I am a gardener year round. This is my favorite time of the year, especially since the summer heat is finally gone. Here are several tasks and tips that I have learned to do after the first day of Fall or beginning in October that I have incoporated as the “ritual” to welcome the winter in. These have been part of  my routine as a homeowner for years as a  Georgia homeowner.

In general, (1) clear away any dead foliage and add it to a compost pile. There is one place in my yard, usually at the far corner in the back yard where everything gets thrown –dead leaves and dead plants from containers , annual plants I have pulled from the ground or pots, cuttings from perennials that I trimmed back, and old vegetable plants from my garden. I call this my compost pile’s home. Pulling weeds throughout is necessary but I do not add this to my compost pile.

(2) Trim your perennial flowers  such as  daylilies, hydrangeas, peonies, azaleas, jasmine vines, rose bushes, black-eyed Susans,  perennial lantana, and phlox, to name a few.

(3) Mow your lawn. This is not my area because I am not allowed to operate the riding lawnmower we own, but cut the grass a bit longer than usual and rake the clippings. This keeps the roots from being smothered over the winter (so my husband says.) Also, now is also a good time to fertilize the yard.

(4) Pull out any dead annual plants. This includes annual lantana,  impatiens, begonias, portulaca, geraniums, creeping  potato ivy, coleus, plus any vegetable plants.  They will rot if you don’t pull them up. All of this is added to the compost pile. I usually add all of these plants and old potting/garden soil here and mix well. Since I have containers in several locations , I pull everything out of them and clean the dirt in the containers so I can add my winter flowers.

(5) Clean all pots and containters that you won’t using for the winter, such as the clay pots. Use hot soapy water and air dry before  storing. Also,  soak, clean and sharpen all gardening tools, clean bird feeders and bird baths too. 

(6) Don’t pull up herbs. I cut them back like I do my perennials. Thyme, oregano, dill, chives and rosemary return every year. I keep these in one container off my deck so I can use them all season long in the spring and summer. Sometimes, the first frost misses them so I can still use for cooking.

(7) Prune all branches of your perennials especially the rhododendrons, azaleas, hydrangeas, rose and camillia bushes.  I usually add the crepe myrtles, holly bushes, pompas grass, butterfly bushes, border grasses and magnolia trees too.

(8) Mulch all the perennial beds well. I use compost, garden soil, epsom salt mixed well with cypress mulch added on the top so all the roots will be insulated well for several months.

After this weekend task is done, I am ready to plant mums, pansies, snapdragons and ivy in some of the containers that will survive the comfortable winter weather here.

This may be a long list of gardening tasks and you may get discouraged because it isn’t short and sweet, but the list  has grown through the years as my passion for gardening has  too. I hope they are helpful and Happy fall gardening.