Putting Your Garden To Bed
By Patricia Sullivan Photo of Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick shrub
As the gardening season winds down, I am trying to gather the last of the
vegetables and herbs before the first frost. I am watching the weather reports
closely to see if there will be a frost and when I have to bring my plants
inside. I have been busy making relish and pickles, drying herbs, and freezing
the last of the beans and corn. I take the best of the tomatoes, place them in a
brown bag in a cool place, and wait for them to ripen.
Fall gardening chores include: Clean out the vegetable beds, pull up the spent plants, dropped vegetables,
and fruit and add them to the compost bins or refuse piles.
Cut back most of the perennials such as iris and day lilies. Pull up any annuals plants and rake out the garden beds.
This saves me time in the spring. I do leave some of the cone flowers, sun flowers for the birds. and ornamental
grasses for garden interest through the fall and winter.
Rake up the fallen apples and leaves, and add them to compost piles. This prevents the pests such as apple maggot
and coddling moth over winter in the fallen apples and leaves.
Plant garlic for next year, and cover it with salt marsh hay or straw.
Plant daffodil, tulip, and crocus bulbs. Protect the tulip and crocus bulbs from hungry rodents by using mothballs,
hot pepper sauce, or chicken wire in the ground. Deer and rodents do not like daffodils, so I plant them freely without
having to worry if they will appear in the spring.
Clean and sharpen the gardening tools. I have a bucket with sand that I pour old car oil into for cleaning and oiling my
shovels and trowels before storing them away.
I place my house plants that have been outside for the summer in a shady spot for a few days so they get accustomed
to the reduced light. I wash off the leaves with soap and water to remove any bugs and insects before I bring them inside.
I also like to use an insecticidal soap spray on the leaves.
I water my bushes, shrubs, and trees on last time before the ground freezes and spray the leaves with an anti-transpirant
(Wilt Pruf) on the boxwood, holly, and rhododendrons to prevent moisture loss through windburn and drought through the
winter.
After the ground freezes:
I wrap my rose bushes, boxwoods, and hydrangeas in burlap and mound up dirt and leaves around the base of the plants.
By waiting for the ground to freeze before applying the straw, I prevent the chipmunks and other rodents from tunneling
around the plants and building their winter home in the straw.
I cover the strawberry plants with salt marsh hay or straw after the ground freezes.
A few years ago, we bought a leaf vacuum attachment for the lawn mower. So now the lawn gets mowed and leaves chopped
all at the same time. This saves several days of raking and hauling into the woods or transfer station. I now use about 2 – 3
inches of the leaf mulch in garden beds in place of bark mulch, which saves me a few hundred dollars a year. I also use it in
the vegetable garden and compost pile. I mix the leaf mulch with compost and dirt and mound the mixture around my
ornamental shrubs and trees to provide protection through the winter.
I look forward to January when snow covers the gardens and the seed catalogs arrive. I can look out my window and see the
Henry Lauders Walking Stick at its finest as I sit by the fire with a cup of tea planning my garden for spring.
vegetables and herbs before the first frost. I am watching the weather reports
closely to see if there will be a frost and when I have to bring my plants
inside. I have been busy making relish and pickles, drying herbs, and freezing
the last of the beans and corn. I take the best of the tomatoes, place them in a
brown bag in a cool place, and wait for them to ripen.
Fall gardening chores include: Clean out the vegetable beds, pull up the spent plants, dropped vegetables,
and fruit and add them to the compost bins or refuse piles.
Cut back most of the perennials such as iris and day lilies. Pull up any annuals plants and rake out the garden beds.
This saves me time in the spring. I do leave some of the cone flowers, sun flowers for the birds. and ornamental
grasses for garden interest through the fall and winter.
Rake up the fallen apples and leaves, and add them to compost piles. This prevents the pests such as apple maggot
and coddling moth over winter in the fallen apples and leaves.
Plant garlic for next year, and cover it with salt marsh hay or straw.
Plant daffodil, tulip, and crocus bulbs. Protect the tulip and crocus bulbs from hungry rodents by using mothballs,
hot pepper sauce, or chicken wire in the ground. Deer and rodents do not like daffodils, so I plant them freely without
having to worry if they will appear in the spring.
Clean and sharpen the gardening tools. I have a bucket with sand that I pour old car oil into for cleaning and oiling my
shovels and trowels before storing them away.
I place my house plants that have been outside for the summer in a shady spot for a few days so they get accustomed
to the reduced light. I wash off the leaves with soap and water to remove any bugs and insects before I bring them inside.
I also like to use an insecticidal soap spray on the leaves.
I water my bushes, shrubs, and trees on last time before the ground freezes and spray the leaves with an anti-transpirant
(Wilt Pruf) on the boxwood, holly, and rhododendrons to prevent moisture loss through windburn and drought through the
winter.
After the ground freezes:
I wrap my rose bushes, boxwoods, and hydrangeas in burlap and mound up dirt and leaves around the base of the plants.
By waiting for the ground to freeze before applying the straw, I prevent the chipmunks and other rodents from tunneling
around the plants and building their winter home in the straw.
I cover the strawberry plants with salt marsh hay or straw after the ground freezes.
A few years ago, we bought a leaf vacuum attachment for the lawn mower. So now the lawn gets mowed and leaves chopped
all at the same time. This saves several days of raking and hauling into the woods or transfer station. I now use about 2 – 3
inches of the leaf mulch in garden beds in place of bark mulch, which saves me a few hundred dollars a year. I also use it in
the vegetable garden and compost pile. I mix the leaf mulch with compost and dirt and mound the mixture around my
ornamental shrubs and trees to provide protection through the winter.
I look forward to January when snow covers the gardens and the seed catalogs arrive. I can look out my window and see the
Henry Lauders Walking Stick at its finest as I sit by the fire with a cup of tea planning my garden for spring.