Fall in Your Garden - Southern Oregon
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.
-- 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.
-- If you have soil areas that are compacted, use the cooler/wet weather to work it. This applies to setting up garden beds for 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: weeks to months before the 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.
-- Prune back overgrowth in your pathways and areas you want to tame back for flow/space. Get caught up on anything that got away from you during the summer season.
-- Last but not least: if you did not already shut down your watering system, now is the time to do so.
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