Cleaning up my garden in fall is one of my favorite tasks. I use the time to plot out spring plantings, tuck in a few spring flowering bulbs into bare spots that need some extra color early in the year, and tuck my precious plants into bed for the winter.
Fall is a great time to move trees and shrubs that are crowded or not doing so well in their present location. I am always moving things since I am a big believer in "right plant, right place" and I wont molly coddle a poorly performing plant too much - I'll move it, once or twice, then compost it if it still doesn't come right!
This month, so far, I've moved a Redbud tree, which was crowding my vegetable garden. I dug up an entire garden to make way for a new barn - so a bay laurel hedge was moved (over 6 feet tall) - during which I discovered that when these bay laurels were originally planted (not by me) the poor babies had the burlap and red twine left on their root balls. One had been looking sickly this year and I could not find any virus or bug that would cause the symptoms - but once dug up it became painfully obvious - this poor shrub was being ringbarked by red twine. I hosed off all the roots and pulled off everything I could find then replanted them, so I hope they do better now! Also in that bed were boxwoods, which went into pots to go back beside the new barn, day lilies, which I moved to a sunnier location, two dogwood trees, which I moved to different locations, one in the middle of my yard, and on along my boundary since my neighbor also likes dogwoods and this way she gets to look at it too. I keep in touch with my neighbor and coordinate my plantings on our mutual boundary with hers, so its flowing together nicely now with burning bush, lavenders, and red maples on both sides.
So its been a busy fall so far, and I havent even started digging up the dahlias - my first year growing them with a cheap bag from Costco that did amazingly well and are still flowering like crazy. And planting the daffodils - I dug over every inch of dirt in the bed I had to move so as not to abandon any poor daffy bulbs!
So thats my news, here's tips from the Oregon State University Master Gardeners for the month of November:
Clean up and cut back garden before winter weather arrives
By: Carol Savonen
Source: Ross Penhallegon
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Before cold weather sets in, clean up in your yard and garden – it will help protect
your landscape from the ravages of winter.
There are several tasks best done in October and November, according to Ross Penhallegon,
horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.
Mulch your empty garden beds for the winter if they don't have a cover crop on them yet. Mulch will
protect from erosion. Even flat beds experience soil erosion and compaction from rainwater. Mulching
will add organic matter to the soil. And it will encourage earthworm activity and keep weed germination
down.
Control the weeds that have recently germinated from early fall rains. It is a much easier job now than in
the spring. A hoe or hand pulling will do it. This is not a good time of year to use herbicides. The damp
soil makes it easy to hoe or pull weeds, big or little.
Apply slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to lawns, if needed. Use just enough to keep the lawn green, but
not enough to cause need for additional mowing. Don't use quick-release fertilizer, as it will just leach
away. Don't apply fertilizer to trees, flowers or shrubs this time of year, as it may reduce their cold
tolerance.
Cut back late flowering perennials like asters and chrysanthemums to a few inches. Peonies can be cut
back all the way to the ground. Mulch the crowns with compost to protect them from hard freezes.
Prune late summer and fall flowering shrubs like butterfly bush (Buddleia) abelia, clethra and hydrangea
several weeks before icy winter weather or hold off until mid-February to do your pruning. Trim back
roses to knee height so winter winds won't cause damage.
Keep your perennial gardens free of wind-blown plant refuse. Continue to rake your lawn, as more
leaves fly. Add the leaves to your compost pile to turn them into humus.
Pull up spent summer annuals like snapdragons, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and nasturtiums that have
died back.
Dig and store summer flowering bulbs and tubers (if you live east of the Cascades), including dahlias,
calla lilies, canna lilies, gladiolus and tuberoses. Store them in a dark, dry and cool (above freezing)
place, safe from rodents.
