Fall Garden Care

Hello all!  It's been a busy time here at the Nautilus Garden designs Household.  We welcomed the newest member to the team Zephaniah Lucas Griffith on October 15th.  He and Rachel are doing great.

I want to give you all a couple tips as the weather cools and your tender perennials start to recede.  One of the first things to do is go through your irrigation and reduce the frequency of your watering.  Cooler temps mean less water loss through evaporation.    Less frequent watering encourages your turf roots to grow deeper seeking water.  This will increase drought tolerance for next summer.

Start cutting back some of your perennial flowers as they brown out.  For daylillies,  I always wait until all the green has gone out of the leaves.  This indicates that the plant has translocated all of it's energy and carbohydrates back to the root zone.  Then cut them to the ground.  Waiting like this will give your daylillies more energy to greet you with awesome blooms next year.

Last of all, mulch.  Mulching to a depth of 3 inches in the fall insulates your plants from the cold, protecting them from damage.  Mulch suppresses weed growth naturally, diminishing the need for chemical herbicides. Mulches also prevent sudden changes in soil temperature, which helps prevent tender premature growth during winter warm spells. Using a good hardwood mulch is best.  Dyed mulches will work, but sometimes the dyes can be an irritant to the microbes and earthworms that our garden need, so if you can, go for the natural hardwood mulches instead of dyed.  Buying Bulk is much more cost effective than buying bags, and you don't have the plastic to throw into landfills.  Bag mulch is usually just a couple of cubic feet for 5.00 or so.  Bulk mulch is sold by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet) and is usually around $30.00 a yard. (Delivery and installation add to this of course).  Be sure to keep mulch away from the root flare on your trees.  Piling mulch into "Mulch Volcanoes"  can harm trees by holding moisture against the bark inviting pests and diseases, so be sure to keep about a 1" space between  the trunk of your trees and the mulch.

Mark Griffith is a Virginia Certified Horticulturist, ISA Certified Arborist,  and a lead designer with Nautilus Garden Designs in Hampton Roads www.nautilusgardendesigns.com