Extension Service Garden Hints

Clean up and cut back garden before winter weather arrives

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Before cold weather sets in, clean up in your yard and garden – it will help protect your landscape from the ravages of winter.

There are several tasks best done in October and November, according to Ross Penhallegon, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.

Mulch your empty garden beds for the winter if they don't have a cover crop on them yet. Mulch will protect from erosion. Even flat beds experience soil erosion and compaction from rainwater. Mulching will add organic matter to the soil. And it will encourage earthworm activity and keep weed germination down.

Control the weeds that have recently germinated from early fall rains. It is a much easier job now than in the spring. A hoe or hand pulling will do it. This is not a good time of year to use herbicides. The damp soil makes it easy to hoe or pull weeds, big or little.

Apply slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to lawns, if needed. Use just enough to keep the lawn green, but not enough to cause need for additional mowing. Don't use quick-release fertilizer, as it will just leach away. Don't apply fertilizer to trees, flowers or shrubs this time of year, as it may reduce their cold tolerance.

Cut back late flowering perennials like asters and chrysanthemums to a few inches. Peonies can be cut back all the way to the ground. Mulch the crowns with compost to protect them from hard freezes.

Prune late summer and fall flowering shrubs like butterfly bush (Buddleia) abelia, clethra and hydrangea several weeks before icy winter weather or hold off until mid-February to do your pruning. Trim back roses to knee height so winter winds won't cause damage.

Keep your perennial gardens free of wind-blown plant refuse. Continue to rake your lawn, as more leaves fly. Add the leaves to your compost pile to turn them into humus.

Pull up spent summer annuals like snapdragons, marigolds, zinnias, cosmos and nasturtiums that have died back.

Dig and store summer flowering bulbs and tubers (if you live east of the Cascades), including dahlias, calla lilies, canna lilies, gladiolus and tuberoses. Store them in a dark, dry and cool (above freezing) place, safe from rodents.

By: Carol Savonen
Source: Ross Penhallegon

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