Fall Garden Ideas

A Checklist For Fall Gardening

By Steve Boulden

As Rudyard Kipling once said, "Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade". A lot of gardeners see the season of fall as a time to start putting their gardens to rest. However, autumn is the perfect time for assessing, designing and improving your gardens.

Consider your landscaping. It is a great time to perform grounds and tool maintenance. Do a soil test, sharpen your garden tools, clean you lawnmower for storage, improve the soil and mulch the garden bed for next season. Those little efforts now will help you garden thrive come springtime. planting ideas

What other autumn gardening tips are there? Well, there are many ...... gardening

1. Stop fertilizing and water plants less as temperatures start to dwindle.

2. In general, the decision to cut or not to cut back certain plants in the fall seems to be a matter of region and preference. Ask a local gardening expert what he or she recommends for your plants.

3. Dispose of any diseased or infested plant debris to avoid re-entry of the problem during spring. winter

4. Weeding one last time during autumn improves the appearance of your garden throughout the remaining seasons. Each weed that you eliminate now will prevent perhaps hundreds of weeds from sprouting in your garden next spring. winter

5. In many areas, strawberries planted now will yield fruit in October and November. Strawberries produce well for about three years. Other than eating them, your next autumn task should be to replace the old plants with new ones in that 3rd year.

6. Take cuttings, if desired, to winter indoors.

7. Plant trees and shrubs. Water well and often after planting so they can get used to their new environment before colder weather hits. winter ideas and hobbies

8. Burlap wrap any plants that are sensitive to the cold before heavy frosts begin.

9. Prune any diseased or stressed tree and shrub limbs now, while the healthy parts of the plant are more easily differentiated. gardening ideas

10. Determine which plants and shrubs have done well in your garden and which have not. Jot notes down for next season's planning. Take photos of your successes and rough spots. Plan you spring bulb garden now.

11. Divide perennials as needed and transplant newly divided bulbs. Plant on a mild, overcast day to minimize stress to plants and bulbs.

12. Once temps hit 60 degrees, prepare soil beds for your spring-flowering bulbs and plants.

13. Cut back flowers that have stopped blooming and/or stop deadheading seed heads during early fall if you want plants to self-sow. Wildflower and ornamental perennial seeds can be harvested and sowed now or within the next couple of months.

14. Consider leaving ornamental grasses as-they-are. They make for some lovely landscaping during the bleaker, late fall and winter months.

15. Rake and clear fallen leaves, fruit and dried brush.

16. Watch for frost warnings. Protect and/or sensitive plants and vegetables as needed.

17. If you have a compost bin or pile, turn it with a pitchfork or garden fork.

18. Once you have watered your last outdoor plant and cleaned your garden tools for the season, drain and coil your garden hoses. Put tools, hoses and portable sprinkler systems in storage.

19. When nighttime temperatures drop into the 50's, bring summer houseplants back indoors for the cooler months. Examine your plants carefully outside and spray all plants gently with water to dislodge any unwanted pests prior to bringing them indoors.

20 .Pick herbs to freeze and/or dry. Be sure to take any unripe tomatoes and cukes inside before frost. You can wrap them with newspaper and leave in a cool, dark place to ripen or use them in creative cooking pursuits.

21. Reap the harvest of vegetables and herbs still in your garden. Preserve, puree, can or freeze - with a smile.

Now that your "chores" are done and the weather is cooler, walk around your yard. Look at the photos of your landscape. Assess what has worked well and what you might like to see. You might want to plan a gazebo, a koi pond, some additional flower beds, or a water garden for next season. Outdoor lighting, retaining walls, patios, decking and other structures can also be considered on your autumn gardening checklist.

Article written by Steve Boulden. Steve is the owner of The Landscape Design Site which offers landscape design ideas advice. To find out more about landscaping, visit his site at http://www.the-landscape-design-site.com

Gardening Tips

Pot A Little Piece Of Paradise
by Kent Higgins, edited by Dr. Carolyn Pararas-Carayannis

A home filled with potted plants is a home that exudes character, warmth and fertility. Plants can provide an emotional boost, help cleanse the air and are great simply for their decorative qualities. But the choice and maintenance of potted plants can pose some difficulties.

First is the knowledge that particular plants often require very exacting sizes of pots. They also need to be kept in an area of the home where they'll receive just the perfect amount of sunlight for their variety, and soil levels and the moisture levels of that soil need to be constantly monitored. Many plant species may also require additional touches to keep them in perfect shape. If this sounds like a lot of work, it can be. Plants are, after all, living things that have the same little quirks, likes and dislikes you would find in an animal or human. Once you have your routine down, though, you'll find that maintaining your plant in optimal health is not so hard at all.

Variety is the spice of life, so you can't go wrong by populating your abode with a variety of unique and interesting plant life. To cut down on the amount of upkeep that a variety of different plants and their unique characteristics would require, choose a few species that need very little water, and little to no fertilizer. These plants will all but maintain themselves, and diminish the amount of upkeep you'll need to provide for them. Spider plants and cacti are common, popular plants that don't require a lot of special treatment.

As mentioned, pot size and beyond that even pot style and construction material can all play a role in how well your plant takes to them and well they fit together, from an aesthetic standpoint. Let your flair and creativity take root here.

For well-lit open corners of a room, a large standing plant is a great choice. A palm is a great choice, but will need more room away from the corner so it isn't restricted.

Most potted plants will need to be re-potted every year or two, though others like bonsai's can remain in the same pot for many years, if properly cared for. Many plants will require re-potting and/or trimming as they continue to grow and outgrow their pot, or interfere with other household areas through their continued growth.

If you stage out your planting duties by acquiring your plants at different times of the year, as well as having species with different growth rates, you can minimize the amount of upkeep that is required all at once and not get overwhelmed with the workload.

As mentioned, houseplants cleanse the air within your home. To ensure you will always have a nice mix of fully grown and developing plants around take advantage of the variety of species that bloom at different times throughout the year, and for varying lengths of time. By mixing up the variety of plants in your home, you can keep a thriving and attractive residence with a minimal amount of upkeep. It's the best of both worlds!

Find out more as Kent Higgins shares his experiences on houseplants, landscape and lawn at www.plant-care.com For more information about air cleaning plants. Article Source: http://www.articlemap.com