Timely Tips from Over the Garden Fence
You can catch George Wedel on Over the Garden Fence, 9:05 am Saturdays on AM 590 WKZO.
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OVER THE GARDEN FENCE SEPTEMBER 21, 2002 With the changing seasons, there comes a flood of gardening and landscape opportunities. So we don’t overlook any important tasks, let’s step through the garden gate and begin a “to-do” list. Be sure to make time this autumn to set out that much-needed shade tree in your landscape, a replacement evergreen, or flowering shrub. Remember, the season is in favor of plants. Woody landscape plants set out now will perform better next year than those planted in the spring. Make this your “fall for planting”. There’s still plenty of time to plant grass seed, time to kill weeds, and time to apply fall fertilizer to encourage lawns to thicken up. With the weather changes at this time of year bringing shorter days and cooler nights, the turf plant tends to grow less rapid, vertically, than occurs in the spring. More lateral growth results in improvement in turf density after the rigors of summer, so fertilization in the fall deserves top priority. More of the carbohydrates manufactured by photosynthesis at this time of year will be stored, building energy for early spring green-up. I recommend an application of Scotts Super Winterizer Lawn Fertilizer at this time. If summer stressed lawns haven’t been overseeded, do it now. Even though it’s fall, irrigate whenever turf is dry. Moisture-starved lawns won’t flourish and thicken up as needed. Apply Diazinon granules to turf now to kill Japanese and June beetle grubs. Lower mower settings one notch now and one lower setting each time you mow, till height has been reduced to one and a quarter inches, which is the ideal height to overwinter turf. Now that the vegetable garden harvest is nearly complete, we should begin to think about improving the soil for next year’s crops. After harvesting, I suggest spreading composted manure on the garden, some green sand and some rock phosphate. Then rototill in no deeper than four inches. To further enhance the soil, plant a green manure crop of winter rye. Winter rye is an excellent source of organic matter, which will enhance soil structure. Sow winter rye after vegetable crops are harvested and rake or cultivate the seed in. The resulting green crop will also protect the garden soil over winter. Rototill the rye into soil in early spring to enrich garden soil. All perennial flowers that no longer add any beauty to the garden should be cut back to the ground now. Before cutting back, be sure all plants are labeled. Strong aluminum identification signs inserted into the ground in front of each plant will be most valuable so you’ll know where to accurately place fertilizer this fall and next spring, as well as preventing mistakenly trying to plant another plant or bulb in the same area. There is still time to safely transplant perennials. Many perennials will perform better if divided every three to four years. Always remember to condition soil before returning plants to the garden. Mix into the planting zone some composted cow manure, sphagnum peat moss, Plant Tone, and bone meal. Many evergreen plants are dropping yellow and brown needles at this time of year. In most cases – don’t worry! Every autumn, evergreens shed their older, or inner, needles. This is quite a natural event. I use the sight of falling needles as a signal to fertilize evergreens. All valuable evergreens should be fertilized with Tree Tone in the autumn and have soil well irrigated thoroughly before the ground freezes. George Wedel |
Timely Tips
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09/21/02 |