LAWNS, BULBS AND FALL PLANTING 

Most of us are doing some serious winding-down when it comes to gardening this time of year.  In the nursery industry we figure we’ve got until Halloween to try and sell you a few more plants or fertilizers or tools before you launch full bore into the holidays and all that that entails.  It’s not so much that there is nothing to do.  It’s mostly that we want to do nothing.   But I’ll be darned if I am going to let you get away with that kind of attitude.   So here are a few suggestions as to how you might spend your time in the garden.

LAWNS:  The season to replant an old lawn or install a new one is pretty much over by the end of this month.  If we get really lucky and the nights stay in the 40-50’s and the sun shines a few days out of the week then we can still get away with sowing some seeds.  I could give you all sorts of tips on how to renovate an old tired lawn or the best way to plant a new one but the fact is that to be successful you really should have done it last month.  If you rip the hell out of your lawn now it will probably continue to look terrible all winter and by spring will be filled with weeds.  So after you have kicked yourselves in the rear for procrastinating (like my friend Ron Evensen) go out and buy a good slow release organic fertilizer and some lime and apply it generously.  Keep the leaves raked up and in April you can make it look like new. 

BULBS:  Again, the season is winding down for planting bulbs.  We still have a decent selection at the nursery but it is getting harder and harder to find the colors and flavors you might want for your garden.  The big box stores have to get rid of them now to make room for all the holiday décor like those dumb lighted polar bears or inflated snowmen so you might find some good deals. 

I tend to think of tulips as annuals that I can plant now, enjoy in the spring and then dig up and throw away.  Oh, did I just hear a disturbance in the force?  Yes, it is true.  I treat tulips as annuals and you should too.  They rarely bloom the second season and just get in the way when planting my summer annuals.  If you just can’t reconcile this attitude then plant Darwin Hybrids.  They are a little more reliable when it comes to re-blooming the next season.  You can also plant the smaller species tulips which I find charming but hardly a substitute for the big guys.   Species tulips will naturalize very nicely but are best planted in rockeries or under trees or even in lawns where they won’t be disturbed every year. Daffodils are another story.

Daffodils will usually come back for years and years until you finally have to dig them up and divide them.  I’ve got some clumps in total shade on the north side of my house that return every season just like clock work.  While it is best to plant them in sun, this just goes to show how adaptable they are.  And for some of us that have to fight Bambi, unlike tulips, dear won’t eat daffodils. 

While most of us think of daffodils, tulips, crocus and hyacinths as the only spring blooming bulbs, there is a whole host of “minor” bulbs that in many ways I much prefer.  These never get much press and they don’t have the panache of the big boys but they are usually the harbingers of spring, blooming 6-8 weeks before the daffodils and they are completely reliable for returning the next season.  Don’t overlook Anemones, Chionodoxa, Puschkinia, Scilla, Leucojum, Galanthus and Erianthis to name just a few.

FALL PLANTING:  Now here is a topic for which you still have time to take advantage of.  One of the treats of living in the Northwest is that except for when the soils are either saturated or frozen, you can plant almost year around.  Shrubs, trees and perennials can all be planted now and by spring will be established and ready to go.  It is vital to amend your soils with lots of compost and organic fertilizers this time of year so the new plantings have plenty of food for those new roots and the soils are loose and well drained so your new plants don’t drown over the winter.  There is no need to wait until spring to do your landscape project.  Take advantage of clearance prices now and new stock.  The longer you wait the more expensive it will be.

So there you have it: three good reasons to get off your rear and out into the garden.  Don’t let inertia keep you from enjoying this time of year.  Plant some bulbs, fertilize the lawn and finish your landscape project.  Then you can relax and enjoy the holidays.