I am not sure what happened to fall. It seems like in September we went from summer to winter in a matter of just a few days. The current cool and rainy days feel more like November than September, and I can only wonder what the month of October will be like.
I am hoping for a few more balmy, sunny days with some spectacular fall color. Whatever we get, it is important to roll with the punches and remain flexible. Sneak in as many good gardening days as you can, as it won’t be long before we will have to get serious about tucking in our gardens for the winter.
Even though this weather is not very conducive for getting out into the garden, it is, nevertheless, perfect for planting new additions to our landscapes and a great opportunity to evaluate what worked, what flopped and what needs to be adjusted for 2024.
As I look over my relatively new garden, I can see many areas that need to be tweaked and fine-tuned. I will have to reduce (reluctantly) the variety of plant material in order to build a bit more cohesion moving forward. A few drifts of one are going to become drifts of three. Some existing drifts of three have already grown too large and will need to be divided to keep them in scale with their surrounding neighbors.
It is important to remember that all of this shuffling of plants (specifically perennials) is a never-ending chore. Just think of it as applying a few new layers of paint to the canvas we call our gardens. Unlike paintings on canvas, however, a garden is never really finished and can always be improved or even radically changed depending on our mood. That’s the fun part, in my book.
Normally I would be advising everyone to get some water on our parched landscapes, and we are in fact still 6 inches below normal for the season, so despite the current precipitation, I would still recommend doing some digging around to check the soil moisture below 2 inches — you might be surprised. And don’t forget that any areas under the eaves of our homes (or under large evergreens) are in a rain shadow and will need added water to survive. This is especially true of container plantings.
As for lawns, one saving grace of these early rains is that our lawns are waking up from their summer dormancy, so this is a good time to feed them with a long-lasting organic fertilizer. If you are planting a new lawn or over-seeding an existing one, that window is closing fast, so try to get it done in the next week or two.
When it comes to perennials, there are still some late bloomers that look great: Asters, mums, Japanese anemones, coneflowers, Russian sage, sedum, toad lilies and ornamental grasses are in their glory right now, too, to name just a few. Enjoy the last blooms of the season and don’t rush to tidy things up. There are lots of seeds in those old flower heads that the birds will enjoy, so wait until the first frost to really start cleaning up the perennial beds. In fact, you can even wait until mid to late February to do it.
As for tucking in tender plants, I just finished cutting back my tubers and Bolivian begonias and moving the tubers into the garage where they will lie dormant until March.
As I see signs of new growth, I will start giving them a little moisture. I also cut back my dahlias last week, not so much because it is time but because they looked like hell and I was tired of deadheading them. They will get dug up and brought into the garage after the first hard frost, too.
Unless you have built some cloches over your raised beds, it is probably too late to plant veggies (except for garlic). Cover the soil with an inch of mulch and you won’t have any weeds to deal with come spring.
It is time to change out our containers by removing those summer annuals and replacing them with winter hardy perennials. Do it this month and they will look fabulous all winter long. Come springtime, you can transfer those plants into your landscape.
Finally, remember that despite it feeling like we are practically into winter, October is still a great gardening month to plant bulbs and other plants, get a jump on weeds, resurrect the lawn and generally review this past season. In other words, it is time to prepare for putting the garden to bed (that’s the tucking part), and admitting our wins and losses (that’s the rolling part). Next year will be here before we know it!
Free class
The next free gardening class at Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville is “Fall Color & Winter Bloomers” at 10 a.m. Oct. 7. For more information, go to www.sunnysidenursery.net/classes.
Steve Smith represents Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at sunnysidenursery@msn.com.
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