Gardening in Autumn

Your garden has now put on a show beginning with late winter flowers, through spring’s uplifting blooms and bulbs, summer flowers and now, in autumn, you can take stock of how your garden performs year-round and make any design adjustments needed.

Top Tasks for Fall Gardening

• Add new grass seeds to thin areas of your lawn and water daily until established. September is the best month for this task, as grass seeds require air temperatures of 16 degrees or greater to germinate. Warm soil will encourage root growth.

• Plant new shrubs, perennials, hedges and trees. Take advantage of the warm soil and plants will establish roots before the cold winter months set it.

• Install composted bark mulch on all garden beds. Fall is the best time to install bark mulch. The mulch acts like a blanket to protect roots from cold winter temperatures.

• Apply lime to the base of fruit trees. Lime takes about 6 months to change the pH of soil and will be ready in time for fruit production in spring.

• Hedge trim all hedges for a neat winter garden.

Trim and prune hedges and shrubs before winter

Best practice is to shape hedges of all varieties before mid-October. This will allow plants time to harden off. Shrubs and hedges can hold their shape for many months, getting you more value the earlier you trim in autumn.

Jessica Salvador is co-owner of Higher Ground Gardens, celebrating over 10 years of service in Dunbar. Higher Ground Gardens is going electric, using battery-powered hedge trimming equipment providing a quiet and environmentally friendly service.