If you plan to visit your friends’ gardens in the spring, you must make a date with your garden this fall.
Every chore that can be done in the fall relieves you in the springtime when garden work is at its peak.
Transplantings from September
Every fall, I add a ton of sand and would add much more if the garden budget permitted. Our soil is heavy and needs to be loosened by adding sand and humus.
If you are lucky enough to have sandy soil but haven’t been satisfied with the results, perhaps you need to add more commercial fertilizer. Sandy soil tends to lose nutrients because they drain to the bottom of the soil.
Adding sand to the soil at transplanting time keeps the roots from packing. I find that the roots in sandy soil are much bigger than the same plant roots several yards away that have been planted without adding sand.
Commercial Fertilizer in Fall
Every fall, I add a ton of sand and would add much more if the garden budget permitted. Our soil is heavy and needs to be loosened by adding sand and humus.
If you are lucky enough to have sandy soil but haven’t been satisfied with the results, perhaps you need to add more commercial fertilizer. Sandy soil tends to lose nutrients because they drain to the bottom of the soil.
Adding sand to the soil at transplanting time keeps the roots from packing. I find that the roots in sandy soil are much bigger than the same plant roots several yards away that have been planted without the addition of sand.
Garden Mulch
Late in the fall, I remove most of the garden mulch. Peat moss, cotton seed hulls, or sawdust is dusted with Bordeaux mixture and then placed in gunny sacks and stored in the garage or any dry place.
There is enough mulch left on the soil to dig into the ground for soil conditioning. When the ground is frozen, straw can be added to the flower beds as winter mulch.
It can be left on the beds as summer mulch, but straw gives the garden an untidy appearance.
Springtime Gardening
All of the work I do in the fall makes springtime much more enjoyable. No matter how much one loves gardening, many tasks are just plain work.
It took me several years to find a way to budget my time so that I could leave the garden in the springtime.
I transplant in the fall, weed through the mild part of the winter, and when spring arrives, I’m off to see the lovely gardens of others for ideas that I can use to beautify our garden in the coming fall.
44659 by Virginia Pennington