove any dead heads (dead flowers).
- Regularly water your plants and provide them with a balanced fertilizer.
- Cut back annuals and diseased plants to half their height and they will rebound. Perennials can be cut back too but make sure not to do this too early.
- Do not dispose of any plant until you are sure it’s dead and can not be revived. To test to see if the plant is dead give it a gentle tug, if its roots hold then it is still alive.
- Remove the leaves from any grassy areas that you have as it is crucial for the grass to get sunlight during the fall months. As well, remove any diseased leaves from under your plants as they will spread disease spores to your plants in the spring if they are left on the soil all winter.
- Use winter mulch to help keep your plants at an even temperature as they may die during periods of irregular temperature conditions.
- Protect your newly planted bulbs from squirrels by planting the bulbs in large groups, flooding the soil above them with water and covering them with leaves. Squirrels are able to locate bulbs by detecting disturbed soil. By creating these diversions you can outwit them and protect your garden.
- Don’t wrap you’re your plants too tightly in burlap, as this can do more harm than good by holding ice against their tissues.
Image by FilippoD