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Get Ready for Fall Garden and Landscape Chores

Time to start thinking about things to do this fall.

With our nonsummer weather persisting, it might be a good idea to begin thinking a little early this year about the chores to do when fall officially arrives.

“The intent is to avoid getting caught unprepared and to make plans ahead of nature’s sometimes unpredictable timetable,” says Ron Smith, North Dakota State University Extension Service horticulturist.

Smith has some advice for homeowners to get ready for the fall season.

  • Houseplants: Being tropical in origin, they are very intolerant of low (not even freezing) night temperatures.

“Keep an eye on what the forecasters predict and take action anytime the temperature threatens to dip into or below the mid-40s overnight,” Smith says. “It might just be a sheet or frost blanket thrown over the plants for the night if the daytime temperatures promise to climb back into the 70s. If frost is threatened, bring them indoors, no exceptions.”

  • Hardy and tender bulbs: If you envied the blooming tulips and daffodils this past spring, now is the time to keep up with your neighbors. Visit local garden center stores and look over the selection to plant in September. By shopping early, you have a better selection to choose from than if you go later.

“Be cautious about ordering bulbs through the mail unless you have had success with a particular supplier in the past,” Smith says. “The selection process is up to the packer, which isn’t the best in most cases. When the bulbs are shipped also has been a problem. Bulbs have been known to arrive on the day of our first snowfall.”

With tender bulbs, such as gladiolus, tuberous begonias and dahlias, a light frost can be allowed to blacken the foliage and knock the plants into dormancy. Once into dormancy, harvest the bulbs and remove the nipped foliage. After a couple of weeks of air-drying the bulbs at room temperature, store them in a cool, dark place in paper bags with vermiculite or peat moss. Dust them with a fungicide and insecticide to head off anything becoming established.

  • Lawns: They are the most receptive to any kind of positive care at this time of year. If broadleaf weeds are a problem, spraying now is much better than in the spring.

“That’s because the plants are in an assimilative growth cycle with the fall coming on,” Smith says. “The photosynthates the grass produces are being translocated into the crowns, roots and rhizomes. Properly applying the right herbicide will result in a much better elimination of the weeds than it would in the spring. Fall fertilization also will greatly benefit the lawn, both now and for the following growing season. Continue mowing through the fall using the mower as a leaf mulcher or vacuum to keep the leaves from smothering the grass. Make the last mowing of the season a good inch shorter than it was during the summer. Go from 3 inches down to 2 inches. This will help control the formation of any snow mold pathogen. Finally, get ahead of the curve next spring by getting your mower serviced.”

For more information on getting ready for fall garden and landscape chores, contact your local NDSU Extension Service office and request the publication “Fall Care and Clean-up of the Garden and Landscape.” The publication number is H-1033. The publication also can be downloaded at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/landscap/h1033w.htm.


NDSU Agriculture Communication

Source:Ron Smith, (701) 231-8161, ronald.smith@ndsu.edu
Editor:Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.edu
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