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Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 54F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph..
Clear. Low around 35F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Autumn is here and you know what season is coming next.
To help ease you through the fall season, here are some garden chores to help put your garden to rest, which will make it much easier to get going in the spring.
You can begin by continuing to maintain your landscape by watering flowers, containers, trees, and shrubs throughout October. Water evergreens and shrubs before the ground freezes to help them get through the winter.
Also, continue to weed your garden and rake up debris from your beds, eliminating potential diseases that can be carried by leaves and debris. You can keep the seed heads for echinacea, rudbecki, and daisies to feed the birds and for winter interest.
Leave tall grasses standing in your landscape to enjoy during the winter. You can mulch around tender perennials such as roses, rhododendrons, and azaleas. Prune out dead wood from roses, shrubs, and trees.
September is the ideal month to plant and fertilize your lawn but use October to water and maintain your lawn. Mow the lawn regularly and lower the blade to end up with a lawn that’s 1.5 to 2 inches in length by the end of fall.
Later in the fall, you can mulch the lawn with leaves that you cut/mow for a healthier lawn in the spring. Don’t get into the habit of leaving the leaves on turf, as this can be detrimental for your lawn, due to diseases and pests.
Take inventory of your garden — before and after pictures help. Then you won’t forget planting locations in the spring.
Fall is a great time to plant shrubs, trees, and perennials. Garden centers may have a sale on your favorite items.
You can also dig and divide perennials for yourself and your friends. This can be a big money saver.
Another good fall task — until mid-October — is to move hostas, peonies, daylilies, coreopsis, lady’s mantle, heliopsis, agastache, and rose campion to better locations in your garden for next year.
Fall is also a good time to trade perennials with your friends, or better yet, host a plant exchange. Label your new plantings to make it easier in the spring to identify plants as they emerge.
You can collect seeds in the fall from perennials such as oriental poppies, primrose, phlox, coneflowers and penstemon. Also collect the seeds from annuals such as cleome, larkspurs, calendula, marigolds, zinnias, cornflowers, sunflowers, and cosmos.
This fall activity will save you money. If you have more than you need, donate to a local seed library.
Dig up your tropical plants like canna, caladium, and elephant ears to keep them from dying in the winter. Do the same for non-hardy plants such as dahlias, tuberous begonias, and gladiolas corms.
These can be dried, cleaned, and stored at 60 degrees Fahrenheit for tropical and 45 to 55 degrees for the others. Be very careful when digging them and removing any soil adhering to them so as not to damage them.
October is a good time to take cuttings from plants like coleus, geraniums, and chrysanthemums and root them in the house. They can then be transplanted in pots once they develop roots, another springtime money saver.
If you took your houseplants outside for the summer, bring them inside now if you haven’t already. Check them over for hitchhikers or spray with an insecticidal soap as a precaution.
Fall is a great time to plant bulbs. Hardy spring bulbs can be ordered on-line or picked up at your local garden center.
Once your bulbs arrive plant tulips, daffodils, alliums, fritillarias, and hyacinths for lots of spring color.
Put away garden ornaments and decorations that you don’t want damaged by the winter weather.
Empty pots and containers to prevent them from breaking due to the freeze/thaw cycle. Stack them in your garage or shed.
Clean and sanitize your birdbath or if you have a heater, prepare it now. Your feathered friends will love it.
If you have a water feature, prepare to deal with the fish as well as the plants. Your water feature should be emptied and cleaned.
Do the same with the pump, which can be wrapped in plastic and stored in a safe place.
In late fall, after you have finished watering, empty out hoses to avoid cracks or bursts. Winterize your spigots by turning the water off on the inside of your house and on the outside.
There is nothing worse than damage to your home or favorite hose when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. Winterizing your hoses and spigots will prevent a potential calamity.
There are frost-proof spigots available at your local nursery or box store. If you have a sprinkler system, arrange to have the system shut down by blowing it out with compressed air to remove all water.
Dispense all the gasoline from your mowers, blowers and trimmers or use gas stabilizers.
Lastly, organize your shed or garage.
Cleaning and sharpening your gardens tools now will make you much happier next spring. Clean and disinfect your pruners, hoes, tillers, trowels, forks, spades, and shovels.
Clean them by knocking off dirt, scouring them with steel wool and scrubbing them using soapy water. To disinfect your tools, you can use a 10% bleach solution, a 70% alcohol solution or disinfecting wipes.
After cleaning you should dry your tools to prevent rust. You can protect any wood on the tools by coating them in linseed oil. Store other gardening supplies, fertilizers, and chemicals to keep them out of reach of children. Read the manufacturer’s instructions for storage directions.
Be sure to take good notes about your fall activities in a binder, journal, or computer. These notes will make your spring garden opening much simpler.
While this list is not all inclusive, it will get you started. It is never a bad thing to be more organized. Happy gardening.
Have a gardening question? Master Gardener volunteers are in the office Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to noon. You can stop in at our CCE office at 420 E. Main St. in Batavia, call (585) 343-3040, ext. 127, or e-mail them at geneseemg@hotmail.com.
Visit our CCE website at genesee.cce.cornell.edu or like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/CCEofGenesee.
Our next Garden Talk, “A Harvest of Apples,” will be at noon Oct. 6 at on Zoom or in person at the CCE office. Learn which apples should be used for eating, dehydrating, freezing, baking or which make the best pies.
Learn how to prepare apple butter. Recipes will be shared.
Garden Talk classes are free, but registration is needed for your Zoom link at http://genesee.cce.cornell.edu/events. Call the office to register if you plan to attend in person at (585) 343-3040 ext. 101.