Season 1 • Episode 5 - September 5, 2022
This time on the Garden Time podcast
we are talking about fall gardening tips. For the 17
years of the weekly Garden Time program, Jan McNeilan,
retired OSU Extension Agent, joined us once a month with
her tips for the garden. She would give us topical and
timely tips that we could do in our garden locally. If
there were insect or disease problems that people were
facing, she would always have great ‘university backed
research’ to help gardeners solve their problems.
We thought it would be great to continue the partnership
on our podcast and Jan was very gracious in agreeing to
be with us again. This podcast we are talking about the
fall and approaching winter and what we can be doing in
our gardens. Jan came with a list of topics and we dove
right in.
We started with garden evaluation. This is the process
of walking around your garden and seeing how your plants
are doing. What is struggling? Is there too much sun for
some and too much shade for others? Are some plants too
crowded and need to be divided or moved? Jan noted that
she found some plants that were not doing so well. She
had a hydrangea that she has been pouring water on and
it was suffering, while a fern at its base was doing
great. Out comes the hydrangea and in goes more ferns
and similar plants. This is the time that you can be
doing a tiny bit of cleaning. Cleaning out dead annuals
from your garden and pots can be done now. You can also
discard some diseased plants and throw them in your
garbage. If you compost them, they may spread those
diseases to your plants next year. Getting them in the
garbage will get those diseases far away from your
future garden. For those plants that have winter
interest or provide food and shelter for the native
wildlife, you can leave those in place. In fact, keep
part of your garden a little messy. Don’t be in a rush
to have clean and pristine garden beds. The ground
dwelling pollinators like bumblebees need those messy
areas for their nests and protection over the cold
winter months. Speaking of birds and pollinators, we
also talked about seed heads on your plants. You save
some of those seeds and plant them again the following
season (they will not always be the same plant, but
something similar) or you can leave the heads and let
the birds eat them.
We also talked about pruning. This is a touchy area. You
can cut back some of your perennials but be careful. For
some of your perennial plants and shrubs you could be
cutting off the blooms for next year. Spring blooming
plants need to be pruned right after they bloom in the
spring. Starting in the summer they start setting buds
for next year’s blooms. Lilacs, rhododendrons and
azaleas all should have been clipped months ago. Others
like hydrangeas, rosemary, and roses can be cut back at
any time. Roses can be trimmed and they will send out
new growth. When we get closer to winter you can cut
them back to about waist high to prevent wind damage.
When you get to February then roses can be trimmed even
harder in preparation for the spring.
We then moved to bringing your indoor plants back inside
for the fall. Some plants like Christmas cactus can
handle some cold temps, but once they come in they will
start to bloom pretty fast. For those other plants they
can stay outside until temps get to the lower 40s and
then you can clean them up for the move inside. This
means looking for pests and diseases and cleaning the
plants before you do anything. You can also remove the
top inch of soil from the pots and replace it with new,
fresh potting soil. This removal of old soil will get
rid of pests and insect eggs.
Finally, we finished the first half of the show by
talking about protecting your tender outdoor plants. If
you have a sensitive plant, it may need a good layer of
mulch to protect the crown of the plant. We also talked
about a hardy banana that Jan’s neighbor has. This plant
can survive, but the leaves will get wet and rotten when
the frost comes. She recommends that you cut the trunk
of the banana, leaving about 2-4 feet above ground. Then
wrap it with bubble wrap, bury it in leaves in a wire
cage, or cover it as much as possible. If you have
plants in large pots or no room to move plants indoors,
cover them the same way or do like Jan and pile leaves
over them. When spring comes around, keep an eye on the
containers. Remove the leaves when new growth starts to
push so the new plants can harden off and slow down
their growth. If those plants are under your eaves, keep
them watered. Even in winter some plants will need water
to survive and make it to the next growing season.
After our break we talked about planting. We have always
heard that fall is a great time to plant, and it’s true!
The days are still pretty warm and the soil is warmer as
well. In the spring we wait until the soil temps get
warm before we plant, in the fall that is not a problem.
Jan said it is best to plant 6 weeks before the chance
of a hard frost. She focuses on plantings that have more
than one season of interest and then she plants them
where she can enjoy them. Her view from her kitchen
window is a favorite location for her new plants. The
key to a plant doing well in the fall is water. Even if
fall rains return, they may not be heavy enough showers
to water in your plants. Jan has always been a big fan
of ‘mudding in’ your plants. This is where you dig a
hole as deep as your plant container and twice as wide.
You fill the hole with water and then place the plant in
the hole and fill around it with soil. Make sure that
your soil is pressed down and the air bubbles are out
and then deeply water that same plant at least weekly
until the rains return in earnest. Fall is also the time
for planting your spring and early summer bulbs. Judy
had brought some bulbs for us to look at including
tulips, daffodils and garlic. The garlic can be planted
now and harvested in late June and early July next
summer. Break apart the bulb into cloves and then plant
those cloves in your garden according to the package
instructions. Then we talked about planting the tulips
and daffodils. You can simply follow the instructions on
soil prep and planting depth and you’ll be fine. We used
to hear people talk about planting the ‘pointy side up’,
but the bulbs know which way to grow and will do fine,
even if you plant them upside down.
The benefits of protecting your fall and winter plants
with a good mulch is key. A good mulch will protect the
crown of the plant and prevent freezing, plus it can
retain moisture and provide nutrients for the plant as
the mulch decomposes. It will enrich your soil. You can
add fertilizer if you want, but it can wash away or not
break down fast enough if you get a frost. Many
gardeners do what Jan does and use the fall leaves to
cover their garden beds.
We then finished by talking about planting and caring
for your lawn. Some people still like a nice green lawn
and what you do in the fall can help your lawn survive
and thrive in the new year. Ryan did a story with JB
Instant Sod for the Garden Time show and he had some
great tips for rejuvenating your lawn. First, you have
to remove the old lawn either with a turf cutter or by
spraying it with a broad herbicide (like a Round-up),
then you add a couple of inches of garden mulch or
compost and roto-till that in. You then roll it to
remove the bumps and lumps. Next you can treat the soil
with lime to sweeten the soil (making the soil a neutral
pH). This will create a more favorable condition for the
seed to germinate. You then spread the new seed, making
sure that you use the seed that is right for your sun or
shade conditions. You can then apply another light layer
of mulch, and water it in. Make sure that you keep the
soil lightly moist. Once the seed germinates, it needs
to stay moist until the plant reaches about 3-4 inches
in height. Remember, fall is the perfect time to act,
the soil temperatures are warm and the seed can
establish before those cold winds blow.
Places where you can find great gardening information
include your local University Extension Office. Jan said
that there are offices in nearly every county in the
country! Locally, you can check out the Oregon State
University Extension website at
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening. The OSU
Extension Service Clackamas County Master Gardener 10
Minute University also has some great handouts and
videos that Jan referred to. You can find them at
https://clackamascountymastergardeners.org/10-minute-university/.
Also if you are looking for specific plant information
you can look up the society or group that focuses on
that plant. Roses, dahlias, rhododendrons and many
others all have societies with tons of expert
information that you can access. Look for the group in
your area.
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