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Fall Garden Checklist
Did you welcome the first few first crisp days after an especially hot summer? Enjoy the fall weather while you work through this garden checklist for the end of the season.
Plant Bulbs for a Colorful Spring.
Give your future self the gift of early spring cheer! In the Broomfield area, spring-blooming bulbs like crocus and daffodil can usually be planted from mid-September to mid-October.
Tend to Perennials.
Herbaceous perennials will completely die back each winter. Prevent pests and diseases by removing dead foliage from these plants, but wait until after a couple hard freezes. Remember, if the leaves are still green, the plant is still photosynthesizing.
Plants with sturdier or woody stems can be left up through the winter, which will help insulate the plant, provide structural interest, and provide habitat for wildlife. Seeds from grasses and flowers are an especially good winter food source for birds.
Put the vegetable garden to bed.
Remove annual vegetables after they have stopped producing. Don’t skip the green tomatoes - they can continue to ripen off the vine for weeks. Root crops like carrots and turnips can be left in the ground for months to come and harvested as needed. Leave winter squash and pumpkins on the vine as long as possible, but be sure to remove them before a hard freeze.
Lay down mulch.
Renew mulch in vegetable and perennial beds. This will help protect plants from temperature extremes, conserve soil moisture and reduce winter weeds. If cleaning leaves out of your garden is a pain, just leave them! They’ll help protect your perennials, too.
Winterize Sprinkler Systems.
Whether you DIY or hire out this task, draining your irrigation system is a must to avoid water freezing in the system. Water left in pipes over the winter can freeze, damaging your irrigation system and leading to costly repairs next season.
Wrap sensitive trees.
Young or thin-barked trees like ginkgo, fruit trees, maple and linden can suffer from sunscald or frost cracks. Wrap these sensitive trees in mid-November, and don’t forget to remove the wrap in mid-April.
Prepare for the Unexpected.
Wildfire is part of nature in Colorado. If your home is located in or near natural vegetation, you live in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Add these “wildfire ready” landscaping tasks from the Colorado State Forest Service to your fall (and year-round) maintenance list.
Don’t Forget to Keep on Watering
After you blow out your sprinkler systems, watering will have to be done by hand, but watering through dry spells in the fall and winter is one of the most important practices for trees, shrubs and even lawns in Colorado.
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