it's october We are slowly coming to the end of this gardening season. While we're at it, there are things you can do now that will benefit your garden and landscape by next spring.
Fall is the best time of year to add compost to your soil. Compost will help add essential nutrients and improve soil structure. Compost-amended soil will also be more attractive to earthworms and other beneficial organisms.
Falling plant matter such as leaves, stems and flowers left in the soil will eventually add compost to the soil as it decomposes. If you already compost your yard waste, you probably have the compost you need, but if composting is something you've always wanted to do but haven't started, then you don't have time to. start and compost to use. . Lily
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Gardening: five steps to start composting in the garden
Compost can be purchased at garden centers. After planting, you can add it to the flower bed and vegetable garden. You should work the compost into the top 2-3 inches of soil. You can add compost around existing plants or work it into the ground.
Fall is also an excellent time of year to feed trees and shrubs with granular fertilizer. Trees and shrubs starve at the end of the growing season. Naturally, they absorb nutrients faster as they prepare for winter. Many garden centers sell fertilizer formulated for trees and shrubs. You can use a balanced fertilizer like 12-12-12 to feed a variety of plants.
It's not too late to control and eliminate weeds. There are weeds that produce nuts in the spring that will germinate this fall. We call them "cool season weeds". Chickweed and bitter cress are two of the most common. The seeds you sow in the spring will germinate in the fall. Applying another weed control cycle will prevent many of these seeds from germinating.
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It can also be used for weed control to control annual bluegrass and ryegrass. These are light green grasses that grow much faster than grass in the spring. Once grown, there is no way to remove it. These grasses/herbs produce their seeds in the spring when they sprout. Apply pre-emergence now to prevent those weed seeds from germinating.
For weed control in flower beds and lawns, you can use a product with a leveling herbicide. It is found in a product called Turf High-Yield and Ornamental Weed Inhibitor.
If you have broadleaf weeds growing in your lawn, you still have time to get them under control. This is one of the most effective times for weed control. I mentioned earlier that plants absorb nutrients more easily when the season ends. Weeds are plants, so they absorb nutrients even at this time of year. Thus, herbicide application may be more effective at this time of year.
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Most broadleaf grasses are perennials. This means that next season they will return to the ground from the roots. You can eradicate them safely with Fertilome Weed Free Zone. It is an excellent selective herbicide that can be used at temperatures up to 45 degrees.
This article originally appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer: Steps to Take Now to Improve Lawns and Gardens Next Spring
