From the Bulb and Blossom Club
Dried flowers represent the beauty of life cycles and the passage of time. The summer season in South Louisiana is drawing to a close, gardens are beginning to wither and it is time to prepare your garden for a new phase of life. Fall gardening is essential for creating a garden that endures the seasons.
The transition from summer to fall is a good time to refresh your garden.
Cleaning up summer plants keeps your garden healthy and makes things tidy and ready for the next season. Weeds thrive in heat and deprive the rest of the garden from water and nutrients. It is important to pull them before they get out of hand.
Deadhead perennials to clean up the appearance of your garden and encourage any late blooming.
Use sharp, clean pruners to trim those that are starting to fade or show signs of disease by cutting a few inches above ground or healthy growth. Be sure to leave healthy green leaves on plants, they may still be actively growing or storing energy for winter. Remove any annuals that have finished blooming or beginning to decline. Any cut or removed plants can be composted as long as they are disease and pest free, otherwise throw them away.
Leave some seed heads for birds and avoid cutting back everything. Some garden litter provides valuable shelter for overwintering pollinators and beneficial insects.
Continue to harvest fruits and vegetables; undesirable insects are drawn to overripe vegetables.
After fall cleanup, test your soil for pH and nutrient levels to find out what the soil needs. Testing the soil will provide answers to what the soil is lacking.
Luster Leaf sells a soil test kit for about $15. It contains 4 tests, pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. Amend the soil by adding what nutrients are needed.
A good way to generally replenish nutrients is by work in compost or well-rotted manure. Finish off with a thin layer of mulch and your garden is ready for planting.
Pansies and petunias are great fall blooming flowers that provide nectar and pollen.
Many pollinators are migrating or preparing for hibernation. These flowers help this cycle of their life by providing food sources as the growing season declines.
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