Fall Garden Prep CHECKLIST

Fall Garden Prep CHECKLIST

· Clean up dead leaves, deadhead flowering plants- diseased leaves should go in the garbage, the rest can go in the compost pile
· Mulch with compost or Forest Mulch to amend the soil and keep down weeds
· Pull weeds before they have a chance to drop seeds
· Divide perennials
· Move perennials and shrubs between now and January-prune back lightly first
· Continue to bait for snails with Sluggo
· Strip roses Dec-Jan, prune in Jan-Feb
· Fertilize cymbidiums with 6-25-25 food
· Fertilize azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons with 0-10-10 food
· Fertilize blue hydrangeas with aluminum sulfate now for bluer blooms
· Fertilize winter color with all purpose plant food (primrose, cyclamen)
· Continue to fertilize citrus with citrus food
· Reseed lawns, fertilize lawns/use pre-emergent
· De-thatch lawns if necessary
· Hard pruning happens in January/February/March, it depends on the weather
· Clean and store tools- rub down with alcohol after each use, use white lithium grease to grease them, store shovels and saws in a bucket of sand with a little oil (5 parts sand-1 part oil)
· Select bulbs now- refrigerate tulips, crocus and hyacinth for 6-8 weeks, plant anytime from late October to December 31
· Turn the irrigation back on if the rain stops and the temperatures drop in January (or any winter month)