It’s time to . . .
- Drain and winterize water features.
- Clean up the garden. Remove and discard any diseased foliage. Remove dead annuals and cut back perennials, leaving about a three-inch crown. Exceptions are butterfly bush and other late-bloomers that should be cut back in January or February, and other shrubby or late-blooming perennials, that may be cut back in early spring.
- Enrich the soil with organic materials. Add shredded leaves around perennials to decompose over the winter.
AVERAGE FIRST KILLING FROST IS OCTOBER 15 |
- Water lawn 3/4 inches a week, if the weather is dry.
- Fertilize lawn if it is green and the ground is not frozen. Use one pound of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.
- Rake leaves from lawn as soon as the trees are bare.
- After leaf-fall, water all woody plants well so they enter winter with adequate soil moisture.
- Protect trunks of young fruit trees from gnawing animals with bands of tar paper, roofing paper, or wire mesh two to three feet tall.
- Prevent winter sunscald damage to trunks of young, thin-barked, leafless trees by covering them with tree-wrap. Be sure to remove the wrap in April.
CSU Fact sheet 2.932
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