Let me be transparent and state that, without a doubt, fall is my favorite time of the year. As a local native, I like my weather partly cloudy with temperatures in the 65 to 70 degree range and hopefully some rain, but only from 10pm to 6am or so. Is that too much to ask from Mother Nature? Sounds perfect for outdoor projects in the fall - not too hot, not too cold, but just right for us gardeners.
It is a truly magical time in the PNW as fall approaches and all of the vibrant colors of autumn are about to explode, lighting up both our landscapes and native habitats with scarlet, orange, gold and all of the shades in between. Take a few moments to pause, grab a notepad, and get some gardening projects planned. By doing this in September, we can save both some money and get a head start for 2025.
Feed Your Lawn: I wrote about this last week, but here is a gentle reminder to get that organic lawn food down in order to have some sweet turf heading into winter. Right now, as fall get closer, it is the ideal time to thatch, feed and rejuvenate any grass areas in your landscape.
Plan, Purchase and Plant Spring Bulbs: This is always a rewarding task to me, as planting spring bulbs now creates the anticipation of seeing them flower the following spring. One of the most common questions I get asked every spring at the nursery is “Where are the bulbs?” The answer is that they are available now, in the fall, so you should make your selections and get them in the ground sometime soon. Sure, one can find limited starts in the spring (priced higher since someone had to grow them on), but the path to save money and have maximum options is to grab your bags of bulbs in September. Garden centers have a great selection of Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus, Snowdrops, Hyacinths and so much more right now. I like the phrase “dig, drop, done” when it comes to bulbs, because they really are that easy.
Make sure you have good drainage, add some Bone Meal or organic bulb food and off you go! Look out upon your gardens… where would some spring color pop? Bulbs of all kinds can be tucked in here and there, or they can be planted in containers as well. For the landscape, look into options that “naturalize” as these bulbs get better and better year after year, when sited properly. Finally, please don’t plant one here and one there as bulbs should be massed in swathes or along borders for maximum impact.
Got Weeds?: The battle with weeds rage on in all gardens, including mine, and everyone has varying tolerances for them. Weeds are the classic “one gardener’s trash is another’s treasure” kind of discussion. Fall rains will awaken all of the dormant seeds, resulting in a plethora of new “treasures”. Pulling them is twistedly therapeutic to me, even peaceful, and controlling them now will lessen your workload come springtime, without question.
There are some good natural, selective and non-selective herbicides around as options. First, either pull out all of the weeds or spray them very carefully so as not to damage your wanted garden plants. Then consider a fresh application of compost or mulch, which will both suppress more weeds and help protect wanted specimens from winter damage, as a bonus. I am a compost gardener for sure, but bark mulch (in all of its forms) is not the end of the world. The issue with woodier mulch is that as it decomposes it extracts nitrogen out of your soil, depriving plants and causing a yellowish-green foliage color. I tell folks all the time who use bark, great job but do your plants a favor and sprinkle a dose of organic nitrogen (like Lawn Food or Blood Meal) to counteract this process.
Finally, if you have cleared a landscape bed and mulched, consider an organic pre-emergent like Corn Gluten. It is totally safe and, once dissolved on the soil surface, does a pretty good job at keeping most weeds from germinating for one season. I try and do this in fall, and then another application coming out of winter, to keep my landscape beds fairly weed free.
Fall is For Planting, Period: This is an absolute truth: with the warm soils coming out of summer and lots of rain ahead (sorry to remind you), plants of all kinds establish quite nicely in the fall. I wish I had a magical camera to show people all of the root development that happens (even in the dormant season), and thus how far ahead of the game plants can be for the following dry summer season. Grab some compost to amend your site, some quality organic transplant fertilizer, like Sure Start from EB Stone Organics, and your new plantings will be good to go.
Many garden centers bring in some fresh material for the fall planting season, and almost all run huge clearance sales this time of year on top of that. Please don’t tell anyone this, but the vast majority of my own landscape came out of discount areas at local garden centers at some point! There is great value in planting now (even though not everything you seek will be available), allowing you to achieve success and save some cash as a bonus.
Freshen Up Your Container Gardens: Look over all of your container gardens and plan out fresh looks for the fall and winter season. We will work on this next week, but it is time to replace tired summer annuals with winter flower power. For example, Pansies, Hellebores, and Violas add interesting foliage and texture that will make you smile all winter long. Stay tuned for more on this later!
With the autumnal equinox approaching fast, the days are still warm and the nights are getting cooler – perfect gardening weather. With September comes opportunities to enhance aspects of your landscape and get ahead on spring projects, as you can. Take some time to plan and then visit your local garden center to speak with a Professional Horticulturist about these projects and many more that can be accomplished in the fabulous weather that fall brings.
