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Flower Beds
The long lazy days of summer have gone and now it is time to prepare the flower beds for
winter. No more weeding, watering or pruning. The time has come to tuck the plants in for the
long winter ahead. The big decision now becomes whether to cut down these plants or leave
them standing throughout the winter months. Some let them stand as the snow acts as insulation
in some cases and a source of moisture. You can protect perennials and shrub beds with mulch of
the flowers mixed with pine needles, compost, peat moss or chopped leaves. This will help
protect the soil and plant roots.
Your garden should be cleaned up in the fall. This involves removing any left over stalks or
vegetables, old flower ruminants and such. This will help prevent disease in the spring. Pull out
any remaining flower stalks from your flowerbed. Now is the time to prepare the soil for early
spring planting, turn over the soil and add any mulch such as leaves, compost, or well seasoned
manure. Then when spring rolls around again, all you have to do is give your beds a light raking.
When this is done, this is the time to plant any bulbs that you want to grow in the spring. When
buying bulbs, make sure they are good quality bulbs as the cheaper ones are not worth the effort.
Remember the larger the bulb is, the larger the bloom will be in the spring. Look for plumpness,
clean skin, and firmness. This should ensure that come spring you will have the pay off for these
qualities by having beautiful blooms.
One of the best mulches you will ever find is the leaves from your trees. These can be piled up in
a container to compost or you can work some of the dead leaves directly into your beds. Either
way you will find its benefits. It's nature's gift to the gardener.
This is also the time to bring any plants that you want inside into the house. Make sure you wash
them with sudsy water to make sure there are no bugs that want to keep hanging on. Also, repot
them into clean soil. Don't use garden soil, but if you have to bake it in the oven on a high heat.
This somewhat sterilizes the soil from any bugs that might be in it.
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