I suppose I’ve come to accept the arrival of fall. As I listen to the persistent hum of crickets and a Blue Jay’s distinctive jeer, I feel that familiar shift. I don’t mind the 70s temps, but the early morning dips do seem abrupt. By the calendar, fall doesn’t really happen until September 22, marking the astronomical autumnal equinox. As we know, seasonal changes don’t heed dates and calendars. Wind changes, temperature drops, and a new season is suddenly here.
In the waning days of sunshine, we have enjoyed the fruits of our labors in the garden – the plentiful yield of tomatoes brought us gazpacho and tomato sauce and many variations on the tomato theme. Eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, and string beans did moderately well, and the blackberries were phenomenally productive. I hope there will be a good potato crop in spite of the dry summer, and being away didn’t help.
It’s always hard to balance a full life with a garden in summer, because it’s a full-time job. Yet I managed to get out on the bike and sailboat and even took up golf again after a 30-year hiatus thanks to a friend. Back in the day, my priorities were gardening first with everything else trailing in importance. But that has shifted slightly as I strive for a more balanced way of living.
I have to admit that fall (and the season that follows) are good, as they give us gardeners a chance to slow down. There is plenty of time yet to accomplish any unfinished tasks left from summer, and now is the best time for reorganizing and thinking ahead so that, for once, spring’s workload will be more manageable.
Depending on the scale of your garden, fall can be fairly work-intensive. British garden writer Penelope Hobhouse stresses the importance of fall tasks in her book “On Gardening.”
“Autumn work is vital: moving shrubs as necessary and as they become dormant, and cutting down perennials – but leaving those such as sedums and grasses, with flowers and leaves which continue to look handsome through the autumn months. Spent annuals must be pulled out and the last seed gathered and stored.”
Following her advice, I started to cut down several tall perennials (shasta daisies and phlox amongst them) that look pretty ghastly once they are done. It brought instant results, with other plants standing out without interference, refreshing the scene anew.
Ms. Hobhouse also recommends effective sterilization of garden beds (to get rid of diseases or weed seed) while the soil is still warm. I see I have my work cut out for me here, as the porcelain-berry vines have run riot in my yard. I used to think they were pretty with their Delft colored berries adorning the vigorous heart-shaped vines – but these are considered the most pervasive of invasives. Their appearance on our backyard gazebo is quite lovely, but then I see them popping up through other areas of the garden (they can be spread by birds and small mammals) and realize it’s out of control. There are ways to remove them and that is one of my top priorities this fall.
I’m fine with leaving the common violet that serves as a kind of ground cover in parts of my garden. Who can resist a tiny bouquet of violets? So, a lot of what you remove is personal. In previous years, I have been overzealous in removing such plants as lemon balm, coreopsis, honesty, cosmos and datura to the point that they’re extinct in my patch. My advice is to save a few plants if you can, unless utterly rampant.
Here is a checklist of chores to be done in fall:
– Reseed bare spots in the lawn.
– Collect seed heads from purple coneflowers, zinnias, marigolds, hollyhocks – whatever you reseed each year. Use airtight containers labelled with plant name and date of collection.
– Get a truckload of manure. Harvest compost pile. Combine and spread on graded beds. These simple ingredients are the key to healthy soil and, in turn, a good garden.
– Shop for bargains – ornamentation, peat moss, plants. Look at local nurseries offering seasonal discounts.
– Move shrubs and plants now. Both establish better while soil retains some warmth.
– Continue dividing perennials.
– Plant fall window boxes and planters if you haven’t yet.
– Take cuttings of shrubs, using half-ripe wood in early autumn, hard wood in late autumn. An excellent source is “Plant Propagation” by Alan Toogood for the American Horticultural Society.
– Clear leaves from herbaceous plants to minimize damage by slugs. These include hostas, asters, and euphorbias.
– Rake and gather leaves from paths, lawns, and borders and let them rot into leaf mold. If you own a shredder, use it for reducing plant stems and shrub prunings into a chaff-like material. Use in alternate layers with kitchen waste and grass clippings in the compost bin.
– Scratch bone meal into the peony and iris beds.
– Fall’s a great time for picking bouquets, along with ripe vegetables and fruit.
– Pot up tender herbs and start to gradually bring in potted plants, the same way you put them out – a few hours at a time.
– Don’t forget to check and clean your tools, machinery and watering systems.
– Last but very important: Clean out the shed before winter.
I’ll follow nature’s lead… the gradual diminishing of sound, the cooling temperatures and fewer flowers – the quiet beauty and unhurried pacing that is fall.
“Lord: it is time. The summer was immense. Lay your shadow on the sundials and let loose the wind in the fields.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
By Laura McLean
