- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- home style today articles
- home style today q&a
- traveling today articles
- traveling today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Cool-Weather Clean-up
Working Your Garden in the Fall By Teri Brown
Though much is written on working your garden in the springtime, the work you do in autumn is almost as important for your plants. For those who plant vegetable gardens, it is a time of harvest – you finally get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. For those of us who have flower and perennial beds, autumn means enjoying the late bloomers and remembering the beauty of spring and summer.
Fall is not the time to rest on our laurels, though. Our gardens need to be prepared for winter if we are to protect our plants from the cold.
Though some of the fall chores you do will be inherent to your zone and climate, there are some chores that are simply universal. "This is the time to look at the plants that you want to collect seed for and tag them so you don't cut them down for the compost pile," says Dawson.
Dawson also suggests that this is a good time to spread your spring and summer compost on the garden so your bins will be empty to put the fall leaves and cuttings into. This is also a perfect time to move perennials; you can use some of that summertime compost to apply a nice layer of mulch around them.
Beautiful Bulbs
If you enjoy early spring bulbs, now is the time to start planting. "The most important rule when planting bulbs is to choose an area that is well-drained," says Dawson. "Most bulbs will rot or deteriorate quickly where soil is constantly damp. Most bulbs thrive in full sun or at least five to six sunny hours daily."
Dawson says that you can either dig a hole for each individual bulb, or you can dig a big hole and plant a grouping of bulbs. "I dig nice big holes, sprinkle bulb dust and bone meal in the bottom, then pour my bulbs out of the package and plant where they have fallen," she says. "I then fill up the hole with either smaller bulbs or just fill the hole up, press it down with my hands and give it a good watering in and then leave them until next spring. To mark where I have put them, I find running a ring around each planting site with bone meal helps me locate where I have planted them.
"You can also layer them – dig your deep hole for your tulips, plant and cover them, then put some smaller bulbs on top of those like crocus and then cover those up," says Dawson. "The thing you have to remember about natural planting is that this is usually in grass, and the leaves of the bulbs must remain for the bulb to get its nutrients and energy from those leaves for next year."
