WOODBURN SHERWOOD GRESHAM WILSONVILLE SHOP ONLINE HOME ABOUT US TIPS & INSPIRATION GROWING GUIDES ON SALE FROM AL'S EXPERTS September Gardening Tips! Annie Ruef As the weather cools down, and Fall being just around the corner, your yard deserves some refreshment. September is not only a good time to refresh your garden, but by renewing your garden, you are giving it a jump start for Spring! Tips on What to do Outside! Here are some tips you might not be thinking right now as you are enjoying the nice weather we are having. I know, I did not think about any of these tips until I sat down to write and realized I needed to start refreshing and renewing my own space. Fall is a great time for planting! Read this Why Fall Planting? article to find more out about why Fall is such a good time! Plant your Fall vegetables. Root crops like chives, bunching onions, radishes and carrots are good to plant right now. Leaf crops like broccoli, lettuces and spinach are also great Fall vegetables to plant. After your harvest is done plant a cover crop seed mix over your flower and vegetable beds. This type of mix helps prevent erosion and helps keep your soil from getting compacted with all the winter rain. This mix also helps to fix nitrogen and add nutrients into the soil to help with the soil structure. Plant your bulbs! For a great spring surprise. Often, I forget I planted something in the fall and then come spring it is a nice surprise! Pest and disease management. Put out your slug and snail bait before they have the chance to lay eggs. Put pre-emergent down (preen and corn gluten) so that cold season weed germination doesn’t have a chance in your flower beds. Put Liquid Copper on your rose bushes, maples, lilacs and other trees and shrubs that are susceptible to fungal issues. Make sure to clean all the leaves away and spray the ground and the whole plant once all the leaves have fallen. Think about it as if wherever a leaf falls from is an open wound and the copper comes in and helps to heal and protect the wound from diseases getting in. Use Transplant Fertilizer when planting this fall! It is a great way to help your roots get a jumpstart. Fertilize your evergreen plants with Slow-Release Fertilizer. Especially your conifers! Evergreens need a bit of a boost going into winter so that their roots have a good jump and their foliage can be refreshed with some new energy staying evergreen throughout the colder months. Low nitrogen fertilizer is your friend (when it comes to plants). Nitrogen pushes top growth on plants. So, the lower the nitrogen the better (low nitrogen in fertilizer would be Organic Slow-Release Fertilizer with the formulation 10-4-8 or 8-2-4). You want low nitrogen so that the plants can focus on making the roots stronger and not just the tops of them stronger. When it comes to your lawn on the other hand Nitrogen is your friend. You want that top growth to flourish. When looking at lawn fertilizers you want something that has nitrogen. Don’t forget about the Lime too! September is a great time to Lime and Fertilize your lawn. September is also a great time to establish a new lawn and spray out weeds that you might not want in your lawn. After you spray out the weeds you can re-seed! Reduce the amount you water. Watch the weather and once it cools down and the rains start you can cut back on the amount of water you are using on your plants. Prune what you can see is dead. Right now you can see what branches might be dead in that tree that is over where you park your car. It is a good time to clear out the dead while you can see what doesn’t have leaves. That way, when winter hits and the dead branches are weaker than the rest of the tree they will not fall onto your parked car! Don’t Forget Your Indoor Plants. Your indoor plants need some love too! As the days get shorter make sure that your houseplants are in a South or West facing windows because those will get the most light throughout the winter months. If you took them outside, it is time to bring them back in before the first frost hits. Don’t forget to wipe your plants down and really look to make sure there are no pests lurking around. If there are pests, Neem oil works great to deter pests and makes it hard for insects to grow and lay eggs. Re-pot and fertilize. You can tell that your plant is ready to be re-potted if there are roots sticking out of the bottom of the pot, the roots are pushing the plant up out of the pot or the plant may be growing slower. Fertilizing is important to remember because it helps the plants get some nutrients they might not normally get especially if they are inside. Key Takeaways: Plant right now. Pest and Disease Management is important. Fertilize. Fertilize your Lawn. Reduce Water usage. Prune dead branches. Don’t forget Indoor Plants! 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