Gardens And Verses: October Tips

“Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers
we more than gain in fruits.”
— Samuel Butler

Continue to harvest crops and watch for frost in the forecast.

Clean the garden with consideration for pollinator nesting sites and food for birds by doing the following:

• Saving stems. Many pollinators need stems of various diameters as shelter for overwintering and nesting in spring, and they will utilize the hollow or pithy stems of native wildflowers or plants like raspberry, elderberry, yucca and roses. Prune dead wildflower stems to varying heights from 8” to 24” and leave them standing until new growth starts in spring. 

• Keeping flower heads of native plants that feed birds, including sunflowers, asters, goldenrod, coneflowers, blazing stars, Joe Pye weed and rabbitbrush.

• Leaving the leaves. Leaf litter is critical habitat in cold climates for pollinator eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises and adults, as well as other invertebrates that feed many types of wildlife.

Use fallen leaves to mulch trees, ornamental shrubs and tender perennials, and pile them into garden and vegetable beds as mulch.

Leave a thin leaf layer on lawns to decompose, add nutrients and retain moisture.

If you can’t repurpose it, add healthy garden waste to compost piles or bins.

Apply lasagna gardening to sod if converting lawn to garden area.

Bring container-grown herbs indoors. 

Turn off sprinklers and give them a blowout. 

Monthly garden tips are submitted by Park Hill Garden Walk organizer Kate Blanas. The Garden Walk, held every June, includes tours of some of the neighborhood’s most interesting and beautiful gardens. To suggest gardens or artists that could be featured, contact Paula Marinelli at paulagardenwalk@gmail.com.