The air is cooler. Clouds are darker. Plants are loosing their summer luster. Fall flowers are blooming. Now is the time to get ready for spring!
Getting Ready
Perennial plants are always getting ready for the next season. In the spring, they are growing. In the summer, they are in full-swing with blooms and leaves. By fall, they are storing food in their roots, getting ready to go dormant. In the winter, perennial plants are reading gardening books to find out who their new neighbors will be.
You can help perennials get ready for spring by feeding them in the fall and doing a few maintenance tricks. For plant specific help, contact your local nursery or county Horticultural Extension Agent.
Food for Winter
Perennials
When perennials begin growing in the spring, they use food reserves that were stored in their roots the previous fall. By fall-feeding plants, you make sure roots are filled with these food reserves. These helps perennials survive winters’ ravage and are ready to grow vigorously when spring arrives. Generally, this means an application around Labor Day to give plants time to take up nutrients and transfer them to root storage.
Trees
Fertilize trees just as their leaves begin to color. At this time, trees are rapidly moving food reserves into their root systems. An extra helping of a slow release fertilizer, which won’t burn roots, helps trees survive the winter and begin growth in the spring. For trees that tend to be chlorotic in the spring, such as silver maples, you may wish to add iron to your fertilizer. This will help trees overcome this early spring chlorosis. .
Lawns
Northern lawns should be fertilized around Labor Day. This keeps them in good condition so their roots are full of reserves for winter and early spring. Another late fall fertilization after lawns quit growing but before freeze-up gives grass the nutrients they need to survive the winter. Research at the University of Wisconsin indicates that northern lawns take up nutrients even when they are not actively growing. Starving lawns during early winter sets the stage for winter-kill.
Southern lawns are trickier to fertilize in the fall. Even though southern lawns benefit from a fall application of fertilizer, don’t fertilize these lawns within thirty days of dormancy. If you fertilize too late, you will encourage growth when they should be entering dormancy. This causes winter kill.
According to Mike Archer, research coordinator for Milorganite, “Use fertilizers high in water insoluble nitrogen, such as Milorganite 6-2-0, for your fall fertilizer needs. This type of nitrogen stays in the soil until plants use it. This is especially important when plants are growing slowly, as in the fall. Milorganite fertilizers also contain organically complexed iron which give leaves a deep, green color, overcoming spring chlorosis.”
Watering
Fall is arguably the most critical time to make sure plants have adequate moisture. In order for them to store nutrients, plants must have enough water to move them into their roots. Without adequate water this will not happen. Water deeply, to rooting depth. Shallow watering only teases plants and, in many cases, may do more harm than good.
Cleaning up
Your garden plants also need regular cleaning to keep them healthy. Depending on your preference, removing dead plant debris can be done either in the fall or early spring. By cleaning up in the fall, you are giving plants a head start in the spring by not allowing debris to shade the ground from early spring sun. By waiting for spring, you are giving local wildlife a chance to eat seeds and collect debris for winter nesting. The choice is yours. Just remember, don’t put diseased and insect egg infested debris in your composting bin.
Now…
Sit back, relax and start dreaming of spring. Your work will be rewarded, if not by a perfect yard, by one that will withstand the ravages of winter and be ready for you next spring. Enjoy! - ARA
Article Source: Get Ready for Next Spring Now
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