While cleaning up your garden this month keep an eye out for interesting branches, seed heads and rose hips for fall arrangements.
- Clean up old annuals Replace with winter-bloomers like violas and iceland poppies.
- Rake up leaves on ground and remove leaves from the top and inside of plants.
- Weed Oxalis and annual blue grass is showing up...keep pulling them up regularly before they bloom! Avoid stepping on soil...soil compacts easily when soil is very wet.
- Get soil prepared if planting bare-root plants like roses, fruit trees and berries. Better to prepare soil before it gets too wet...bare-root plants go in the ground in a few months when soil might be too wet to work. Also, many companies are starting to sell bare-root plants for winter delivery.
- Still time to plant spring-blooming bulbs...crocus, daffodil, freesia, narcissus and others
- Sow seeds of spring-blooming annuals such as Clarkia (farewell-to-spring), Nigella (love-in-a-mist) and sweet peas,
- Plant or transplant shrubs, groundcovers and frost-tolerant perennials.
- Still time left to divide perennials like Agapanthus, daylilies and shasta daisies Pull up plant with shovel or pitchfork, ease roots or bulbs apart.
- Dig up and divide dahlia tubers if needed
- Remove spent blossoms on all flowering plants...especially rain-soaked roses!
- Plant bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, garlic, kale, lettuce and spinach from nursery starts.
- If not planting a winter garden clean up summer garden, cover with cardboard and add mulch or compost on top. In the spring you will be ready to plant with minimal weeding
Read more of Angele's gardening and landscaping tips in the Patch Archives.
