Fall Gardening in the Pacific Northwest

Fall gardening in the Pacific Northwest is when the hardwork, the backbreaking work begins. October can be still summer warm, in the 60's and 70's so just a little cleaning up, deadheading and raking of leaves plus the last fertilizing of the lawn is all that's really necessary. One of my favorite fertilizers is Miracle Gro which can be found on www.scotts.com website.  For the last few years I've also been using Spray-n-Grow faithfully, it makes my tulips and tomatoes huge!! I order by mail from www.spray -n-grow.com. It says it is a micronutrient complex and you spray it on the leaves, buds, seedlings, anything and everything and boy does it grow! Check out their catalog and web page for pictures and more information.

Come November or when the temperatures drop in to the 50's in the days and 40's at night is when I begin my serious work. First off I clean out the greenhouse and begin pulling in my pots I don't want to freeze and break and the plants I want to keep going all winter long. I keep the heater going, 70 degrees and the fan on to prevent mildew and keep circulation of the air constant.

Raking the leaves and putting in the compost pile is an ongoing chore until all the leaves are off the trees, it seems to take forever, but combined with my kitchen scraps and grass clippings I get some awesome dirt for next season. Turning the compost pile is a bitch but at least now I don't have to worry about keeping it wet, the sky does that for me.

I now almost daily go through the garden and take down the sunflower poles that have finished blooming, the dead daylily fronds, cutting back and taking out anything that has died back on its own, to keep the garden clean looking and pest, mold and mildew free.  I found some really odd looking huge mushrooms this year that didn't want to come out of the ground. Charcoal black on top and lime green stems.  

Weeding goes along with this process and the weeds go in my recycle barrel the garbage man hauls away. If I put them in my own compost pile I might get some weeds next year I don't need.

I don't have much of a slug problem anymore as I hand pick them (with a trowel or gloves) and get rid of them so only a few show up each year, same with the snails. I don't use chemicals because I want to preserve the butterflies and ladybugs and bees and chemicals although easier to make your roses grow are harmful to everything else.

Next comes transplanting. Anything getting too big, grasses, daylilies to name a couple are easily divided and transplant your new free plants to other parts of the yard or give away to your gardening friends.  My ground covers have a tendency to multiply quickly so I'm ready to move those around too.  If you try this in the warmer months even watering constantly they just don't seem to make it.  I've found a few plants hate being transplanted, lavender and peonies for me don't work well, sometimes the roses don't bloom so well after being moved.

Always good to check your gardening books for tips and advice, these are just a few of my own. Now I need to put on my Eddie Bauer jacket and my Mukluk boots and gloves and have at it!