Fall Landscaping Tips and Tricks

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1 Erika Lyons, Hopkins County Extension Agent for Horticulture Coopera ve Extension Service Hopkins County 75 Cornwall Drive Madisonville, KY (270) Fax: (270) hopkins.ca.uky.edu Fall Landscaping Tips and Tricks Fall is a great time to do some much needed care and maintenance to your landscape and garden beds. Here are some important things to remember when cleaning up and tending to your garden this fall: Remember to dig up and store any tender plant bulbs that you wish to keep for next year. Fall is a great time to plant spring-flowering bulbs and divide or transplant perennial flowers such as daylilies, peonies, and irises. Fruit trees: Clean up leaves, branches, and old fruit around fruit trees to help prevent insects and diseases from over-wintering. Rake up fallen tree leaves to prevent smothering the grass. Remove any spent flowers or foliage of perennials damaged by the frost, unless you want to keep the seed heads to provide food for the birds. Enjoy a fall vegetable garden by planting and harvesting cool season vegetables such as pumpkins, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, etc. Re-seed lawns and any bare patches and continue to mow the lawn if the grass is still actively growing. Fall is a great time to have your soil tested at your local extension office! Fall is for planting! Fall is also a great time of the year to be planting trees and shrubs. The most important things to remember when caring for your newly established trees and shrubs is to keep them well-watered up until the ground freezes. It is also a good idea to mulch around the trees to help aid in moisture retention and keeping even soil temperatures. When applying mulch beware of the dreaded mulch volcanoes! Here are some recommendations for properly mulching around your trees: Try not to pile mulch right up against the trunk of the tree. The ring diameter of the mulch should be to the tree s dripline (the edge of the tree canopy). Mulch only needs to be about two to three inches deep. IN THIS ISSUE: Fall Landscaping Tips and Tricks..1 Indoor Plant care.. 2 Taking Plant Cuttings...3 Planning Next Year s Garden...3 Upcoming events...4

2 Indoor Plant Care Although fall is a great time of the year to clean up the outdoor landscape, it is also a perfect time to tend to any indoor plants that may have been neglected during the summer months. Here are some good maintenance practices to adopt so your indoor plants can be happy and healthy: Fertilize your houseplants while they are still actively growing. When their growth begins to slow, apply less fertilizer and stop fertilizing during the winter months. Afraid to over or under water your plants? When in doubt, water your plants when the first inch or so of soil feels dry to the touch. Houseplants may not require as much water during the winter months when they are not actively growing. Deadhead any spent flower blooms and trim any dead foliage. Create a more humid environment by placing plants on a tray of pebbles filled with water. Moving Plants Indoors If you plan on bringing plants indoors for the winter, here are some important points to remember: When bringing plants indoors, be sure to check for any insects or diseases and treat them accordingly, so you don t have to worry about bringing any unwanted pests into the house or having them spread to other beloved plants. It is common for plants to drop leaves initially once they are moved from outdoors to indoors because they are adjusting to the new changes in light conditions. Give your plants time to acclimate to being indoors again. If you want to overwinter plants indoors but don t have the space, then you can always take cuttings off the parent plant and start new plants indoors. See page 3 to learn more about taking plant cuttings.

3 Taking Plant Cuttings Below are directions on how to take plant cuttings: Use a sharp blade to take a cutting (about 2 to 6 inches long) off of the parent plant. Try to take a vegetative cutting (cutting that does not have flowers) off the plant or remove any flowers or buds from the cutting. Consider removing any bottom leaves from the cutting for easier planting. Cuttings can be rooted a few different ways. One way is to root cuttings in water. Certain cuttings such as Coleus can be rooted directly in water and then planted in potting mix. Another way would include the use of rooting hormone, which aids in and quickens root formation. Cuttings can be dipped in rooting hormone and then planted in potting mix. Rooting hormone can be found at most garden centers. Always be sure to follow label instructions before using rooting hormone. After planting, keep cuttings well watered until they become more established and keep them in bright, indirect light. Here is a small list of outdoor plants that root well as cuttings and do well overwintering indoors: Annuals: Coleus, Begonias, Geraniums Herbs: Mint, Basil Planning Next Year s Garden It is never too early to starting planning your garden for next year. Start looking through plant catalogs to get ideas on what gardening supplies or seeds you may be interested in ordering. If planning a vegetable garden, begin thinking about the rotation of vegetable crops for next year and having your soil tested to help determine if fertilizer or lime needs to be added.

4 Upcoming Events September 19th: Fall Master Gardener Classes begin September 20th: Pinterest Club September 29th: Fall Gardening Series: Landscape and Garden Clean-up October 14th: Fall Lunch and Learn Series: Cooking for One or Two October 18th: Pinterest Club October 27th: Fall Gardening Series: Fairy Garden and Terrarium Workshop October 28th: 4-H Boo Bash October 29th: Rain Barrel Workshop (contact November 15th: Pinterest Club December 1st: Fall Gardening Series: Indoor Plants Please RSVP to the Hopkins County Extension Service at if you plan on attending! Follow us on Facebook! Hopkins County Horticulture Hopkins County Farmers Market Master Gardeners, Pennyroyal Interested in becoming a Master Gardener volunteer or Farmers Market vendor? Then contact the Hopkins County Extension Office at !

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