October in the Flower Garden - Preparing for Winter

A very busy time begins in the garden as the summer and autumn flowers fade. Although much depends upon the weather, the time is approaching quickly when we must put everything in order for the winter. In my part of the country, Halloween, at the end of the month, usually is heralded in with snow and cold temperatures. The whole flower garden should be dug over, but it is most important not to injure the hardy plants that will remain. Where there are a lot of these, it is safer to dig with a fork than a spade. A spade is much more likely to cut roots through if it comes across them. This, of course, presupposes you already have a flower bed with easily worked soil. Annual plants may all be pulled up and carted away to the compost bin as they cease to flower. Remember that many of our hardy perennial plants die down for the winter. Their leaves and stems wither and die. But we must not conclude that the plant is dead just cause the tops die. The roots are very much alive and in the spring beautiful fresh young growth will peep through the soil. This is just a caution for the newbie gardener. Nature has all sorts of methods to enable her hardy plants to pass the winter safely. Some, like the hardy perennials, are simply going to sleep, in a manner of speaking. Some, like the bulbous plants