It may be time to shop, but before you wrap those Christmas presents, consider wrapping up your fall gardening chores. North Central Texas’ long growing season is finally winding down, but there’s still important work to do to ensure your landscape is healthy. Before you hang up your work gloves, consider the following end-of-season tasks:
Tidy Beds: Do not rush to tidy your landscape beds, but plan to complete debris removal by late winter before the start of next season’s growth. Remove excessive leaves and spent foliage, which could hold excess moisture next to or atop plants. Toss any diseased or pest infested plant parts in the trash, not the compost pile.
Support Wildlife: While it is tempting to cut back all your annuals and perennials, resist the urge to over-clean the beds. Many native perennials, such as grasses, purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans have seed heads that help feed birds during winter. Standing stems offer shelter for overwintering pollinators and dead foliage is used for nest building. Fallen leaves shelter toads and beneficial insects. Evergreen shrubs supply berries and safe cover for birds. And native trees such as oak produce nuts and fruit to sustain many species.
Add Mulch: A fresh layer of mulch about two-to-three inches deep will help to regulate soil temperature, suppress winter weeds and minimize soil erosion. Shredded hardwood mulch works best as it slowly breaks down and adds nutrients to the soil. Chopped leaves also make excellent mulch, although they are prone to shift position due to rain, wind or wildlife. Chopped leaves can be mixed with hardwood mulch to maximize the beneficial properties of both. Avoid piling mulch up against tree/shrub trunks or atop plants where moisture can invite rot.
Prepare Soil: As you tidy your landscape beds, enrich your soil by adding fresh compost. Not only does it improve soil texture, but its nutrients also boost microbial life. In turn, these soilborne microscopic organisms will make nutrients available to plant roots. Also at this time, you may add more soil or landscape mix to beds that need freshening. There’s no need to till the soil to work in amendments. Disturbing the soil is potentially harmful.
Water Wisely: In winter, it is harder to gauge a landscape’s water needs. Although many plants are dormant, they still have moisture needs. The trick is not to overwater! As the weather cools, turn sprinkler systems to manual so that they are easier to turn on and off. If there is no rain, landscapes generally need water once a week — every two weeks if the plants are drought tolerant. Most lawns are also dormant in winter. Water two-to-three days in advance of a hard freeze. Hydrated plants are less likely to suffer freeze damage. Never water in freezing weather! Have systems checked for leaks. Soggy soils rot roots and other underground structures.
Mow Leaves: If your lawn is covered by a thick mat of leaves, rake them into small sections and mow the leaves with a mulching mower. A light layer of chopped leaves can be left on the lawn. It will decompose and add nutrients. Use excess leaves as mulch in landscape beds.
Protect Tender Plants: Hard freezes happen quickly. Move containerized tender plants to shelter. Keep frost cloth or old towels/sheets handy to cover sensitive plants, such as citrus or bougainvillea, that are large and hard to relocate. Be sure to wrap the container to protect the roots and remove the covers when temperatures rise.
Written and Photographed by LGMG Phyllis Webster
