What I do know is that the animals (that includes me) are thinking: Yay! a reprieve before the long cold winter! Time to finish up that seed gathering, hibernating den building, fat-building-for-the-long-flight-south! And the animals must be thinking the same way...
Seriously, the temperature swings help motivate me to get out early in the day to do all those chores that will cause great a Winter-long guilt if I neglect them. A cool day helps the last of the weeds come easily out of the ground and a sunny day encourages pruning and a thorough raking. Here's my list of September tasks:
- Shasta Daisies, Echinacea and Rudbeckia get cut 'way back. I don't leave too much green behind when I trim them because I know that if there isn't too much snow, they'll put out some growth even in winter. The Hollyhocks and Foxgloves (both biennials) will just get their flower stalks cut down.
- Herbaceous flowering plants like the Peonies are beginning to fade, with the stems flopping and the beautiful green leaves looking worn and tired. I usually cut them down sometime before I head inside for the Winter - they go down to the ground even if a few leaves still look green. They'll be back in the Spring, growing from their roots.
- The ornamental grasses (Blue Oat Grass and "Karl Foerster", a feather reed grass) are left standing through winter. I know a lot of gardeners who either cut them back in the Fall or in the Spring but I've found that the stubby grass left behind keeps the clump from filling in well. So in the
Spring, I get some vinyl palmed gloves and "comb" through the new leaves, gently pulling out the old, dead ones. It's tedious and hard on the back but I like the look better in Summer with only new leaves and seed heads on the plant.
- Once everything is cut down or back, I rake up everything. Everything! All the cut stems, fallen leaves, flower buds that dropped off, weeds that died a natural death (hidden under all the blooming plants). Anything left behind can become a winter haven for some of the insects we particularly despise, like earwigs, weevils, and caterpillars that will grow into destructive moths next Spring (if you have an Apple tree, the codling moth may have hidden some larva under the fallen apple leaves this Fall). Any of the refuse that's healthy can be composted.
- Those of us who live in the States that get snow in Winter, often forget to water if the snow is skimpy. The plants may be in hibernation mode, but they aren't dead; they need some kind of water all year. If it doesn't fall from the sky every 6 to 8 weeks, we have to get out the hose and water deeply. It feels strange to be bundled up, wearing a wool hat and mittens and holding a watering hose, but the alternative is to replace your plants next Summer when they have more dead branches than green ones.
- The sight of clean, damp earth around my plants is always so satisfying, which may be why I like to get my mulch from the Bend Landfill. They sell aged compost from a huge pile
which has been sitting and steaming for months (a year?), the weed seeds have been killed and the decomposition has begun. It's a dark brown material and I like to spread it about 3 or 4 inches deep around my plants after I've watered and the temperatures have dropped. Kind of like a tender blanket, tucking them in for the winter. I never push the compost/mulch up against the stems or trunks, though, since that just invites any insects to winter-over against my plant.
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