Q: How do I prepare my small flower bed for winter? I have a few black-eyed Susans that look pretty scary right now. Do I cut the tops off or what? I have some dead-looking petunias. Should I just pull them up and fill in the area with new soil or mulch?
A: Fall is often a better time to prepare flower and vegetable garden beds for new crops than spring. The weather is better, some organic material is available and the soil is not frozen or too wet to rototill.
The first thing to do is to analyze the success of this year's crops. How did the annuals, perennials and vegetables do? Why was that the case? Was there a problem with the weather, soil, sunlight or watering? Was the plant adapted for that kind of growing condition? For this year, did you find the time to do normal maintenance chores such as pruning, fertilizing, deadheading or watering? Did you take pictures of the bed when it was doing well and when it was looking its worst?
How many of the problems are things you can fix in the bed itself this fall? Can you change the drainage or soil texture by adding organic matter? Can you add some topsoil to change the angle of the bed so water flows better? Can you add some timbers around the bed to raise the whole thing by adding even more soil? Can timbers prevent water from flowing into the garden? How many questions can I type in a row? Was that another one? Am I kidding?
As you can see, there is a lot to think about. It may be time to start the whole bed over again, or it may just need a few plants moved to locations that fit their requirements better.
If there are annuals in the bed, they are going to die as winter weather and less sunlight come. As they start to look bad, it is best to remove as much of the plant as possible. If a bunch of roots come up with the soil, toss the whole thing. Don't spend a lot of time trying to get the roots unless the plant died of root rot. In that case, you should remove the roots and some extra soil where the roots were. If the plant was not diseased, throw the whole thing in the compost pile. If it was diseased, send it to the professional compost site if your city has one as part of your trash pickup program.
If you have perennials in the bed, they, too, are going to die back this fall. Some will die completely to the ground, leaving only a few dead leaves and flowering stalks. Others will only die partially, leaving green leaves and maybe even green flowering stalks with a few leftover flowers. Perennials can be cut back as they die back (even in May or June for early bloomers) or cut back all at once, even if they are still somewhat alive late in the fall. Many perennials have seeds growing on the tops of the old flower stalks that the birds will come and eat over the winter if you don't cut them off until spring. Some perennials spread all over the garden if you don't cut off the seed heads.
Any time you see dead leaves or flower stalks on the plant, you can cut them off. If the whole plant looks bad, get rid of it. Many times, bare mulch looks nicer than dead-looking plants. It is useful to know which plants are just going dormant and which ones are dying before you start yanking them out. Many good plants have disappeared from landscapes because someone mistakenly pulled out the wrong plants.
Once you have an area of bed cleared of plants, you can begin preparations for the next crop. Using your analysis, you may decide to add organic matter to the soil. Rototill or dig into the bed at least 6 inches deep for annuals and 1 foot deep for perennials. Deeper beds allow the plants to grow more roots, which means they will have more access to water and nutrients, therefore needing less watering and fertilizing. In the north, leave the soil roughly tilled so frost action can break it down and kill any insects. Don't add mulch to the new soil areas until spring. Add 2-3 inches of mulch over the tops of perennials that are completely dormant.
In warmer climates, you can replace summer annuals with winter annuals that like cooler weather. Whether or not you replant, you may also want to add a preemergent weed killer to stop weed seeds from germinating. Pansies, mums and kale are all good cool season crops that can last for many weeks in the fall and may even bloom again in the spring, even in the northern states. Be careful to keep them watered. Many people forget to water plants in the fall, because it is just not warm enough to make it seem like they need it. In hot summer areas, we plant vegetable gardens in the fall.
DIST. BY CREATORS.COM
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