When the Frost is on the Punkin

We can expect frost on those old punkins come autumn in the Midwest. It’s a sure sign gardeners need to get a few things accomplished before the cold winds of winter arrive.

I don’t advocate stripping yards and gardens of every piece of summer foliage and debris. It may look “magazine perfect” but it’s not environmentally perfect.

A good layer of leaves bunched in and around perennials, bushes and trees is excellent biodegradable mulch. The wind does the work and not your back. This leaf cover will insulate as well as any packaged mulch, decompose faster, and take less effort and money.

The only things I remove in the fall are any diseased plants and foliage and garden waste. Do not compost diseased material. Leaving seed heads, rose hips, and nuts (rake into a pile if you must for mowing) feeds wildlife through midwinter.

Letting hollyhock, rudbeckia, four o’clock, and many others self seed will insure another crop. Some plants such as comfrey, morning glory, bindweed, native thistle and the like are invasive and should be pulled or deadheaded.

Early fall is also the perfect time to plant trees, bushes and many perennials. Do this at least a month before the ground freezes hard. Water about one inch a week (if you don’t have sufficient rains) until you have to put the hoses away. Because they are no longer setting leaves, flowers and fruit, the plants can put all their energy into making a good root system.

Clean all feeders and vacant bird houses with a 10% bleach solution to remove bacteria, fungus and mites. While the weather is good, buy your birdseed in bulk and store in large plastic containers with lids.

Empty your outdoor flower pots. If the flora was not diseased, put the used potting soil in the composter or directly on the garden. Wash posts with a 10% bleach solution, turn upside down or store inside.

Take cuttings of those expensive annuals such as coleus, begonias, and impatiens. In late December, again take cuttings from this plant and by spring you will have several plants ready for potting.

Plant spring flowering bulbs.

Loosely tying many-branched arborvitae trunks with panty hose will keep them from bending and breaking during heavy snow and ice storms.

Although neighborhood “peer pressure” often requires perfectly manicured lawns, it is not the best garden practice. Cut your lawn grass on a higher setting in the fall. This will help trap leaves and clippings insulating the roots. Cutting on a higher setting all year will encourage deep root growth, require less fertilizer/water and be healthier.

“They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here-
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birs and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock-
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.” (1)

(1) “When the Frost Is on the Punkin” by James Whitcomb Riley from “Joyful Poems for Children” (1892) Illustration and poem