Use cool autumn days to improve your spring garden
Fall is the perfect time for planting. Cooler temperatures reduce stress on newly transplanted plants and gardeners. Increased rainfall helps to keep roots moist as they reach into their new homes without gardeners having to drag hoses across the yard. And my favorite benefit of fall planting: plants have a head start over their spring-planted counterparts.
Here are several ways to keep your shovel busy in fall.
• Plant spring-flowering bulbs.
October is the perfect time to plant tulips, daffodils, alliums and all the smaller bulbs, like crocus, grape hyacinths and scilla, to awaken your garden with color next spring. Most spring-flowering bulbs can be planted through November as long as the ground has not frozen and the soil can be worked.
Generally, bulbs should be planted about three times as deep as the height of the bulb, but follow the directions on the package. Each type of bulb has specific preferences regarding spacing between bulbs and the depth at which it should be planted. After the ground freezes, apply a thick layer of mulch over November-planted bulbs to keep them from frost heaving.
• Evaluate perennial borders.
Are any plants bullying others and taking up too much space? Is there a good mix of color and texture from spring through fall? If a few perennials are waning, determine if they need a new location, whether it be a move to a new spot in the garden or to the compost bin.
Most garden centers offer their spring- and summer-flowering perennials at reduced prices in fall, another benefit for planting now. If your garden is lacking fall blooms, you will find fresh crops of favorites, like asters, goldenrod and sedum.
Better garden centers offer lesser-known, but just as beautiful, plants like Boltonia with white or pink daisylike flowers; turtlehead with blooms resembling snapdragons on steroids in white or pink; and toad lilies with small, orchid-like, spotted flowers in shades of purple, maroon and white held on arching stems.
• Follow proper practices when planting.
Dig a generous hole wider but not deeper than the plant in its pot. Incorporate compost with the excavated soil. Loosen the roots (especially important for plants that have been sitting at the garden center all season) to encourage root growth outward into the surrounding soil.
Plant perennials at the same level, or slightly higher, as they were in the pot. Use a starter fertilizer to get roots off to a good start. Make sure the soil stays slightly moist for the next couple of weeks, and after the ground has frozen, apply a generous layer of mulch.
Fall is also a great time to divide most perennials that bloomed in spring or early summer. Dig up the plant and separate the root ball into substantial pieces. Replant the sections following the same methods used when planting container-grown perennials.
Most trees and shrubs are prime candidates for fall planting. Dig a wide planting hole at least two to three times as large as the diameter of the container, but no deeper. Experts disagree on whether to amend the soil with organic matter. I add compost whenever I plant anything. Either way, mulch the root zone after planting; and keep the plant well watered until the ground freezes.
Many trees and shrubs can be successfully transplanted in the fall, too. The best candidates for a fall move include serviceberry, barberry, Clethra, dogwood, cotoneaster, hydrangea, holly, Kerria, boxwood, Spirea, Viburnum and Weigela.
Dig as much of the root ball as possible and keep it intact while moving it to its new home. Plant it according to the same procedures when planting a container-grown plant.
Instead of hanging up the shovel in the garden shed, plant something!
• Diana Stoll is a horticulturist, garden writer and speaker. She blogs at gardenwithdiana.com.