Vine maple at Santiam Pass. Don't stop reaping beauty from the garden just because summer's over. Autumn offers a bounty of berries, leaves and blooms for seasonal bouquets.
Early:
• Plant garlic and fava beans.
• Finish planting spring-blooming bulbs.
• Broadcast lime on lawns, fallow vegetable beds and other garden areas with low pH. Give the lawn its last feeding of the year, if you haven't already.
• Protect built-in sprinkler systems: Drain them, flush pipes and tubing, insulate hose bibs and exposed pipes, bring in portable automatic timers.
Mid-month:
• Good time for planting or moving shrubs, trees, grasses and perennials. It's also a good time to buy trees or shrubs for fall color; you'll see what's coloring up nicely at the nurseries.
• Discard diseased garden clippings rather than composting.
• Mulch bare garden areas to prevent erosion and soil compaction.
Late:
• Container plants still need a shot of water now and then.
• Done for the season? Clean, oil and store tools. Drain and store hoses away. Empty the fuel tank and clean the underside of power mowers.
• Mow over leaves to chop them; then add to compost pile or use as mulch.
-- Homes & Gardens staff
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