CERTAINLY THE WEATHER has changed.
Just look how early it is dark, how long it takes for the sun to rise and did you feel how cold it was the last few mornings as you went out to get your newspaper?
The cold and damp will cause many problems.
If old foliage is allowed to lay on top of your precious perennials — damage will occur!
There will still be plenty of good days left to clean up the leaves, many of which have not fallen yet.
Meanwhile, as we progress through the month of October, let’s continue our dialogue on what gardening tasks change and become mandatory as the season progresses.
Scour the eaves
First, the rain has to go somewhere. If your eaves and gutters are plugged up and chocked full of falling leaves, all sorts of issues can ensue.
So go out and clean out your gutters now and again in a few weeks.
Be careful on the ladder.
Quit if you’re feeling fatigued so as not to fall or hurt yourself — or even better, convince a youngster to perform the work for you.
If the gutters overflow and spill out randomly, it will erode your landscape and funnel your efforts away from your garden and into other emergency tasks.
Too much water constantly dropping upon an area will not only flush away your beautiful mulch and topsoil, but can actually kill your plants, as saturated soil conditions can exist for weeks or even months on end.
Also, improperly working gutters cause massive icicles to form come winter.
This ice, when falling, can substantially harm plants below but can also damage your house, as its sheer weight can rip the gutter right off.
More likely, in our mild climate, will be the decay and rot of your building’s wood siding from an improperly working gutter or downspout.
A slippery sidewalk where algae has formed, or water pools that have frozen during the night, can cause a condition sure to send you on to your backside.
All of these tweaks or falls will keep you from enjoying your beautiful garden.
Plus, as the seasonal rains become more prevalent, they can actually drown out your compost piles.
Some moisture is great, in fact needed, but too much moisture brings decomposition to a standstill.
Look carefully at your compost and find a way to cover it, but keep in mind that piles need to breathe.
A tarp placed directly atop the pile or compost bin is not the solution. Have an airspace layer between the covering and the pile, making sure that you periodically remove it or water the pile because it can get hot and dry out.
If you have not done so, turn off your automatic irrigation system for the year. If need be, you can always hook up the hose for spot watering or manually run the systems.
The rain actually works in your favor by letting you know where poor drainage exists.
Poor drainage causes moss in your lawn, plants do poorly, puddles persist and large tracts of your yard to become a swamp.
Search for problems
Next time it rains hard, go outside with waterproof shoes on and look around for such problem areas.
See where puddles or heavy moss are forming, or where saturated soil persists.
Correct the problem by shoveling or using a hand trowel to create a trough to improve drainage.
In low-lying areas, fill in with soil. If they’re in your lawn, add grass seed.
Then, as following rains occur, you can see exactly how effective your methods have been and if you need to adjust things further.
Aerating your lawn also goes a long way in improving drainage in old compacted lawns. Now is the time to do it.
Finally, the rain will water in new grass seed, water in new plantings and soak in fertilizers, bone meal and lime (a miracle drug for lawns and flowers), so use this free falling rain service.
We are sure to have weeks of gray and overcast days ahead, so be ahead of the game by taking preventive actions early around your home and garden.
Then, sit back and enjoy your time, knowing that your woodshed is stacked full of dry wood and the woodstove is warming you as you sit in your favorite chair by the window, catching up on your gardening magazines and catalogs.
Just don’t eat up all of the Halloween candy at one time … and 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).
