Tips for fall gardening chores
Fall is here. Here’s just a few reminders of chores we don’t want to miss for our fall gardening. Sometimes there seems to be too much to do. Creating a list helps keep things on paper rather than in your head.
One of the most critical things right now is to keep watching the weather and make sure your sprinkler system is blown out before a hard freeze. This is also a good time to check out which heads need replacing.
You still have time to do a fall fertilization of your lawn. It is better to do this in the fall than in the spring. In the fall, the nitrogen feeds the root system. You will have a healthier root system and a deeper root system than by feeding in the fall. The lawn will green up sooner.
Do you need to clean up every leaf in the grass? No, you can just mow over them and break them down. They are good for the soil. If you let them pile up and mat together, this will smother the grass.
Fall is also a good time to aerate your lawn. Make sure that the plugs go to 2-3 inches deep and that you go over the lawn several times. One pass in one direction is not going to benefit the lawn like you need it to do. Mark your irrigation heads before you start to aerate. Don’t aerate when the soil is wet, but moist. Aeration allows the nutrients and water to penetrate the soil and the roots to go deeper. It also reduces soil compaction. Overall, you will save water when you irrigate by doing this.
If you have perennial beds, then these things should be on the chore list. Cut back iris after a freeze. Spray a preemergent in the beds to help with winter weeds and then put it on the spring list to do again for summer weeds. Water your perennial beds well before the ground freezes. It is acceptable to leave some debris and leaves in the perennials. This helps with pollinator habitats. If the leaves are diseased or the plant was diseased, then I would recommend removing that debris, possibly stems and leaves.
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