Gardener | Master Gardener: The Time Is Right To Plant A Garden For The Fall
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Typically, September will see our temperatures moderate a bit, with a corresponding drop in rainfall and humidity. That means you’ll need to be more vigilant about watering, although if your monsoon was anything like my monsoon, you really didn’t get much help from the rains this summer anyway. Pay special attention to trees, shrubs and other perennials planted within the last year or so as their root systems probably still aren’t well enough established to tolerate periods of drought. This is true even for desert adaptedplants.
As the temperatures drop, it’s a good time to plant trees, shrubs and other perennials that are frost hardy. This includes landscape trees, fruit trees, and shrubs like red-tipped photinia and Texas ranger. Don’t plant winter sensitive perennials such as lantana, salvia, or verbena that will die back when the first freezes hit; they simply won’t have adequate time to root well. Wait until spring to plant these. For a lengthy list of plants that do well in our high desert climate, read “Recommended Plants for Sierra Vista, available online at: . It’s a great reference, as is the Sunset Western Garden Book, which is a must-have for any gardener, no matter the skilllevel.
When planting perennials, dig the hole for your new plant only as deep as the containerized root ball, no deeper. If the hole is too deep, the soil will gradually settle and the plant will sink down, thereby leaving the bark or stem susceptible to disease and rot. Stems and bark just aren’t meant to be covered with soil or mulch. Dig the hole 3 or 4 times larger in diameter than the root ball (I must confess that I cheat a bit on this recommendation, especially if it’s a big hole I’m digging) and don’t bother wasting money by amending the soil, just refill the hole with the soil you dug out, perhaps minus the rocks. Research has shown that it’s best to use only the native soil that the plant will live in. This isn’t true, by the way, for vegetables and annual flowers, which do benefit from a richer soil than you’ll generally find in our neck of thewoods.
It’s getting too late to be planting summer vegetables, but if you want a
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