As you are doing some fall clean-up, putting your garden to bed and thinking about what you'd like to add to your lawn and garden next year, consider planting some new things now!
This time of year is just right to plant certain trees, shrubs and perennial flowers. Their root systems will have time to get situated before the ground freezes. And, as a bonus, garden centers and nurseries hold annual fall sales.
If you're game for a shopping-and-planting spree, make a list of what you need and then list a couple of alternatives for each. For instance, you may want a certain type of tree, shrub or perennial but if your local garden center or nursery doesn't have it, you'll want some ideas for other plants to purchase.
Try coming up with a main list and then alternative varieties of the same plant or tree. As long as your understudies are similar enough and can grow in your lawn or landscape, you'll do just fine.
Go about this fall-planting considering the plant's risk-factor and how it overwinters. For instance, perennials flowers and plants would carry the least risk; you plant them, the roots survive and the plant dies back to overwinter.
A deciduous tree or shrub drops all its leaves and overwinters. And then finally, the ones that might need a little more pampering would be the evergreens as they hold their needles all year and they're transpiring moisture all winter long.
When you're at the garden center, the first thing you want to do is check to see if you have a healthy plant. Look for broken branches or signs of disease. Look at the root system.
Then once you have your new plant or shrub at home, choose the right location. Consider sun and shade and well-drained soil. Make sure you'll be able to dig the right sized hole for it, too.
Once you're set on location, pop the plant or tree out of its pot and shake out the roots by knocking off a lot of potting soil.
This gives you a chance to examine the roots more closely. Your new tree or shrub's root system can give you clues as to whether its stressed and might need some extra TLC.
You might see roots that are circling, or you may see just a few of them. In either case, tease them out so they are actually pointing away from the crown of the plant.
And if you have to prune them, you should. It won't hurt the plant to prune this time of year.
Want more tree-planting tips? Vermont Garden Journal: Fall Is A Great Time To Plant Trees And Shrubs
Once you have the roots spread out and the proper-sized hole dug, put it into the hole at the right depth, backfill it with native soil and keep it well-watered.
If you can plant this weekend, you'll have about six to eight weeks before the ground freezes in most parts of the state. That's how long the roots are going to need to get established into the native soil.
They will grow to temperatures around 40 degrees. Consider putting a tree wrap on the trees to protect them from mice and voles and maybe a little woodchip mulch around the base of the plant or perennial flowers. Then look forward to enjoying your new plants, trees and shrubs for next year.
Q: Is there any effective method to eliminate bindweed from my flowerbeds? I've tried weeding and selective use of Precision Roundup on the leaves. I've met with no success, as the bindweed randomly appears in the flowerbeds. I dispose of any bindweed in the garbage so as not to spread it. Help! - Celeste, via email
A: Bindweed is a tough weed to control. If it's still just occasionally here and there and you mostly have flowers, then continue to be very diligent about pulling it out, especially in the spring after it rains. That's when you can get a lot of the root system out at the same time.
Try planting a few more flowers in there so the weeds gets crowded out.
However, if you have mostly bindweed and not as many flowers, then you might want to start all over. That would mean pulling out those perennial flowers that you want to save, mowing the whole thing down and throwing a tarp over the top. Then leave that space covered for a year to try to weaken that bindweed.
Once the year has passed, pull that tarp off and as the bindweed comes up, start pulling it out as it sprouts. It will be weakened and a bit easier to get on top of it. It's not an easy solution, but if you stay diligent, you can eliminate most of it.
All Things Gardening is powered by you, the listener! Send your gardening questions and conundrums and Charlie may answer them in upcoming episodes.
You can also leave a voicemail with your gardening question by calling Vermont Public at 1-800-639-2192.
Hear All Things Gardening during Weekend Edition with Vermont Public host Mary Williams Engisch, Sunday mornings at 9:35.
Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or get in touch by tweeting us @vermontpublic. We've closed our comments. Read about ways to get in touch here.
