(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
End of Season To-Do’s
Written By: Deena Bouknight | Issue: October - 2022
This month ushers in an array of changes facing local gardens.
We thought it’d be a good idea to provide you with a fall-to-winter checklist of considerations for prepping next spring’s gardens, yards, and flower beds: 1. Make a note of any particular productive or unsatisfactory varieties of vegetables planted this year. Such information can be useful when planning next year’s garden. 2. Plant garlic, shallots, and perennial onions. 3. Plant spring flowering bulbs like tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, and crocus. Place chicken wire on the ground over newly planted bulbs to deter animals from digging. 4. Dig and divide spring and summer flowering perennials. Late summer and fall flowering ones can be done in the spring. Cut foliage back, replant, and water well. Wait until winter is in full-swing to add new mulch for winter protection during their first winter. 5. Remove, chop, and compost asparagus tops after they have yellowed and died for the season. Wait until later in winter to mulch. 6. Save seeds from favorite self-pollinating, non-hybrid flowers such as marigolds by allowing the flower heads to mature. Place seeds on newspaper and turn them often to dry. Store the dry seeds in glass jars or envelopes in a cool, dry, dark place. 7. Leave seed heads on asters, sunflowers, and cosmos for birds. 8. Thin any greens like kale, chard, and spinach and eat
the thinnings. 9. Cover broccoli and cauliflower on frosty nights. In addition, some other smart tips for winding down the 2022 growing season include: drain hoses and empty bird baths before a hard frost; bury potted perennials in an empty part of the vegetable garden or surround with a thick layer of straw to get them through the winter; and, cut and dry or freeze remaining herbs. These insights are provided by multi-generational farmer Malcolm Banks. “Collect soil samples for testing to prepare for next year’s fertilization of the lawn, the vegetable garden, the shrub border, and flower beds,” he says. “Submit separate samples for distinct areas used to grow different types of plants and where growing conditions are different for the same plants. A shady lawn area on a slope should be a different sample than a sunny lawn area.” Banks and his family plant and harvest seasonal produce, sells starter plants, raises animals for meats, and much more through Yellow Mountain Garden. More information is available at yellowmountaingarden.com.
by Deena Bouknight
