Fall filled with jobs around the gardens

Fall is my favorite season. At the end of the workweek, after days of classroom confinement and evenings spent in front of a computer screen, I spend blue-sky Saturdays helping Marjorie prepare the garden for winter.

September can be a busy month in Marjorie’s garden. There is still time to plant new trees and shrubs as well as bearded iris, peonies and the bulbs of daffodils, tulips and crocuses. And it is not too late to transplant the shrub that needs a sunnier spot in the garden. As new plants get started, exhausted tomato and pepper plants are dumped from their pots onto the compost pile, mixed with the remains of annuals that filled our summer with color.

Soon Lynne will pull the last carrots and turnips from her Plant a Row bed, hopefully in time to sow the bed with seeds of winter rye. When tilled into the soil next spring, this winter cover crop will enrich the soil with organic matter.

Seeds sown by late September (21/2 pounds of seed per 100 square feet) produce a grassy groundcover that continues to grow through fall and holds the soil together through winter. In early spring, after the snow melts, the still green rye plants will resume growth. We wait until late May to till the bed, then wait two more weeks before planting to allow breakdown of growth-inhibiting chemicals present in the fresh rye.

Through October we keep a close eye on the viburnums for signs of the leaf beetle, pruning away any stem tips that contain egg casings. We are still managing to grow susceptible species, including arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum), wild raisin (V. nudum cassinoides), and maple-leaf viburnum (V. acerifolium), despite the presence of this serious pest in our immediate area. The viburnum leaf beetle is well-established in all parts of the state now and these species, as well as the popular cranberry bush viburnum (V. opulus trilobum), are its preferred host.

Vigilant removal of infected stems in the fall is an effective method of controlling the leaf beetle. Look for the small, oval, brown egg casings arranged in straight lines on the newest stem growth. Cut these off and burn them. Be mindful that this will be an annual chore from now on, since new adult beetles may find your viburnums next spring.

Late in November, when the soil is well-frozen, we end the gardening year by covering the perennial beds with evergreen boughs to keep the soil frozen during January thaws. This is essential for tender perennials, such as delphiniums and coneflower (Echinacea), which would otherwise lose some hardiness during a midwinter thaw and be killed by subsequent freezes.

After cutting back the plants to within six inches of the soil, we lay the boughs down in an interlocking pattern, two layers deep, and hope for snow to fill the spaces to form the perfect winter blanket. The boughs are removed in early spring, when new growth begins. While we use whatever is available, we prefer white pine boughs because they keep their needles through the winter, unlike boughs of fir and spruce, which leave behind a mess to clean up when removed.

By December the garden’s work is done for the year. Looking out the window with our backs to the fire, dried seed heads of ornamental grasses and tall sedums punctuate the frozen landscape. We hunker down for the long wait.

Send queries to Gardening Questions, P.O. Box 418, Ellsworth 04605, or to reesermanley@shead.org. Include name, address and telephone number.