Don’t we all enjoy our North Georgia fall season? Count me in, especially after a long, hot and extra-humid summer! In the garden, fall should be your busiest season overall on your property: planting winter annuals and spring bulbs, installing new or transplanted perennials, ornamental grasses, and shrubs, general clean-up, establishing new beds, transitioning your vegetable garden and taking a soil test for next year’s crops, adding lots of leaves to your compost pile, and most of all, taking the time to see the fruits of your labor.
Remember the most central piece of advice. It’s all about the SOIL to have a successful home landscape. Without the many nutrients required by plants, they will not thrive. There’s an adage: For every $1 you spend on a plant, you should spend $5 on your soil! Choose the right soil for the plant’s requirements, the right location on your property to meet these requirements, and the right type of mulch.
I prefer to think of fall as the first season of the gardening year. Our summers become the “crescendo” of beauty and rewards for your efforts invested in your own personal piece of this earth. Here are my favorite fall gardening tips:
Cool season annuals
- Refrain from planting your winter annuals or spring bulbs until October. If the weather is an “Indian summer,” don’t plant until Halloween.
- Pansies have “fussy” root systems, requiring very soft soil to be established quickly. They don’t tolerate “wet feet” or soggy soil. Mix in a 2-inch layer of organic material, such as Black Kow or Evergreen compost, or aged manure.
- Other great annuals that withstand our metro Atlanta weather conditions are Dusty Miller, snapdragons, violas, dianthus, parsley, stock (fragrant), and ornamental kales and cabbages. I appreciate the purple varieties over the soft green tone varieties because you…
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