I don't usually do any major garden cleanup in the fall. Perennials are ensured hardy with their stems still standing to catch the snow. Excellent mulch snow.

Annuals I either let stand to reseed or decompose in in the soil. I usually have enough to do just getting my almost 50 tropicals ready for the inside for the winter.

I do vaccumn up falls leaves. We have a shredder/chipper/vac that we can bag up. I throw a couple hand fulls of fertilizer in and stack them behind the garden shed. Come spring they become my mulch for the garden beds.

I vaccumed at he old house. This place is covered with evergreens for landscaping and wind breaks. Neighbors leaves just blow thru.
I dont usually clean up either ,but this was the year to spread compost. The soil is so terrible the plants wee declineing.

I already have such a problem with reseeding, no way I want to leave all those seed heads through winter! And my "flower beds" are just little jungles by this time of year. I spent yesterday just trying to find two new little coneflowers in this bed.


I try to get rid of the lion's share of stuff in fall, not leave so much work for spring. In spring in want "new and fresh" not frozen trash. And with any luck, this fall's yard waste will be next year's compost.

Karen

I have a question that barely fits this thread but here goes.
Does anyone use Preen for weed controle?
How close to direct sown seeds can this product be spread?

G'morning, Jo Ann.

I used to use Preen and had no problem with weeds or reseeding. Then at one point, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, I tried to convert to total organic gardening and stopped using the Preen. The reseeding flowers then drove me crazy. I tried corn gluten with no apparent effect. So this year in spring I broke down and applied a little Preen again- not as much as the label recommended, but a light sprinkle all over. My garden was far more manageable again. I got a few volunteers but nothing like the hundreds I'd had before.

I'm not so sure about how close to keep it from directly sown seeds. My guess would be a foot or two away. As it (Preen) breaks down, it would kind of leach out and around and prevent sprouting. Then, you'd just have to weed that area next year.

Karen

My memory is horrible but I think I remember someone say the gas from Preen went 12 feet.
On the other hand I might have read the Preen effect lasted 12 weeks.
I want to direct sow some Larkspurs and Poppies and dont want the Preen to prohibit germination .

Yes, you have to be careful with that for sure.

Jo Ann, you really should get those larkspur and poppies sown now, so they have time to sprout and grow a little before the ground freezes. That's how you get tall ones for next year.

Karen

Karen: I have better luck with Poppies if I wait until late November. Last few years they germinated early with a warm period in mid Nov. and I lost a lot.
I will sow the larkspur today, also some campions. I saved seend knowing the compost layer would be too much for sown seeds. I will scrape compost away from areas where the seeeds will be sown. My garden guy cant be trusted to avoid those areas if I had sown them earlier.

I just love this campion variety with light colored plants
with brunerra lLooking Glass


With Cream lilies from Buggy Crazy


Just lovely

This mornings photos. All tucked in for the winter.

Not a weed in the bunch. Now I feel like such a slug....................

Beautiful, Jo Anne. Mulch works wonders.

It had been 2 years and the Lasagna garden was showing sighns of back slideing.Perennials the were close to mature werent putting out much.
I think the housing tract is built on neuclear waste dump.

Little by little, I have been weeding and cutting back the plants as much as I can. In three weeks, my area will be close to frost date, then I think I will go ahead and start cutting some things to the ground. I decided to try clearing it off before winter.

Preen - I have used it, but prefer Snapshot. I don't think the Preen worked as well. It costs less, but I ended up with more weeds, and applying three times instead if two, so I think the Snapshot is a better value for me. I have also tried Gallery, but that did not work as well either. This year, only 1/3 of my beds were cleared this spring to apply Snapshot to. WOW what a difference in the amount if weeds!

Is snapshot as toxic as Preen. DH read the Preen label & returned it to the store.

Lucy - Everyone has to make their own decisions on what they will and won't use. One of the ingredients in Snapshot is the ingredient in Preen. So if you won't use Preen - don't get Snapshot. It is the combination of these ingredients that makes Snapshot work better.

Preen website says it has Triflualin (Treflan). http://www.preen.com/labels/24...

Snapshot has isoxaben (Gallery) and trifluralin. http://www.landmarklawnandgard...

We used 2 hrs of hands this afternoon. John helped after I had been at it awhile. He had a long drive each way this morning to get a belt for his string mower.

Looks good, Jo Ann.

Karen

Ugh, I have so much work to do, and just can't seem to get to it.

Am I right that you should transplant Echinacea in the spring? Or would now be okay?

And who planted all those dang weeds in my beds???

Everyone seems to have a case of the draggs. Maybe its that we are all tired from weeding and cutting for the season ,or its just mature telling us to hibernate. I always get this way when the leaves are gone and squirrils arent. I just want to stay inside and curl up somewhere.