My mom and I enjoyed watching my daughter participate in cross country meets throughout her middle school and high school years. After the start of the race was announced we would yell ‘Go Sarah’ repeatedly until she was out of site. We would then anxiously pace around, silently willing her on as she battled heat, other runners, uneven running surfaces and hills. After about 20 minutes, we would see her approaching the finish line. Often I would often run alongside her screaming ‘Finish strong, Sarah, finish strong!’ It was often that last burst of energy that carried her past 3-5 other runners and allowed her to know, as she crossed the finish line, that she had left absolutely every bit of her energy on the course that day.
Gardening in northern Illinois is a bit like a cross country race. We are excited in the spring as we begin gardening much like runners who have just been released to begin their race. We plan and plant enthusiastically while enjoying the newly emerged sunshine and the smell of freshness in the air. Our enthusiasm and participation often wanes in the summer as the August temperatures rise. October, though, brings the site of the finish line. Soon the ground will freeze and we will spend months indoors. ‘Finish Strong, Gardeners, Finish Strong!’ October and November afford us ample time to plan, plant, rake, weed, prune, mulch and a variety of other necessary gardening tasks. Once we have past the finish-line, we can enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving dinner knowing that we have done all that we could to make the outside of our home look as beautiful as the inside.
Fall offers a wonderful mix of cool temperatures and rain that affords us and our plants ample time to enjoy gardening for a few more months. Here are a few gardening tasks that can and should be done this time of the year.
- Planting: If you are considering adding color, fragrance or shade to your yard fall is a great time. Perennial flowers, shrubs and trees can all be planted now. Personally, I do all of my own planting in our yard in the fall. Spring blooming bulbs, planted now, will add color to your planting areas.
- Pruning: Consider evaluating the shrubs and trees in your yard. If they have out grown the space they can be prune now. Also look for any trees that may be growing close to or even over your roofline. Winter winds can result in twigs and branches all over our yards. Pruning now, will help minimize the debris. Plants that bloom after about June 15thcan be pruned in the fall. Spring blooming plants can be pruned in the fall also, but this will most likely greatly reduce the amount of flowers next spring.
- Cut down perennial flowers: The old flowers, seed heads and foliage on perennial flowers can be cut back. After the first hard frost, if the foliage on the plants looks poor, then the debris can be raked or cut back. If the foliage still looks good, you may want to leave it alone and evaluate it again in the spring.
- Water: Continue to water your trees and shrubs, as necessary, until the ground freezes. It is important that plants go into the winter with an adequate amount of water. Evergreen shrubs and trees are particularly susceptible to winter burn. This is as a result of not having enough water to last them throughout the winter. Be careful not overwater your plants but certainly provide them with supplemental water if the area around their roots is dry this fall.
- Evaluate your garden: Thinking of a project for next year? Take notes and pictures now. What worked? What didn’t? What do you want to change?
- Remove weeds: Continue to eradicate the weeds. Try to catch them before they go to seed to reduce their spread.
- Mulching: Most mulching is done in the spring, purely for aesthetic reasons. It looks nice. Mulch though also functions to insulate plants, helps to suppress weeds and assists in water retention. Mulch spread now will be your silent partner all winter long helping to keep your plants healthy throughout the winter.
- Lawn Renovation: Seed and sod do very well when spread in October.
- Provide winter protection for shrubs and trees: If you have young shade trees that have a diameter of less than 4” you may want to wrap them with tree wrap. The tree wrap will insulate the trunk and help to prevent frost cracking. Evergreen trees and shrubs can also be protected by the application of an anti-desiccant spray. This spray adds a waxy layer to the needles and slows the process of transpiration, which can often lead to winter burn on evergreens.
- Rake up the leaves: Fungal diseases were prevalent this summer due to a very wet spring. While most fungal diseases are not incredibly detrimental to the health of shrubs and trees, if possible, you may want to rake up the leaves of any plants that had black or brown spots on the leaves. Most fungal pathogens overwinter in leaf litter.
Kathleen Carr is the owner of The Growing Scene, Inc., a garden center and landscaping company. She can be reached by calling 815-923-7322 or emailing her at Kathleen@thegrowingscene.com. Have a gardening question? Please contact her. She may address it in an upcoming column.
