Fall & Winter Garden & Landscape Tips

Hand rake lawns to remove leaves and encourage air movement in roots.
Top dress with uneven spots with top soil and/or peat moss. Reseed bare spots.
Aerate lawn with a minimum of 2” plugs (not too dry). Leave plugs on top of lawn.
Apply Fertilome Winterizer 1 lb. of high nitrogen fertilizer per 1,000 sq ft. of turf. Water in well.

Remove leaves and debris from beds pulling any weeds.
Remove any dead plant material.
Top dress beds with 2-3” compost. Lightly hand rake in – do not tear at perennial roots. Apply mulch.

After the first hard frost, cut back blooming perennials 3-4” above the ground. Leave some stubble for wildlife and this will also help to locate them next spring.
Use Fertilome Weed Free Zone herbicide to kill weeds. Weed Free Zone is still effective down to 45 degrees.

Apply tree wrap (especially for new thin barked trees like Honey locust, Green Ash, Redbud, Fruit trees, & soft Maples)
Prune trees during the winter when they are bare so you can see branch structure. Maples and Birch should be pruned in fall after leaf drop.
Cut back summer blooming shrubs such as Russian Sage, Butterfly Bush and Blue Mist Spirea to 3-6” above soil level either now or in the springtime.
Do not trim spring blooming shrubs like forsythia, lilac, etc. Because their flower buds have already formed. You may trim dead branches on these however.
Prune to shape Smokebush, Rose of Sharon, Hydrangea, Potentilla, Ninebark, etc. sometime before spring leaves emerge.
Apply rose collars to rose bushes and fill with compost to help protect the graft from winter injury.

Use insulation blankets over the top of tender annuals to extend flowering into our beautiful Indian Summer.
After a hard frost, remove dead plant material to prepare pots for decorating your porch with Fresh Holiday Greens. Ask The Green Team for details.
Plant frost hardy pansies.

Cover ground beds with insulation tunnels to extend the harvest season.
Sow cool season seeds outdoors in your prepared garden bed for lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, beets and peas
Consider constructing a cold frame for serious season extension.