Summer’s almost over in our San Diego gardens. Days are getting shorter, and cooler weather is ahead. It’s time to get ready for planting season.
Plant Bulb Covers
If you are planting the fall blooming bulbs I mentioned last month, you may want to plant blub covers with them. Bulbs are beautiful. But, when they are finished blooming, their yellowing foliage isn’t. Use cover plants to hide them as they die back since you don’t want to remove their leaves until at least eight weeks after the bulbs finish flowering. They are photosynthesizing and storing food for next year’s bloom.
Early-blooming and cool-season annuals and perennials like forget-me-nots, Johnny-jump-ups, lobelia, sweet alyssum, pansies, snapdragons, catmint and daylilies make great bulb covers.
Mulch Your San Diego Garden
Weed and mulch beds. The mulch will help keep your plants’ roots cool and hold moisture in the soil. Organic mulch will also add nutrients to your soil as it decomposes. Plus, mulch discourages weeds.
Make sure your mulch layer is at least three inches thick. Keep it off trunks, stems and crowns of trees and shrubs. Piling mulch against trunks of plants can cause rot and disease. For more information about different types of mulch, see the University of California fact sheet, Mulches for Landscapes.
Lace Trees
Beautify landscape trees and reduce the risk of wind damage with an annual lacing of your trees. If done by a certified arborist, this is a skillful and artistic pruning to reveal a tree’s structure and allow wind to pass through. Arborists will know the best time of year to lace individual trees. They also can help save trees severely damaged by wind or fire. To find a certified arborist in your area, go to the Professional Tree Care Association of San Diego County and the International Society of Aboriculture.
San Diego Gardens Tips Source
A lot of information for San Diego Gardens comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.