Fall in Your Garden - Northern Arizona
Fall is the season where the juices/sap of plants start to make their descent into the ground/roots, in preparation for the coming winter freezing temps. I'm always amazed by the beauty that nature displays in the kaleidoscope of colors we get to enjoy before the leaves fall to feed the ground.
Here are projects to consider in preparation for the coming winter.
-- Planting trees, shrubs, and berries. Fall is the best time of the year for planting projects, because you are giving your plants 7 months of cooler and wetter weather to support proper rooting, before the extreme heat comes to Arizona in the summer. Proper rooting is dependent on 2 things when plants are newly planted: consistent moisture - roots move towards water and only grow as far as the water goes - and cool weather.
-- October and November are 2 good times to do your greens for eating here in Northern Arizona. This is because in the high desert and desert, it starts to cool off in October. Although this year the first week of October we had record breaking heat.
--Â If you have a lawn you want to keep green and clean, make sure to rake the leaves up. This is less important for your garden beds/bare dirt areas, and often even ideal to leave the leaves to help protect roots from freezing and cut down on weeds.
--Â If you have soil areas that are compacted, use the cooler weather to work it. This applies to setting up garden beds, and for planting future trees, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
-- Working the soil with amendments and fertilizer before you plant can help prepare for better soil specific to what you want to grow there. This is the proper way to add fertilizer if you want it included in the bed: worked in before planting. Not when you are doing the planting, which can shock/kill a plant. This way you are enriching the proper soil nutrients with adequate time to disperse and de-concentrate in the soil. Aside from this, I recommend fertilizing when a plant show signs of ill health, not clearly caused by improper planting (too low in the ground), or plating in the wrong sun/shade ecology or soil.
-- Site assessment and planning for how you want to improve and care for your garden next year. Look at the plant health, spacing, beauty, and your unique garden ecology how it is now, and what you want to create in the long run. Work with nature - this is fundamental to doing things organically. Watch and observe how the plants and animals interact on your land. Where are the sunny and shady ecology areas area? What areas have problems that need to be improved? Look from drainage issues to plants not in the best place for their unique ecology requirements to thrive.
--Â Prune back overgrowth in your pathways, off drip lines, emitters, sprinkler heads, and areas you want to tame back for flow/space. Get caught up on anything that got away from you during the summer season.
-- Don’t turn off your watering system and hand watering yet. Here in the Pacific Southwest and Northern Arizona, it generally stays warm, sunny, and dry until December. Here it is important to remember that fall season is often warm and hot, just not as hot as the summer desert temps that stay in the upper 90’s and over 100.
I'm James Dawson and it's good to have you here, and thank you for your interest.
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