The beginning of September is the start of autumn garden maintenance and there are a few things to do that will make your landscape and garden more successful all year long. You don’t have to do all these chores this week, but do try to accomplish these tasks before the weather turns cold and wet.
To make your
lawn happy
Fertilize your lawn in the fall. Be sure you use a “fall and winter” lawn food and apply after the fall rains have soaked the soil. This usually means late September to early October.
Fall is the most important time to feed a lawn in western Washington because a slow-release lawn food applied now will be pushed down into the root zone by the winter rains. Then, when the weather warms in spring, the nitrogen will be available to the grass roots just as they wake from their winter slumber. A well-fed lawn can overpower spring weeds and shade out moss.
Rake autumn leaves from your lawn before they suffocate the grass. In our wet climate, big leaf maples can drop enough heavy, wet foliage to smother even a healthy lawn.
Jump into a giant leaf pile at least once every autumn. You’ll feel like a kid again.
To make your
flowers happy
Snip off faded blooms and pinch out leggy growth on bedding plants like petunias and marigolds.
Fertilize hanging baskets and container gardens of annual plants. We still have four to five weeks of mild weather ahead and deadheading, watering and feeding will keep many annuals blooming until the first hard frost.
Don’t cut back perennials like lilies, sedums, asters and daylilies just yet. The September sunshine helps perennial plants make and store food in their roots for the winter. They need green foliage to absorb the last bits of sunshine.
Cut back and clean up any plant foliage that has turned yellow, brown or mushy. If it’s not green, get snippy.
To make your
roses happy
Don’t fertilize your roses this month or any time in the fall. The goal is to lure them into dormancy so they’ll survive the winter. Don’t prune your roses this month as pruning always stimulates new growth.
Leave a few faded flowers on your rose shrubs so they can form swollen hips. Once a rose starts to get hippy and make seeds it goes into a resting phase that can better survive cold weather.
Remember to enjoy your roses during the Autumn season. We live in a climate where roses bloom well into December.
To make your doctor happy
Get outdoors and rake, weed, dig and plant. Fall is for planting and gardening is the one activity that offers the bone-building benefits of lifting weights, the aerobic benefits of jogging, the flexibility of stretching and the stress-busting of yoga. All this and you’ll be making the world more beautiful.
