Hours can be spent in the garden from the time the ground thaws until it freezes again.
Everyone has their favourite time to garden, be it spring summer or fall. Gardening in the fall is gardening without mosquitoes. The nasty insects disappear with the first hard frost to appear again next year. Occasionally a few docile ones will hatch during a long stretch of warm weather, but they are nothing like ferocious summer mosquitoes.
Fall temperature vary from cold to hot but the intense heat is gone which means that plants can be split and moved without doing much damage. The tops might wilt slightly but they quickly recover once they have been replanted.
Shallow rooted plants such as ground covers are best transplanted in the spring, but now is a perfect time to move and split large rooted plants.
Once the plant is dug up, take a sharp shovel or knife and divide the roots. Each new plant must have at least one stem, bud or eye. Remove any part of the plant that is not firm and healthy then replant.
Plants will begin to develop roots to anchor them into their new location immediately. In a warm open fall they will become established before the ground freezes. If the ground freezes quickly the roots will not be in place and the plants will heave with the frost. For this reason dig slightly deeper holes and press very firmly around the plant. When the plants get pushed upward their roots will still be protected by soil.
Now is also the perfect time to move lilies. Take care when digging lilies as not to injure the bulbs. Once the bulbs are removed from the soil the bulbs can be separated. Each large bulb will produce a flower next season. Smaller bulbs or bulblets can be grown with the expectation of flowers in the future.
Martagon lilies, the ones with many small lilies on a stem, do not like to be moved and may not come up next spring. Mark the spot in the garden and do not plant there next year.
When planting bulbs be sure to dig a hole to a depth that is three times the height of the bulb. This same rule applies to most bulbs.
Where the seasonal garden centres have already cleared out their stock, the year-round garden centres will now be doing the final clearance. The varieties of plants available will be less than earlier in the season but the plants for sale should have a well developed root system.
When the temperature drops and stays below freezing, take time to cover tender perennials and shrubs. A thick layer of leaves, mulch, straw or peat moss will insulate the plant from cold or changing temperatures. With a little protection, many tender plants will make it through the winter.
Gardeners that like the look of a clean garden will remove all the plant’s top growth in the fall. Others will leave the growth intact and do their cleaning in the spring. A clean garden will discourage rodents from making it their home. On the other hand, clean gardens can look bleak until the snow covers everything making it all one continuous sheet of white.
Take time to enjoy the fall weather before it disappears. Work that is accomplished in the fall makes it easier next spring.
Linda Tomlinson is a horticulturist and educator living in Rocky Mountain House. You can contact her at your_garden@hotmail.com