In the Garden

Now that the nights have turned chilly and those last almost-red tomatoes are about to be killed by a frost, it’s time to think about cleaning up your garden and putting it to bed for the winter.

By taking a few simple steps now, you’ll be well on your way to an even healthier and more bountiful garden next year.
In general, vegetable gardens need more attention right now than flower gardens that have a mix of annuals, perennials and shrubs. Those perennial borders can be very forgiving, and some of that cleanup can wait until spring — just the thing for lazy fall gardeners.

In no particular order, here are a few things to keep in mind as you begin the fall cleanup of your yard.

Feed your compost pile. “Try to leave everything up till you have no new growth or a frost hits,” says Donna De Sousa, a master gardener volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland who was helping to lead a class on garden cleanup earlier this fall in the vegetable garden at the Historical Society of Rockland County in New City.

(Master Gardener Donna DeSousa pulls cucumber vines in the garden at the Historical Society of Rockland County in New City.)

“Once a frost hits, pull all the dead plants and compost them,” she says, demonstrating how to pull up spent cucumber and bean vines. “You should start to take down plants at the end of the season when you know you’re not going to get anything else for the season,” she adds. Most perennials that have already bloomed, or ones knocked down by a frost, should be cut back to a few inches above the ground and also added to your compost pile.

(Master Gardener Anita Dreichler of Pomona puts cucumber vines into a composter in the garden.)

Or pack it up with the trash. “It’s very important not to put diseased plants into your compost pile,” says master gardener Elaine Allinson of Wesley Hills, who was also at the Historical Society garden last week. “Those should be bagged and put out with the garbage.”

Here’s Elaine:

Weeds that have already gone to seed should also be kept out of your compost.
Leave some for the birds. Try to leave a few seedheads for hungry birds scavenging for food in the winter. These might include sunflowers, coneflower, black-eyed Susans, thistle, oregano and all of the ornamental grasses. Plus it’s nice to leave a few things up for winter interest in your garden.

Weed, weed, weed. The more weeds you get out of your garden now, the fewer you’ll have next spring. At least cut off their flowers and seedheads before they have a chance to spread their seeds all over your yard. Plus there’s one great thing about all this rain we’ve had — weeds now come up very easily when hand-pulled. Grasp them right at ground level and pull gently to avoid disturbing the soil and bringing up dormant weed seeds. If a weed doesn’t come up easily, just cut it off at ground level.

Mow it down. Keep your grass mowed as long as it keeps growing — some years that can stretch into early December. Mow high — set your mower at 3 inches or higher — to choke out weeds and keep your lawn healthy. And there’s no need to rake up all those leaves. Just run them over with your mower and let the chopped leaves serve as fertilizer for your grass.

Fill in the bare spots. Go to your local nursery and pick up a few pots of mums, asters, pansies, ornamental kale or Japanese anemones. It’s amazing how having just a few things in bloom will make your garden pop for another few weeks.

Dig them up. Once a frost blackens tender perennials like cannas, dahlias,  and begonias, use a fork or spade to carefully lift them out of the soil for winter storage indoors. Cut back all the foliage and allow the bulbs or roots to dry out for a day or two, then store them in boxes or bags packed with newspaper, sand or sawdust — plastic peanuts work, too. Store them in a cool, dry area that never dips below freezing.

Test your soil. “If you have any questions about the condition of your soil, fall would be good time to do a pH test,” De Sousa says. “Then if you need to make any amendments, your soil will be ready in spring.” Amendments might include aluminum sulfate if you need your soil to be more acidic, or lime if it’s already too acidic. All county Cornell Cooperative Extension offices can perform a soil test for you, at a minimal charge.

Cover it up. You don’t want to leave any bare, exposed soil for the winter. Fall is a good time to add a layer of organic matter — compost, mulch, manure or woodchips — to your planting beds. That way the material has all winter to decompose and begin adding fertilizer that your garden will appreciate in the spring. Plus, spring is the busiest time of year for gardeners, so do whatever you can in fall that will free up more time when April and May come along.
For bare vegetable beds, try planting a cover crop of oats or rye that you can hoe into the beds as fertilizer next spring. But wait until the ground freezes hard, usually by mid to late December, to add a final layer of mulch around perennials and shrubs, De Sousa advises. Otherwise, you’re setting up perfect nesting sites for mice, moles and voles.

I’ll remember that. Walk around your yard with a careful eye, looking at what looks good — and what doesn’t. Think about what you might do differently next spring. It also helps to rotate crops around your vegetable garden, especially tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, to prevent the spread of diseases. So take notes or photos of where everything is now, so you’ll remember how to rotate things around next spring.

Enjoy the last bounty. Fall tomatoes may not be as fresh and tasty as the summer beauties, but they make mighty good sauce. When a first killing frost is predicted, pick all the green ones and fry them up as a perfect October side dish. Or set them on a tray in the dining room and give them a week or two to turn red. Some vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, actually taste better after they’ve been kissed by a light frost, De Sousa says.

Fall is also the time to pick your herbs for drying — this is when many of them are at peak flavor and aroma. Hang them in a cool, dry spot or put them in paper bags for a couple or three weeks before using them to flavor  winter sauces and stews.

Plant bulbs. October is the best month to plant all those gorgeous spring bloomers like tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, snow drops and crocuses. You’ll be hugging yourself next April when your cold, dreary yard erupts in unimaginable shades of violet, mustard, ice-cool blue and screaming crimson. If you’ve got a deer problem, plant a zillion daffodils now — nary a one should be nibbled by deer.
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The Rockland master gardeners:

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