Turn leaves into mulch: I'm (still) raking leaves and piling them onto the compost pile and over the veggie beds. The neighbors are still donating their raked up leaves too. The compost pile has “sunk” considerably since I started, which is good, because I needed the room. Great idea: electric vacuum with built in leaf shredder! The one I have shreds them down by a 16-1 ratio! That takes up much less space than whole leaves! The fine shred makes a great mulch, so I have been spreading on all the beds, over the wood mulch. This provides nutrition and warmth for plants and earthworms.
Collect your own seeds: Most annual flowers start from seed. They grow, start to finish, in a single season, and at the end, their flower heads turn to seed, which drop to the ground, and the whole cycle starts again in spring. If you had some nice annual flowers that you would like to ensure grow again, you can collect the seeds. This is also cheaper than buying the seeds again in spring. And also, seeds that have grown successfully in your unique conditions (light, temperature, moisture level, etc) are more likely to successfully sprout again and do well next season.
Seed collecting is best done in dry conditions. Cut off the entire head and toss into a paper bag or envelope (not plastic). Label the bag. Some seeds (like sweet peas) are huge, others (like nicotiana) are tiny. Just look for what flowered this year. Sometimes the seeds are located in a weird container- e.g., sweet pea seeds are in a pod, Chinese lantern seeds are inside the “lantern”, etc. Some seeds actually need to be left in cold temperatures to be viable seeds. Since I'm never really sure which do and don't, I leave all my seeds in the shed until next spring. You can also put them in a refrigerator for 30 days or so.
Drain the water features: Fountains (or any fragile pots) need to be drained/emptied and put in a sheltered location (like a shed) so they don't freeze and crack over winter. I have a very small pond, and I pull the pump and light out, but I leave the water in. (I have no fish). I also compost any water plants that were growing in it.
Leave some seeds: The birds have been snacking on my purple coneflower seeds. Since coneflowers readily reproduce on their own, and are really quite hardy, I leave their seeds for the birds. I also leave sunflower seed heads for the birds, but those can get messy in spring, as the seeds that fall off start a ton of new sunflowers, so they have to be thinned down. Some flower stalks also make cool patterns when snow and frost form on them, so for interest I leave those.
Keep the bird feeders filled: Winter is rough when you're a bird, so fill a feeder up for them!
Note what changes need to be made: It's not too late to take a walk around the gardens with a notebook and make observations- what worked, what didn't, what you might want more or less of, etc. I have a perennial that needs to be split next spring and I took a few stakes out and put them in the ground where I had some bald areas. This will provide a guide for me in the spring where to plant my splittings. It's too hard to figure it out in spring, because there won't be much indication of what's coming and where. I still have bulbs to be careful about, but the stakes give me a start.
Fall is for bulbs: Before the ground freezes, you can get some bulbs in to enjoy in spring. Daffodils, tulips and crocuses are the most common. Be sure to follow the directions, bulbs need to go deeper than you might think. Snow drops are pretty, and are usually the first to flower (even in snow, hence the name). Put in a helping of bulb food (fertilizer) before you drop in the bulb. There is actually a special mix for bulbs, you can get it in the lawn and garden section.
Store your crops: Did you know you can store your crops in the field ? Carrots, leeks and spinach can be stored in the ground and harvested throughout the winter as needed- I will have to try this out for next year!
Collect the catalogs: It's a direct mail phenomenon, sign up for one or two seed catalogs, and the next thing you know, you're getting them all. I'm not a fan of wasting paper, but I do like seed catalogs. I collect them all and then look through them to plan for next year. Look for my seed catalog review in an upcoming blog entry.
Hey, those are some great ideas I've never thought of! Like staking the spots where you want to put something next year. I like leaving all the dried stalks (like purple coneflower) for the birds over winter, too.
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