Dig and divide. It is not too late to dig up mature perennials and divide them into smaller portions to replant around your garden, or give to some unsuspecting recipients. Do this sooner rather than later.
Wrap fruit trees. Wrap the trunk of fruit trees with a plastic spiral guard to prevent rodent damage in winter. Mice and rabbits can wreak havoc on young, tender bark.
Plant garlic cloves. One clove about 4 cm deep and 10 cm apart. Use loose, open, sandy soil as they like water to drain away from them. Your garlic crop will be ready to harvest next August.
Plant tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and the like. The Dutch produce these in prodigious quantities and varieties so that our Canadian spring is worth waiting for.
Backfilling holes with asters, mums, rudbeckia, butterfly bush. If you haven't been to the garden center since May 24 weekend, give them another visit! Not only are the fall colours beautiful, but leftover perennials are also likely on sale and happy to be popped into your garden at this time of year.
Wrap evergreens with two layers of burlap (late in October or early November, depending on where you live). One layer to protect against the burning sun as it reflects off snow and another to protect evergreens from wind. This is especially true for cedars, junipers and like, that are on the east side of a road, where they catch the prevailing west wind with salt spray.
After the first serious frost, dig up your dahlias and lay the 'bulbs' (tubers) in the sun to dry for a day or two. Store in a large, craft paper leaf bag with dry peat moss or shredded newspaper in a cool but DRY place. Plan to plant them up in March for a repeat performance next season.
Do not cut back fall flowering ornamental grasses, coneflower, rudebeckia and all of the autumn flowering plants that produce a seed head. The birds will forage the seeds well past the first snow fall.
Thickening the lawn. Grass is a cool season crop, so this is the perfect time of year to cover patches and improve your lawn's competitiveness against weeds.
Top-dress gardens with compost. Remember, 'digging in' compost is a thing of the past - all that disruption is just bad for the soil. Simply apply the compost to the surface of the soil and let the worms do the hard work of pulling it into the root zone.
Fallen leaves: mulch & rake. That is, mulch them with the lawn mower and rake them into the garden. Per above, the earthworms are more than happy to feast on these and turn them into beneficial organic matter.
Harvest. Any time now, frost is going to finish off your veggie garden, so start collecting those pumpkins and squash. By now, your pumpkins will be pretty maxed out for size, so take a minute to appreciate what you've accomplished.
Look for the new edition of Harrowsmith Almanac. Amazingly packed with essential information. https://www.harrowsmithmag.com/subscribe
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