Late Season Care for Your Garden

Photo: Melinda Myers, LLC

by Melinda Myers

Six Things To Do Now for a Better Garden Next Year

As the summer garden season nears an end, don’t let your guard down. Keeping up with a few basic chores can improve your landscape’s beauty and reduce your workload next season.

1) Continue weeding. Removing weeds before they go to seed will eliminate hundreds of weeds next season. Destroy invasive weeds, those that have gone to seed and perennials that may root in the compost pile. And mulch the soil if you haven’t already done so.

2) Keep watering new plantings, stressed and young plants, evergreens,
and moisture-loving plants as needed throughout the fall. Water
thoroughly and whenever the top few inches are crumbly and slightly
moist. Check my plant guide for more specifics on your plants’ watering
needs. Properly watered plants are better able to survive the rigors of
winter.

3) Reduce future workloads and improve your garden’s health and beauty. A
layer of shredded leaves, evergreen needles, or woodchips will help
suppress weeds, conserve moisture, moderate soil temperatures, and
improve the soil as they decompose.

4) Replace faded annuals with-cool season annuals, mums, and other fall
plants, and decorative squash and pumpkins. Add a few fall containers to
your front entrance, patio, or deck to add color and a feeling of
freshness to the garden.

5) Monitor and manage pests as needed. Keeping plants healthy throughout
the growing season increases your overwintering success. Hand-pick
small populations of insects, rake and destroy disease-infested leaves,
and always use the most eco-friendly products when greater intervention
is needed.

6) Keep applying animal repellents, preferably a long-lasting,
all-natural product like Bobbex. Keeping hungry animals away from your
landscape will help reduce the future risk of critters moving in and
dining on your landscape.

Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author, and columnist
Melinda Myers has 30 years of horticulture experience and has written
more than 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening
and The Garden Book for Wisconsin.

She hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment segments
which air on 89 TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. She is a
columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and
hosted The Plant Doctor radio program and Great Lakes Gardener on PBS.

Melinda has a master’s degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist,
and has taught horticulture. Her website is www.melindamyers.com .