Fall Garden Tips for Southern Gardens by Jeff Rugg on Creators.com

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Fall Garden Tips for Southern Gardens

I know that for many of you, the weekends of the fall season are taken up with kid's soccer games or football or other activities that don't allow you to even think of your landscape, but this is a great time of year to work outside. Remember to take some photos or video of the landscape in the fall. You can see how you like it and what to change when the garden catalogs arrive in the winter.

BULBS, PERENNIALS, ANNUALS

As the cool weather arrives, you can divide summer flowering bulbs like caladiums, cannas, dahlias, elephant ear and gladiolus. Or just leave them in place and cover with several inches of mulch. This is the time of year to plant agapanthus, amaryllis, calla and elephant ear bulbs.

Many perennials can be divided and replanted as they go dormant. To ease the transplant shock, just dig out half the plant. Add organic matter where the plant was removed. Move or give away the extra plants. It is easier to see where they should go now compared to the spring when everything starts growing.

Cool weather may mean switching out the flower bed. Cool season annuals that can give color all winter include carnation, foxglove, pansies, petunias and snapdragons.

COMPOST PILE

Don't be one of those people who spends money to send leaves to the landfill's compost site in the fall, and then wastes more money to buy organic matter from the store to use in the landscape in the spring.

Remove any dead garden plants, annuals and the tops of perennials. Add them to the compost pile.

LAWN

Keep mowing warm-season grass as long as they remain green. Many winter weeds sprout in the fall, so apply pre-emergent herbicides. Make sure to adjust the irrigation system as cooler weather means the grass and flower beds don't need as much water as they did in the summer. The last fertilization of the year can be applied to many lawn grass types.

PRUNING

Wait to prune spring blooming trees and shrubs because they already have their flower buds now.

Pruning them now will cut off next spring's flowers. Summer and fall blooming plants can be pruned. Pruned evergreen hedges will keep their shape all winter.

You can cut out any dead wood and a few branches that may be growing out of bounds or across the middle of the plant, at anytime.

TREES, SHRUBS

Plant container or balled and burlapped trees and shrubs when you can find them in the nursery. Some will be on sale for good prices at this time of year, as nurseries clear out stock in anticipation of more plants next spring.

Small twigs falling off trees may mean they have twig girdlers, which are beetles that lay eggs in the part of the branch that falls off. Cleaning up and removing the branches helps get rid of the beetle.

VEGETABLE GARDEN

Many vegetable crops can be planted during the fall. As northern gardeners try to salvage green tomatoes from the frost, Southerners are planting tomatoes for a winter crop. Hot southern areas have better vegetable gardens in the fall, winter and spring. Strawberries can be planted in beds or containers.

WATER GARDEN

As the leaves on the water plants turn yellow, remove them back to the crown. Remove any debris that falls into the pond by using an automatic skimmer or netting. This organic matter decays on the bottom where it releases nutrients that promote the growth of algae in the spring.

Monitor the pond water temperature, and stop feeding the fish and fertilizing plants if it drops below 45 degrees.

WILDLIFE

Songbirds, hummingbirds, hawks and other birds have already begun their fall migration, so get out to the forest preserves and do some bird watching. Put up hummingbird feeders and you may get some of the delightful floating jewels. Some might even stay for the winter. Installing water and feeders now helps set up the local bird's winter-feeding habits. Having bird activity in your yard may attract some migrant birds that might not otherwise come.

E-mail questions to Jeff Rugg, University of Illinois Extension at jrugg@illinois.edu. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.