The garden is a bit discouraging as we hurtle towards Labor Day. We’ve worked hard, but heat, smoke and no water for months have taken their toll. The garden feels drab and tired.
Tip #1 Photograph your garden NOWto identify blank spots and to see what IS BLOOMING. After the rain comes, dig and divide these blooming clumps (in my garden: asters, alstroemerias, obedient plant and surprises like some heathers) to fill those spots. Note what else does well this time of year – hardy fuschias, gaura, geraniums – and add more when you can.
Tip #2 Spring bulbs (daffodils, crocus, tulips, fritillaries, hyacinths and native bulbs such as camas) will come on the market now. Treat them like eggs – don’t leave in a hot car for long. Store in a cool place. At planting time (mid-Sept- early Nov) the ground may still be very dry. Expose a planting area of at least a square foot and soak the ground at the depth you’ll be planting. The bulbs need to put down roots before winter and they can’t start in dry ground.
Tip #3 Cheap chrysanthemums (left) will be coming into stores now. Pot up in larger pots to grow on for a long fall display and then plant out in the garden after they’ve finished, but before the freeze. They’ll establish in your garden as perennials and bloom around now for many years.
Tip #5 Don’t be too tidy with fall clean-up. Seed heads left on, and detritus on the ground provide food and winter protection for birds and other wildlife. Leave decaying leaves in place under trees and bushes –natural mulch. Slugs lay most eggs in the fall, so keep an eye out for eggs.
Tip #6 Fall is a good time to renew your lawn, starting with aerating it. Be careful to do this after the lawn has had some rain so that it has good weather to recover in.
Finally– Note to self: Labor Day should remind us to take time to RESTfrom our labors and actually enjoy the garden! Have a BBQat the table you built, listening to that fountain you finally installed, eating the tomatoes and plums your garden produced.
Happy Labor Day from the EGC!!!
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