Fall Chores in the Garden Can Be the Most Gratifying

By Bill Primavera

As a realtor, I show homes that have various types of yards and gardens. Especially when a client is from the city, I am always sure to point out the care and maintenance that is required outside.

I remember well when I first moved from the city to my country home, I was a bit overwhelmed by the attention and sweat my property required. After just one growing season, however, I was hooked as an ardent gardener and accepted the considerable toil with pleasure.

I have found that, for me, autumn in the garden and yard can be most gratifying as deciduous trees and perennials start to yawn, preparing for a long winter’s sleep, accompanied by that sweet smell that comes from plants releasing their chemistry and the crisp, clean sound of decaying leaves falling to the ground. It forecasts shorter days. The only outdoor chore that remains is clearing walkways of snow and ice.

While spring is probably everybody’s favorite time in the garden, the fall signifies the finiteness of garden chores. When a weed is pulled, it stays pulled and doesn’t replace itself with double the aggression. When perennials are deadheaded, the gardener can take a furlough from assuring that they are properly fed and watered, but will welcome them back in spring after they both have rested.

The proportions of any garden change as the perennial and annual growth are whacked back, which makes the vistas more open from one bed to the other. Also, it eliminates many of the planning mistakes from one season to the next, as errant plans are abandoned and bulbs and perennial roots are moved to other locations.

More creative joy comes from choosing which mums to feature as the color transitions from fall to winter. While you will see drifts of mum plants on some properties that have every color in the fall palate, I always liked to stick to one color, two at the most.

For the longest display of mum flowers, it’s best to buy those where most of the plant is still buds. When the mums fade, just leave them where they are; they maintain a nice mound throughout the winter and you can cut them back in early spring. If you’re lucky, they may return, but sometimes they don’t, depending on winter conditions.

I now live at Trump Park where there is a fantastic landscaping program three seasons of the year. But I look back on my long-term gardening chores with great pleasure and nostalgia. My most gratifying fall jobs was always building up the mulch beds to make them look well-tended and keeping the perennial roots from heaving.

I always asked my tree service provider to send me a truck load of wood chips if they are very clean (no leaves) and processed into smaller chips. Truly, it’s as good as expensive mulch. In fact, I liked it better because it offered more texture and looked more natural to me.

Here are other garden tips at this time of year:

1. Harvest any vegetables left on plants. It’s important to pull out all of the crops because debris left over the winter can cause diseases to enter the soil and re-appear the next spring.
2. This is the time when you can add horse manure or compost to the soil because that allows plenty of time for it to break down.
3. For those who like to bring houseplants inside, they should all be gathered into a shady area for a few days to get them used to low light conditions. Make certain that they are clean and free from little critters.
4. Perennials that are overcrowded or growing in a large ring with the center portion missing means that it’s time to subdivide. You’ll become popular with your neighbors if you share the excess. Cut back the remaining perennials to three to six inches in height.
5. Prepare for brilliant displays of daffodils, tulips and crocuses in spring by planting bulbs now. Do not plant them in tidy rows but rather “broadcast” them in drifts on the surface and plant them where they land for a more natural look.
6. For those who have the patience to endure the rigors of rose maintenance, it is time to prune dead branches and cut off any old flowers. Rose bushes should be mounded using topsoil or mulch and the canes should be cut back to six to 12 inches. For better protection, the bush can be covered with a bushel basket.
7. Also, this is the best time to transplant shrubs or young trees to new locations.

I don’t advise readers about preparing lawns in the fall for next spring because I must confess that for years I didn’t aerate and thatch the soil and I didn’t fertilize. Because my former property was first cultivated in the early 18^th century, I felt that I got a free pass to a very naturalized lawn accepting crabgrass and dandelions with grace.

But then, I engaged a wonderful lawn care service that took care of all those great chores that I said I was too busy to do. I do hope that it wasn’t because I was too lazy.

Bill Primavera enjoys a dual career as a publicist and a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate in Yorktown. He engages in residential and commercial real estate. To employ the services of The Home Guru to market and promote your home for sale, call Bill directly at 914-522-2076.

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