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Work now, garden later

A few steps now will get your garden ready for spring

September 25, 2007|Jennifer Thornberry

Just because summer is over doesn't mean there's no more gardening left to be done. A little prep work now will keep your lawn and garden in top shape for next spring.

After the weather turns cool and stays cool, but before the first frost hits, there are several things you can do to prepare your perennials and evergreens.

First, cut back plants, pull any weeds and rake leaves up.

Charles Hubbard, owner of Al's Garden Center in Winchester, recommends putting lime down.

"That way, it works in with the soil for the spring season," he said.

One advantage of lime is that it makes calcium, an essential nutrient, available to plants.

According to the Royal Horticulture Society, lime also helps maintain a balance between the soil's acidity and alkalinity. The optimum pH for most garden plants and vegetables is 6.5 on the pH scale, which is slightly acid. Most garden soils fall within a range of pH4 to pH9.

Hubbard also recommends applying a fertilizer during the fall with a 6-12-12 mix.

Those three numbers on fertilizers represent the three primary nutrients that plants need: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. They are listed as a percentage of those nutrients and always in that order.

For evergreens, Hubbard recommends Hollytone, a brand name fertilizer that is designed to do a fall and spring application.

"It's what I like to call consumer-friendly. It's easy to apply," Hubbard said. "To me, it's one of the most versatile fertilizers because it doesn't burn your plants."

Hollytone also makes a fertilizer for lawns, which he recommends. It is one of the steps to give your lawn some TLC before winter sets in.

How long to mow your lawn into fall depends on how long it continues to grow.

Many varieties of grass, especially bluegrass, have a tendency to go dormant during droughts, then get green when it starts to rain again in the fall.

"It's not dead. It might look kind of crispy," Hubbard said.

It is also best to rake your yard as the leaves fall.

"It's not good for it to let leaves lie. I don't recommend it in your landscaping or on your lawn," Hubbard said. It may cause fungi to set up during the winter, he said.

Around November or December, when the weather is turning colder, Hubbard recommends putting an application of ammonium nitrate on your lawn.

Ammonium nitrate is a white powder at room temperature and standard pressure and is commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.

It gets in the ground and won't burn your grass, Hubbard said. It will help your grass come back nicely in the spring.

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