What to do now
Most Recent
-
Fall gardening checklist Fall gardening checklist
Fall gardening checklist ofFall gardening checklist Checklist design by Alexandra IshigakiIt’s that time of year again—time to pack up your tools and prepare your garden for the winter that lies ahead. Print this handy checklist so you can cross out the important things you need to do in your garden. But be sure to enjoy those last days of autumn and the vibrant blooms that still remain. Here’s how to download your checklist:Instructions for downloading:1. Click on the link below—it will open in a new window.• Fall gardening checklist2. Wait for the picture to load, then...For Windows users, right click on the image and click on "Save As" to save to your computer. Then open and print!For Mac users, control click on the image and save to your Pictures folder or wherever else you usually store images. Then open and print!- Credit
- Lorraine Flanigan
-
Fall gardening tips Fall gardening tips
Fall gardening tips ofAdvice on Autumn Tasks To some novice gardeners, it may come as news that autumn—with its garden centre sales, moderate temperatures and plentiful rainfall—is a great time to garden. Before you start readying your patch for winter (see “Seasonal dos and don'ts"), plant perennials in early fall so they'll have time to establish their root systems (bearded and Siberian irises, peonies and lilies do especially well when planted in autumn). However, avoid planting or dividing ornamental grasses; many are warm-season growers that won't establish if planted in fall. Others that also prefer to be planted in the spring include yews, magnolias, katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum), mountain ash (Sorbus), dogwood (Cornus), beech (Fagus), tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera), Japanese and red maples (Acer palmatum, A. rubrum), and white oaks (Quercus alba). Another fall ritual is planting bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops (Galanthus), for spring colour. Tuck them into the ground before hard frosts come and choose big bulbs for larger flowers. Plant in well-drained soil at least six weeks before soil freezes; start with smaller ones (such as snowdrops and crocuses), as they don't keep as well, followed by larger species such as daffodils and tulips. Position bulbs pointed end up, three times deeper than their height (for example, plant a 6.5-centimetre daffodil bulb 20 centimetres deep). Those that don't have an obvious pointed end (or ones you're uncertain about) can be planted sideways; they will right themselves as they grow. Seasonal Dos & Don'ts Seasonal Dos & Don'tsDO cut back finished annuals, diseased plants or any that may take over if allowed to self-seed freely.DO cut back peony, iris and hosta foliage, which can harbour pests and diseases.DON'T cut back perennials too early. Leave some standing through winter, as seed heads and coloured foliage can be beautiful, while seeds feed migrating birds.DO rake and remove leaves from the lawn every week; grass needs sunlight in fall for strong growth in spring. DON'T leave flower beds bare-mulch with fallen leaves. If possible, shred leaves first using a lawn mower.DO continue to water if the weather is dry; perennials and woody types-especially newly planted ones and evergreens, including broadleaf types such as euonymus-need moisture to survive winter. DO use winter mulch to help soil maintain a more even temperature. This helps plants survive where alternating periods of freezing and thawing don't provide consistent snow cover. Lay cut up boughs from Christmas trees on beds to trap snow that might otherwise blow away.Resources:Printable fall gardening checklist. For flowering bulb information, visit www.bulb.com; advice on planting and caring for trees: The Tree Doctor by Daniel and Erin Prendergast, Key Porter, 144 pages, softcover, $26.95. More tips on getting ready for winter: Clueless in the Garden: A Guide for the Horticulturally Helpless by Yvonne Cunnington, Key Porter, 200 pages, softcover, $21.95. See chapter 14 for a list of when to do what in the garden.- Credit
- Yvonne Cunnington
-
16 essential fall garden tasks 16 essential fall garden tasks
16 essential fall garden tasks ofPrepare your garden for winter As autumn leaves drift by your window, it may be tempting to look outside and think idle thoughts about nature taking care of itself. But like the rest of us, Mother Nature needs a good kick in the pants once in a while. Here are some fall dos and don'ts, plus tips to help your garden get a jump-start on spring.[1] When available, pop ‘Icicle' pansies into spots where summer annuals have been cleared out. They will bloom until December, then lie down for the winter. Cover them with evergreen cuttings until earliest spring, when they'll be ready to sprout new flower buds.[2] Leaves are garden gold. Spread small leaves of trees, such as honeylocust, birch, beech, ginkgo and silver maple (or shredded large Norway maple leaves), under shrubs and over all exposed soil. They will degrade into mineral nutrients; worms will turn them into fertilizer.[3] Take a gamble and throw seeds of hardy annuals where you want them to bloom next year. Larkspur, poppies, cleome and cosmos will frequently take root from seeds sown in autumn and conditioned under winter snow.[4] Plant bulbous Asiatic and Oriental lilies in late fall to ensure flower bud set. When planting is delayed until spring they may not get enough chilling and come up blind, with no flowers.[5] Wait until the soil has frozen before mulching autumn-installed plants. After freeze-up, a thick mulch of leaves and evergreen cuttings will keep their root balls safe from the heaving action of frost.[6] Lift big, fibrous clumps of summer phlox, hostas and Siberian irises and divide with a sharp spade or knife; tease apart fleshy roots of daylilies. Late-blooming perennials such as Michaelmas daisies and obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana), purchased in bloom, can go directly into garden beds (see #5).[7] Plant garlic in October, in a sunny spot with lots of manure dug in. Set individual cloves eight centi-metres deep and 15 centimetres apart, and mulch with five to eight centimetres of leaves. Hard-neck Rocambole garlics such as ‘Music' are the hardiest strains, and, when planted in October, can be harvested in July, just as the first cherry tomatoes turn red.[8] Autumn is a good time for planting evergreen trees and shrubs. The evergreens' root systems pump water all winter, so be sure to water them well before the ground freezes. And don't hesitate to purchase deciduous flowering shrubs at discounted prices. Even after a summer in containers, they'll adapt and make strong root growth in cool autumn soil. Get a jump-start on spring Here are some more of fall dos and don'ts, plus tips to help your garden get a jump-start on spring.[9] Autumn is the only time to move clematis or honeysuckle vine to prevent shock to growth: both vines begin extending leaves and shoots while frost is still in the spring ground. If the vines are large, cut them back by half, and they'll leap forward next spring.[10] Use generous amounts of anti-transpirant sprays (available at garden centres) on needle evergreens and broadleaf evergreens, such as euonymus, Japanese pieris and rhododendrons. The waxy coating helps to preserve tissue moisture and prevent winter windburn and sunscald. And lavish it on your Christmas tree to help keep it fresh through the holidays.[11] Root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips are sweeter after hard frost and can be harvested all winter. Remove top foliage from the plants and cover them with a 15-centimetre-thick mulch of leaves or straw (available from garden centres) spread to similar thickness. Throw an old piece of carpeting on top and let it snow. Lift the coverings to dig out veggies as needed.[12] Tender hybrid teas, floribunda and grandiflora roses need hilling up about 25 centimetres above their crowns with fresh soil or triple mix. A simple trick that reaps armloads of rose blooms is to tie the flexible new canes of climbing roses in a horizontal arc along fences or trellises. This will trigger the breaking and blooming of many more buds next summer.[13] As for garden hygiene, pick up or rake diseased leaves from under roses (blackspot) and crabapples (scab) and dispose of them in the garbage, not the compost pile. Left on the soil all winter, they'll reinoculate the plants with disease spores the following spring.[14] Squirrels “read” the disturbed soil and marks you leave when planting their favourite tulips and crocuses. Outwit them by concentrating spring bulb plantings in large groups and disguising your marks by flooding the soil surface with water. Then cover them with five centimetres of leaves topped with some shrubby branches. [15] Remove the debris of summer annuals, then be honest with yourself: will you really go out in early spring to remove remaining perennials? clean up as much as possible now, leaving strategic clumps for attractive winter display and food for birds. Sedums, hostas, astilbes and ornamental grasses are beautiful in snow.[16] Unless you really are Snow White, try not to create a garden of little winter dwarfs all wrapped up in burlap coats. Tightly wrapped burlap does plants more harm than good by potentially holding ice against their tissues. To protect them from wind or household dryer vent emissions, set up stake-and-burlap barriers, fastened with diaper pins, to break air currents.- Credit
- Judith Adam
-
Facelift for the late-summer garden Facelift for the late-summer garden
Facelift for the late-summer garden ofGive your garden a facelift The growing season isn’t over yet, but as fall approaches, your garden may be looking woebegone, especially if the twin scourges of heat and drought have battered your plants. Chances are, many annuals and perennials look exhausted with few flowers, lots of spent blooms and leaves that are tattered and scorched. The odd specimen may appear diseased or even dead. What to do? Time for a garden facelift: give thirsty plants a drink and your beds a thorough weeding, cut back what doesn’t look good, deadhead (remove spent flowers) and fill gaps with new plants or pop a container into bare spots. Here’s the drill: Annuals True annuals flower, produce seeds and die, so deadheading prolongs bloom. This, along with regular watering and feeding with a balanced fertilizer (such as 15-15-15), keeps cosmos, geraniums, marigolds and zinnias flowering longer. Some annuals, including impatiens and some petunia varieties, don’t need deadheading and will bloom until frost, but if they look leggy with fewer flowers, cut them back to half their height and they’ll rebound. PerennialsShear back early perennials by half their height. Some, such as lady’s mantle (Alchemilla spp.), have fresh leaves under old ones. Cutting back spent flower stems also promotes lush new foliage in rock cress (Arabis and Aubrieta spp.), many-coloured spurge (Euphorbia polychroma), creeping phlox, catmint and cranesbill.For later perennials, American horticulturist Tracy DiSabato-Aust suggests deadheading “when the seedpods outnumber the flowers or when the [flower] spike is about 70 per cent finished with blooming.” This encourages repeat flowering with some plants, but the second flush won’t be as prolific. Repeat bloomers include campanula, delphinium, foxglove and echinacea. Sick or dead-looking plants Be sure your plants are truly dead before you throw them out. To cope with excess heat and drought, established perennials may jettison their foliage; the leaves may be dried out, but the roots are alive and ready for next season’s growth. The same applies to many plants eaten by pests, such as hostas. To test if your plant is alive, give it a gentle tug; if the roots hold fast, it should be fine. As for diseased specimens—for example, older varieties of phlox that develop powdery mildew on leaves—cut them back (don’t compost; put in the garbage). For the following year, consider replacing with disease- and pest-resistant varieties (see “Tough Customers”). Resource An indispensable guide to caring for perennials is The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust, Timber Press, 384 pages, hardcover, $43.50. Tough customersAlthough many hostas are prone to slug damage, pest- and disease-resistant cultivars have thicker, waxier leaves. Good bets include Hosta ‘Blue Wedgwood’, ‘Canadian Shield’, ‘Northern Halo’, ‘Krossa Regal’ and ‘Sum and Substance’.Mildew-resistant summer phlox (Phlox paniculata) cultivars include ‘David’, ‘Delta Snow’ and P. maculata ‘Natascha’.- Credit
- Yvonne Cunnington
-
The best ways to water The best ways to water
The best ways to water ofWhen to quench a plant's thirst Despite childhood memories of running through sprinklers on lush turf, the days of indiscriminate water use are over. Conservation is the gardener's watchword, and by following a few easy guidelines, you can maximize the value of the water you do use. The best time to quench your plants' thirst is early in the morning, when plants are turgid and best able to take in more water; in fact, the morning dew that moistens the top few millimetres of soil makes it easier for water to penetrate deeply. Irrigating at midday is wasteful, as much of the moisture is lost to evaporation, while watering in the evening isn't ideal because leaves stay wet all night long, which can lead to disease.Although traditional wisdom dictates that the average garden needs about 2.5 centimetres of water per week, variables such as soil type (for example, sandy soils dry out more quickly than clay), weather and the moisture requirements of individual plant species mean gardeners must tailor their watering to specific conditions. Specimens that look limp or wilted in the early morning or evening should be watered immediately-these are signs of stress and cellular collapse, a stage at which rehydration is difficult. Plants consistently deprived of moisture for too long will become more vulnerable to attack by disease and insect pests.As a general rule, it's best to water less frequently but deeply; a light sprinkling will evaporate quickly and therefore fail to reach plant roots. (Test moisture depth by digging out a divot-15 centimetres or more is ideal.) A thorough watering also encourages plants to send their roots down into the soil where moisture is stored, rather than relying on surface water, which can be irregular.The most efficient way to deliver moisture is by applying it at ground level. A porous soaker hose laid around the base of plants allows water to seep slowly down to the root zones without moisture loss due to evaporation or runoff. Once the hose is positioned, mulch can be added overtop to hide it and keep moisture from the evaporating rays of the sun. Drip irrigation systems are another option, but they are more costly to install and the tubes sometimes have a tendency to clog. For large gardens, it may be more practical to use overhead watering systems, with either in-ground or hose-end sprinklers. Quick facts Quick fact 1Most plants need more hydration at critical times in their life cycles, such as when they are young and growing quickly, after transplanting, while setting buds and when fruit or seeds are developing. Note that shallow-rooted plants need closer monitoring for signs of dehydration than deep-rooted specimens, which are better able to tap into groundwater.Quick fact 2It's a myth that water droplets act as lenses on plant tissue, causing scorching; if it were true, plants would be reduced to smouldering heaps when the sun comes out after a rain shower! Be a water miser Be a water miser1 Install a rain barrel to capture water fromeavestroughs.2 Control weeds, which compete with garden plants for moisture.3 Mulch to slow evaporation from the soil, cool the surface and discourage weeds.4 Repair any leaks in couplings, hoses and sprinklers.5 Grow drought-tolerant plants native to your region, and group those with similar watering requirements.6 Recycle water from dehumidifiers, air conditioners and household grey water.7 Position sprinkler heads to reach target plants and avoid paved areas.8 Add organic matter such as compost and shredded leaves to improve texture and the water-holding capacity of all soils.9 Stop watering when runoff occurs.10 Invest in rain sensors and moisture meters for watering systems.- Credit
- Stephen Westcott-Gratton
Site sections Overview
-
Latest issue
Winter 2009
In this issue
Gardens by design
From sleek, modern pro styles to you-can-do-it makeovers; 19 eco-inspired gifts by Canadian artisans; Piet Oudolf's natural planting style; Hellebores; Easy indoor terrariums; How to prune Japanese maples and more! more -
Quiz
The winter gardener
Take our quiz and see what kind of off-season gardener you are!
-
Featured Blog
Gardener at Large
Latest Posts
-
Poll
Forum Buzz
-
Editor's Picks
