Fall is about faith. Or, forethought. In Aesop fables’ terms, it separates the ants from the grasshoppers.
Historically, of course, fall is the time to gather in the harvest and store food for winter.
For gardeners whose interests encompass the entire landscape, however, fall also can include those things that we have faith will make next spring easier, more beautiful, more interesting, more. …
Antly Options
Consider, for example, the following possibilities -- all of which are likely to bring their greatest rewards many months after you’ve done them:
* Plant such spring-flowering bulbs as crocuses, tulips and daffodils any time between now and the end of October. Although you won’t actually see results until they sprout and bloom next spring, the bulbs will immediately start to develop roots.
* Plant shrubs and trees so they’ll be rooted and raring to go next spring – get a head start.
* Fertilize tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass lawns in September to help them thicken up and develop strong, healthy roots before winter. But, fertilize again in November to supply the reserves that help these turfs overwinter well and green up earlier next spring.
* Use fall’s pleasantly cool weather to build or install something you’ll enjoy next year – a “woodland path,” pergola, water feature, play area or the like.
* Start or add to a compost pile, using fall’s readily available, organic “leftovers.”
* As plants dry out and die where you grow annuals – whether they be flowers or vegetables – remove any that may harbor a disease. Mow the rest – several times if they’re tough. If you like, add an inch or two of mowed fall leaves or some grass clippings. Then till everything into the soil, having faith that the dead stuff will compost by spring.
The tilling itself will not only prepare planting beds long before spring rains arrive but also lessen the odds for pests’ being able to overwinter. Plus, wintertime’s freeze-thaw cycles will help break down any clods.
‘E-e-u-u-w’ Relationships
If there isn’t an Aesop’s fable about not fouling your own nest, there should be.
Whether it’s in the form of rain or irrigation, the water we mismanage in fall can turn cool-season lawn owners into a major polluter. For the most part, lawn fertilizer is the major pollutant. Runoff from landscapes is the carrier.
That fact has already led to new laws that restrict home-lawn fertilizer use in Minnesota and Florida. Undoubtedly, it’s a big part of why the No. 1 cause of wildlife poisonings reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is lawn chemicals.
How can that be?
Well, in today’s world we’ve got huge numbers of town and city dwellers with yards. Many truly believe in fertilizer’s benefits, even if they’re also wary about using “-cides” (insecticides, herbicides, etc.). Together, they can have a huge impact.
The reason these homeowners fertilize is to encourage healthy, good-looking plant growth. That’s a good thing, not a risk. They don’t think of the fertilizer itself as some kind of serious, carefully planned, to-the-penny investment. It simply isn’t the bottom-line input that it is for farmers – unless, perhaps, they’re trying to sell their house
So, homeowners can have their own unique meanings for “enough,” “too much,” “waste,” and “follow label directions.”
Be honest now:
-- Would you personally put off fertilizing because tomorrow’s forecast includes rain? (“After all, we’re supposed to water in fertilizer, aren’t we?”)
-- If you spilled a little fertilizer on your driveway as you were filling the spreader, would you actually stop to sweep it up and put it in the spreader or on the lawn? (“That’s what wind is for, isn’t it?”)
-- Do you actually know the square footage of your lawn and use that figure to calculate exactly how much fertilizer to apply? (“If a little is good, then a lot. …”)
-- To ensure that the fertilizer you apply stays on your lawn, do you plan and prepare for how best to handle slopes? Do you take particular care on lawn edges? (“If it’s in the gutter, it’s the neighbors’ share.”)
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, you haven’t been paying attention to the advice coming from today’s engineers and watershed specialists
You see, storm drain systems don’t take excess irrigation and rain – plus any “stuff” the water picks up along the way – to a municipal water treatment plant. Instead, everything that washes down a gutter ends up in a local stream, creek, river or lake.
The EPA says that’s already been leading to polluted drinking water, beach closings and endangered wildlife. In the case of fertilizer-carrying runoff, however, the end result has included scummy explosions of water-plant growth.
High volumes of phosphorous- and nitrogen-fed algae can make a clear lake look like pea soup. If the lake is a drinking water source, the algae make filtering a lot more difficult and costly. They often cause taste and odor problems, too.
Of course, algae do have their very own cycle of life. And, when they die, they drop to the water’s floor and decompose.
Unfortunately, that final part – the decomposing – actually strips the bottom water of oxygen. Many, if not all of the fish that live there suffocate. And, the oxygen-poor water produces hydrogen sulphide – best known for its rotten egg odor.
As one current toiler bowl cleaner ad says: “E-e-u-u -w.”
Moral: Keep your fertilizer to yourself … on your yard, that is.
[See the previous week’s column.]
-30-