13 - Fridzy, September 22, 1989 -

North Shore News

Your autumn gardening tasks
can be as much fun as football

I REALIZE there are a few of you who actually look
forward to the withering of that last garden annual.

It is viewed as a signal to change
your focus from gardening to the
World Series, NFL football pools,
or pre-booking your winter holi-
days to Hawaii.

Far be it for me to criticize. Just
because the garden has potentially
so much more to offer is no reason
for me to accuse you of being a
worthless laggard and no-account
loafer. Someone has to try to grow
spuds on the sofa; shame on you!

Yes, the weather wili soon
bocome cold and wet and the
garden will be increasingly bare
and drab, but why sweat the
details? :

With a little effort, you can
make fall in the garden as enter-
taining as watching Largent go in
for a record-breaking touchdown
or George Bell knock one out of
the park. (Notice how I carefully
avoided the topic of Hawaii?)

As a matter of fact, this is the
best time of the year to do much of
your planting and transplanting.
Especially rhododendrons, azaleas,
and other broad-leaved evergreens
with fibrous root systems.

The warm days and cool, damp

evenings provide idea! planting
conditions for this group of
shrubs. The growing season is
over, so most of the energy output
is directed towards the production
of new roots. This is encouraged
now as the soil still retains much of
the past summer’s heat (such as
there was)!

It is stil] a little early to be
relocating your deciduous and co-
niferous evergreen trees and
shrubs. Wait until the leaves begin
dropping off the local trees and the
soil becomes wet enough to hold
together as a root ball.

Newly purchased, container-
grown plants are a different story.

These plants have their root
systems intact because they were
not severed while digging them out
of the ground. This being the case,
it is safe to plant them any time of
the year.

The same can be said of field-
grown trees and shrubs that were
dug during the previous dormant
season; They have had the oppor-
tunity to begin to develop new
feeder roots while sitting in their
burlap sacking.

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Fall is the best time for
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As long as extra attention is
given to watering during the hot-
test periods of the growing season,
these plants wil! easily overcome
the ordeals experienced without
too much damage or setback.

try to reduce inventories before
winter.

There are few things more pre-
dictable than death and taxes, but
here is one of them. That two-
gallon juniper priced at $12.95 will

over the

garden gate

The benefit of waiting until this
time of year is that your plants will
suffer little if any transplant
shock. And, even if you are not
precise with your watering
timetable during the occasional hot
spell, there is little chance of any
severe damage occurring.

Another major benefit experi-
enced when fall planting newly
purchased materials are the
bargains. The iocal garden centres
are full of clearout specials as they

Geoff Tobiasson

likely be $14.95 next year. And it
will be no bigger then than it is
now.

The rules for fall planting are
similar to those at other times of
the year. Even though your plants
will be more forgiving of the stress
that is placed upon them, it is wise
to minimize it.

Step one: plan. Step two: Plan!
Step three: PLAN!

Do not buy plants because they
look good; buy them because they

1/ PRICE

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suit you and your garden’s needs.
Impuse buys are seldom the correct
buys.

Once you have armed yourself
with a shopping list, it is safe to
vist! the store. Beware of
drought-burned leaves, excessive
insect and/or disease damage, and =
overly root-bound plants.

Look for heaithy plants; a plant
is no .bargain if it dies or, even
worse, lingers on, looking near
death for years to come.

Once you have the plant home,
prepare the planting site well. Dig
a hole that is at least twice as wide
and deep as the plant’s existing
root ball. Condition the excavated
soil with compost, composted steer
manure, or peat moss.

Fill the hole with the recondi-
tioned soil to a depth that will lift
the existing rootball level with the
surrounding grade. If you plant it
too deep or too high, it cculd
perish.

Add a little 6-8-6 fertilizer at
label rates and soak the soil
around the root ball.

Regular applications of water
are recommended until the fall
rains begin (another competitor for
death and taxes) and reapply fertil-
izer in spring. And sow it grows.

HY '
CONCRETE PLANTERS |

OUTDOOR LIGHTING |

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