Fall planting to prep for spring

The Fall season is in full swing across the Valley, and while Spring is over 100 days away, there are steps we can take now to ensure our yards and landscaping are in the best shape when the weather finally breaks next Spring.

"Well, if you are thinking about doing fall, planting and prepping your house for spring beauty, let's say now is the time to get these bulbs," says Tim Parks, Owner of Parks Garden Center. 

Flowers like tulips, daffodils, or hyacinths are all planted now and bloom early in the spring season. Before you start planting, you might want to consider only planting certain bulbs, especially if your home is a common feeding ground for deer.

"So there are things like crocus, hyacinths,  daffodils, all these things deer really don't care for it so you can plant those without having to worry too much," says Parks.

Animal repellents might be a good option to spray on your bulbs, not just to prevent deer from feeding on them.

"You can spray that on the bulb because what will happen is in the fox. Sometimes you have chipmunks that like to dig the bulbs up and eat them. They are browsers, so they will eat what tastes good to them, and then they will move on, so a lot of people are spraying their bulbs with the repellent before they plant them, and this same repellent can be used on tulips in the spring, you just make sure you keep the new tissue covered," adds Parks. 

Parks suggests that if you have a problem with different animals eating your bulbs or flowers, keep spraying an animal repellent once the flower has bloomed and as it continues to grow, at least once a week. Next, make sure to pick up multiple fertilizers to help your flowers now and again in spring.

"When you are doing your installation in the fall, you want to go ahead and use the bonemeal, and in the spring months, you can go ahead. If you have things that are coming up that you previously installed, you can give them another shot, but the bulb tone is more of a fertilizer. I would apply that," says Parks. 

Parks says this time of the year is a perfect time to plant your bulbs, and you can plant them as late as early December, weather dependent. And if grubs gave your yard issues this summer, now can be a time to fix that issue for the spring.

"Now would be a time to do what is called a dormant seating. You just scattered that seed on the bear patches, and then it works its way into the ground over the winter. It's not going to grow now, but as soon as that ground temp gets up to speed in the spring, your grass will be set and ready to germinate," adds Parks.