These fall gardening chores will set you up for success

There are times of the year when the responsibility of writing an advice column gives me anxiety. When we get this close to the end of another growing season is such a time. What I worry about is not covering some critical chores. Do I need to have a limited liability statement?

Take, for example, planting garlic. Right after the first frost is the time to do so. That doesn’t seem intuitive, so I missed it one year, and more than a few readers missed out on growing garlic as well. That is why this is at least the second garlic mention this year. That, plus I haven’t suggested that hard-neck varieties are really the only way to grow.

Obviously, you can’t grow garlic unless you have some. Local nurseries (not supermarkets) should have bulbs and there is still time to order some if you do it this week. As for varieties, check out the University of Alaska Fairbanks extension service, which also has great information on how to grow garlic. Oh, and there is a sale of garlic at the Alaska Botanical Garden that begins online at 10 a.m. Sept. 23.

Finally, read up on growing garlic from the local experts. I can’t do better than the advice passed along by the Master Gardeners.

Next on the list is dividing peonies if you want to. Usually, peonies are plant-and-leave plants that remain where they were originally planted. They can grow into a nice shrub over the years. However, you may want to divide yours because it is too big or because you want more of the same variety.

Now is really the best time to divide peonies. The roots get a chance to settle in and establish themselves during the winter months. You can divide a clump by hand or with a spade. When replanting make a hole 1 foot by 1 foot and put the divided clump in with the roots pointing down and the eyes up. The eyes should only be an inch from the soil surface and there should be at least an inch of mulch on top of that.

Then there are the compost piles. I like to compost during as much of the year as possible. This takes green and brown material, as most know. With lawn grass slowing down, now is the time to collect several bags of clippings to mix with this season’s leaves when they begin to fall. You can still put leaves on a pile, but mixing in green material now will keep that pile composting, which means more compost next spring.

Finally, I don’t want to forget to mention that organic gardeners get their spring soils ready by starting in the fall. Compost is the best additive. A layer of half an inch will do wonders as the microbes in it work their way into your soil.

Most importantly, now is when you need to put down organics so that the soil food web can work its way and make the nutrients contained in those additions available to your plants next spring.

I wrote a whole book on how nutrients get into plants and what happens to them once they do, so I refer you to it (”Teaming With Nutrients,” available wherever books are sold, and in several languages!). It has a chapter on what are good organic foods and how long it takes for them to break down.

You really should test your soil to see what is needed (and then follow with a microbiometer to see if it is helping), but in lieu of that try a kelp meal or soy meal. Other possible additions include blood meal, crab meal, fish emulsion, alfalfa and cottonseed meal.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar:

Alaska Botanical Garden: Visit. Join. And don’t miss the plant sale at the nursery until Sept. 15.

Nurseries: There are often great sales to clear out their lots and inventory.

Fuchsia: Did you know the flowers and berries are edible?