IT IS SEPTEMBER, which means kids are back in school, summer is soon to be over — autumn arrives on Sept. 22 at 6:04 p.m.
Dew is now on the grass, dahlias are now dazzling, fall foliage is beginning to show, the harvest moon is near and frost for most of us is but a month away.
In other words, the transitional period is upon us.
We need to do several tasks now and in the next few weeks to ease it and make a smooth transfer in our yard and garden from sizzling summer time to awesome autumn.
Meal and mulch
So again, let me quickly reiterate the absolute advantage of bone meal — the miracle drug of the perennial world.
Please, give a dose to reduce your nitrogen fertilizers on your plants.
September, autumn and winter are the time to encourage new herbaceous growth on your plants, and that is precisely what nitrogen does.
So back off on high-nitrogen lawn foods, go easy on your vegetable garden and start to dilute or decrease your foliar feeds (i.e. Peters and Miracle Grow).
Remember that thick mulch and compost coverings are ideal fertilizer programs, so as areas in your yard begin to clear or be cut back, top dress with these wonderful products.
Not only do they enhance your soil’s fertility, but they prevent wind and rain erosion of your precious topsoil.
Next, think about all your newly planted trees, bushes, shrubs and perennials and realize just how vital it is that they go into dormancy with little or no stress.
Watering
We have had no measurable rain now for a month. Do not let fresh year-old or younger plantings go into fall dry — deep water them this week and then, of course, top dress with several inches of mulch.
Do this to any of your highly prized specimen trees, even if they have been in your yard for 50 years or more.
Planting
Now, let’s spend some time talking about new plantings.
It is crucial, if not essential, for the gardeners here on the Peninsula to plant it up now in the next couple of weeks if one wants a gorgeous autumn flowering display — meaning before Sept. 25.
Numerous, beautiful flowering plants are being shipped to the nurseries and greenhouses all over the Peninsula. Go see and purchase the new varieties of violas and pansy because, planted now, they will look marvelous all the way to next summer, which includes November, December, January and February as well.
Add Dusty Miller, snapdragons and alyssum along with perfect autumn perennials such as coral bells, ornamental grasses, sedums and asters.
Purchase the lovely and versatile autumn sedums, both upright and spreading, then pick up a tray or two of ornamental kale and cabbage, along with those bright garden mums.
Add a campanula or a fall flowering delphinium.
The trick is twofold. First, visit several vendors and pick out a diversified collection of annuals, bi-annuals and perennials.
Go all artsy on me and even add the new colorful rainbow effect of cool, frost-tolerant heritage vegetables like the brightly colored stock of Swiss chard and beets, the purple heads of cauliflower or get dried Indian corn, squashes and gourds for a cornucopia of harvest deck display.
The key, however, is to plant all this material now — very, very soon while the weather is warm and especially so is the soil. If you want these plants to actually grow well, size up and bloom prolifically, then they need to be in the ground early while the weather is good, the sun is still shining and the day length is long enough to grow nice specimens.
Even to wait a few weeks puts us into a new window of weather, and by then you want the new plants grown out of their potted root ball and adhering into the surrounding soil.
For perennial and bi-annuals, this early planting will greatly increase their survivability, and besides, right now is when supplies are at their peak.
Go do a gardening buying frenzy with a friend this coming week. And please … both of you … stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).