Take Action (eco-tips)

It’s gotten colder here and all of our vegetables have been picked and our flowers clipped so we’ve decided to put the beds to rest for the winter. We thought we’d share a few tips with you that we’ve used to ensure a good start to next season. Autumn cleanup is thought of as spring planning. Save the seeds for planting or give them away as holiday gifts. Pull out any remaining vegetables and fruit, dead annuals and all stalks for vines. These are prime habitat locations for voles, mice and other small rodents. Even though you won’t be using the gardens through the winter, weed thoroughly and eliminate those horrible invasive weeds that could become a problem. Bring less hardy herbs like basil, parsley and rosemary indoors for the winter. More rugged herbs like lavender and sage can survive through the winter. Use organic mulch but don’t mulch until the ground is frozen; remember that it doesn’t keep the ground warm, but it keeps it frozen. Mix up raked leaves, grass clippings and dead annuals and stalks and pile it three to five inches high on the garden. As far as trees or shrubs, don’t mulch right up to the stems; spread it around the roots only. By spring, it should all be rotted and can be turned, once again, back into the soil. One last tip: don’t stop watering just because the weather has gotten colder. It’s still important, especially for woody plants, to be well-watered going into their dormant season. Via ::AMC Outdoors