Love Birds and Pollinators? Don't Clean the Fall Garden by Carol King

lowes.com

Most gardeners love having birds and pollinators visit their gardens. Many of us are actively planting pollinator habitats, while feeding the birds just goes with the territority! As the garden season ends, most of us think fall is the time to tidy the garden. Recent science tells us this is not the case if we want to promote both pollinators and bird habitat.  Here are several things you don’t need to do in the fall:

Don’t Rake the leaves.

• Leaves rot and enrich the soil and they can act as mulch in your perennial beds. Mulch helps to protect the roots and maintains much needed moisture for winter survival.
• Birds forage for food in leaves because they harbor insects and their eggs and larvae. A healthy layer of undisturbed soil and leaf litter means more moths which in their caterpillar phase are a crucial food source for birds. Birds feed their young almost exclusively on caterpillars regardless of the bird species. They consume thousands of caterpillars and other pest insects as they raise their young every gardening season. Did you know the more insect-nurturing habitat you have, the greater the bird population will be?
• Leaves provide home for praying mantises, spiders, ladybugs, many butterfly species, and countless species of beneficial insects. Cleaning up causes casualties in these insects who eat the bad guys.
• Using a mulching mower on leaves and leaving them on the lawn will nourish your grass providing free fertilizer.

Harvesting and Storing Vegetables by Donna Duffy

The seasons are certainly changing in Jefferson County, Colorado. It's time to harvest the  vegetables still growing in your garden.  Following are several tips to prolong your harvest of root crops, squash, pumpkins, cabbage, celery, kale and collard greens.

Harvesting

• Root Crops can remain where they are grown until there is a danger of soil freezing. Postpone harvesting by hilling the soil over the shoulders of carrots and beets to protect from freezing. If straw and soil are piled over the row as insulation, harvest may be delayed even longer.

• Harvest onions soon after the tops fall over. Pull the onions, remove the tops, and cure the onions in mesh bags or crates where they have good air circulation until the necks dry down. When they rustle upon handling, they are ready to move to a cool, dry storage area.

• Do not harvest winter squash and pumpkins until the vines are frost-killed and the skin is hard to the thumbnail. Leave stems on the fruit to protect against disease invasion.

• Celery and late cabbage may be harvested after the frost has stopped their growth. Pull celery with its roots attached. Cut cabbage and remove the loose outer leaves.

• Kale and collards can be left in the garden long after the first fall frost. Harvest as needed until the foliage finally succumbs to cold weather.

Fall Vegetable Garden Cleanup by Audrey Stokes

Photo by Audrey Stokes

You and your fall garden benefit when you give your plants the same TLC in fall as you do in spring and summer. A vegetable garden left unattended through winter provides a cover for pests and disease. 

Plant disease agents such as bacteria, fungi and viruses all remain alive, though dormant, during the winter months. By recognizing the places where these organisms hide, gardeners can often destroy them and prevent disease outbreaks the following spring. Many fungi spend the winter on or in old leaves, fruit and other garden refuse. These fungi often form spores or other reproductive structures that remain alive even after the host plant has died. Cucumber and squash vines, cabbages, and the dried remains of tomato and bean plants are all likely to harbor fungi if left in the garden over the winter.

Insects, too, survive quite nicely over the winter months. Cucumber beetle, Colorado potato beetle and Mexican bean beetle all overwinter as adults. In spring they migrate to young plants where they feed and lay eggs for a new generation. Insects and plant pathogens survive on weeds as well as on garden plants. Many weeds serve as alternate hosts for insects and fungi, helping them to complete their life cycle. Destruction of these weeds removes a source of future troubles.

Planting and Growing Fall Bulbs by Carol King

owtdoor.com

The gardening season is winding down but remember how beautiful those tulips and daffodils were in April and May? Fall bulb planting is an easy way to jump-start the spring gardening season. September and October are the best months for planting those spring blooming bulbs. Planting now will allow ample time for the bulbs to become well rooted before the ground freezes.

Here are a few simple tips for successful bulb planting:

• Plant the bulbs at a depth consistent with the level indicated on the planting chart. As a general rule, this depth is four times the height of the bulb between the soil surface and the tip of the bulb. 
• Plant the bulbs with the growing tip up.
• After the ground freezes, cover the bed with a 3-inch mulch to prevent alternate freezing and thawing that breaks roots and damages bulbs
• Purchase bulbs in early for best selection and variety. Choose bulbs that are large and free from disease or decay. To ensure higher quality, pick out bulbs individually.
• Select a variety of bulbs that will provide a long-lasting show in spring. Many suppliers will indicate the bloom time (early, mid or late) and mature height. Choose bulbs of varying heights for each bloom time to prolong color and add interest to the spring garden.

Planting now will ensure your  spring garden is beautiful!  Here is further information:

http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/yard-garden/fall-planted-bulbs-and-corms-7-410/ 

A Visit from the Painted Ladies By Joyce D’Agostino

Photo by Joyce D'Agostino

Recently I noticed a large group of colorful butterflies on my fall aster plants. These butterflies are Vanessa cardui more commonly known as the Painted Ladies.

Due to favorable spring conditions in California, which helped these butterflies find the right host plants to lay their eggs, and then favorable weather and host plant conditions during the summer to aid in their nutrition, these colorful insects are numerous this year.  

Browning Evergreen Needles Normal by Mary Small

Photo by Carol King

Are your evergreens showing some browning and losing needles? Never fear! This is normal evergreen behavior.  It is not unusual for conifers to shed interior needles beginning in late summer and continuing well into fall.   In fact, all conifers (“evergreens”) including spruce, pine, fir, juniper and arborvitae lose their oldest needles every year. Contrary to what the name implies, “evergreens” are not really green forever. Their needles generally have a 2–4 year life span, although spruce trees live about 5-7 years. 

While needle loss occurs every year, the process is usually gradual, over a period of several weeks or even months, depending on species and weather. It’s so gradual, that you might not even notice the needle drop. Some species can shed needles in a fairly short period of time, making it look as though they’re in serious trouble. There is no need to treat evergreens for the condition.  

This fall and winter, ensure all evergreens are irrigated monthly in the absence of rain or snowmelt. Apply water so it reaches the absorbing roots.  For established plants, these are located a distance of two to three times the height of the plant away from it. For newly planted trees, apply water to the planting hole and just outside it. Always irrigate when the soil is unfrozen and able to absorb the water.  Studies show that fall-applied water has great benefit.  Roots are still active and can absorb water as long as soil temperatures stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  

For more information about winter evergreen care check here.

Harvesting Amaranth by Donna Duffy

Amaranth ready to harvest, photo by Donna Duffy

You can begin harvesting amaranth plants for greens almost immediately. Young greens are perfect for salads, while older greens are better when cooked like spinach. Seeds ripen about three months after planting, usually in the mid- to late summer, depending on when you planted. They are ready to harvest when they begin to fall from the flower head (tassel). Give the tassel a gentle shake. If you see seeds falling from the tassel, it’s amaranth harvest time.

It's Grape Harvesting Time by Donna Duffy

Candice grapes ready to harvest, photo courtesy John Crawford

Grape growers anticipate this time of year all season long. If Mother Nature has been cooperative, it’s finally time to take off the nets and harvest grapes. John Crawford, my neighbor in NE Lakewood, has been growing grapes and making wine for over three decades.

Got Milkweed? by Donna Duffy

Asclepias speciosa seeds about to disperse, photo by Donna Duffy

If you have  native Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) plants in your landscape, now is the time to decide how many more you want. Milkweed seed pods are bursting open and each one releases numerous seeds that love to drift to other parts of your yard and take root. That’s great if you want more Milkweed plants! But if you don’t, now is the time to take action.

Bee Flies in Colorado By Joyce D’Agostino

Bee fly on Lobelia, photo by Joyce D'Agostino

This summer while I was observing some bee activity on my flowers, I noticed an unusually fuzzy insect that was foraging for nectar. I was curious what it was so I sent a picture of this ‘bee’ to Mario Padilla, Entomologist at the Butterfly Pavilion. Mario specializes in bees but is also widely knowledgeable in the genus and species of many native and exotic insects.