September marks the transition from summer to fall, and with it the growing season winds down. As crops and flowers fade away, assessing how things went this growing season provides a head start on next year. Taking some time now to jot observations, thoughts and ideas down can be extremely valuable when planning for next season.
For example, start with vegetable gardens. One of the key disease management tools is crop rotation, or planting crops in new locations within the garden from season to season. Having a sketch or map of the garden showing exact previous locations of crops is necessary to ensure this is done properly. Before crops are removed, make sure all details from this season are recorded. While doing this, include cultivars planted and their performance, including yield quality and quantity, disease outbreaks, and any other notable positives or negatives.
Decisions on exact locations and cultivars for next year can be made in the off season but consider rotation rules in your initial thoughts now. Crops within the same family should not be planted in the same spot in the garden for at least three seasons. Major families share common disease and pest problems. For example, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes are all solanaceous crops, so next season putting peppers where tomatoes are this season is not rotating crops properly.
Even though perennial flower gardens come back each year, individual seasons can bring varied results. Inferior flower quality and quantity for a specific plant oftentimes indicates it is time for dividing them. Spring is typically better than fall for most species, so make note of this now. Plants that have been in the same spot for many years may also be influenced by a change in the site conditions. For example, perennials needing full sun may have received plenty of sunlight when initially planted, but now maturing trees may be creating more shade on that spot, thus the plant may need to be moved to a better location for it next year.
Marking where established perennial plants are this fall, such as with small stakes, can help next spring as new shoots arise from the ground not just for dividing purposes, but also for identity and location. Newly emerging shoots oftentimes may not resemble larger developed plants. Having plant locations marked is extremely useful to confirm where they are growing well before plants have emerged and developed into easily identifiable forms. In addition, many popular warm-season ornamental grasses, especially native species, emerge significantly later than other spring flowering perennials in the same planting bed. Well-placed markers remind us they will be along soon!
By Bruce Spangenberg, Horticulture Outreach Specialist, UW-Madison Division of Extension.
