Kathy’s Home & Garden Tips – Fall Is Here

Temperatures are getting cooler. We even had overnight lows in the high 40s! Daytime temps will still reach the 80s on occasion, but they will be fewer. Around the Chicagoland area, we are still lacking proper rain. We need to supplement by watering all our landscape thoroughly and regularly until the ground freezes. 

Trees, shrubs, grass, and all other plantings need a good supply of moisture to carry them through the winter and assure healthy growth in the spring. Watering needs to be deep and long. Leave a hose running open and slowly all day moving its position every 2 hours from trees to shrubs. For your lawn, water with an oscillating sprinkler for at least an hour. 

Pull out any vegetable plants that are no longer producing and discard according to your town’s landscape recycling procedures. I do not like putting these plants in the compost pile as they can acquire diseases during the season, so it is best to dispose of them. Do the same with all the weeds you pull up. Any weeds you get rid of now will be less that you have to deal with in the spring. 

Clean any outside drains just in case we do get some fall rains. Do the same for your gutters. They can get clogged up, especially in dry times, with no heavy rains to wash them out. Clean up around the landscape, pulling weeds and laying down fresh mulch for the winter.    

KATHLEEN WEAVER-ZECH AND DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO