Shape of Days

Lawn Mower Fall Maintenance

Soon, the leaves will be changing color, the birds will be flying South and your green grass will slip into a long dormant state.

Once this sequence begins; September in the Northern climates, mid to late October in the middle states, you can throw the cover over your old lawnmower and call it a year. It’s going to be many months before the grass needs its first cutting again.

But when it does, you want to be ready to act. So take the time now to do some maintenance on your idle lawnmower. Here’s a short checklist as a guideline:

- Drain all of the oil from the engine and replace with clean oil. Old oil contains a lot of moisture and acids that will grind bearings and other engine parts, so it’s really important to change the oil prior to long-term storage. Run the lawn mower engine to warm the oil first. More of the old oil and contaminants will come out if the lawnmower is still warm. Replace with new oil of the correct type in your owner’s manual. Most manuals stipulate S.A.E. 30W.

- Stabilize the Fuel. Fuel may deteriorate in as few as 60 days, causing gums and varnish residue build-up in engines and may result in hard starting, poor performance and decreased engine life. To prevent this from happening, add a fuel stabilizer to your lawn mower's gas tank. It will keep fresh fuel from oxidizing – forming gum and varnish that may clog fuel lines, fuel injectors and fuel filters. It also prevents damaging rust and corrosion in the lawnmower fuel system by dispersing water so it doesn’t collect in the bottom of the gas tank.

After adding your fuel stabilizer, you should run the lawnmower engine for a few minutes to run  the treated gas throughout system. Running the engine will also circulate the new oil.

- Clean or replace your air filter. Foam air filters can be washed with soap and water and reused many times. Soak a cleaned foam air filter in fresh oil and squeeze out the remaining oil. If your engine has a paper air filter replace it with a new filter.

- Check the lawn mower drive belts. Tighten any loose belts. Replace worn or cracked belts.

- Lubricate your lawn mower. Find any grease fittings and apply lithium grease. Lubricate other parts as instructed by your owner’s manual.

Fall is also a great time to remove and sharpen the lawn mower blade, and to clean grass accumulation off of the bottom of the lawn mower deck. Take care of these maintenance affairs now and come Spring, all you’ll have to do is remove the cover off your lawn mower, turn it on and mow the grass.

Planting in Fall for Spring Flowers

The gardening season will soon be coming to a close There is still one planting activity to be done; planting bulbs for spring flowers.

While it may seem odd to plant bulbs now, the basis is that spring-flowering bulbs need time to develop a solid root system before winter sets in.  For best results, wait until soil temperatures are below 55 degrees F before planting bulbs.  That means waiting to plant until September or October.

You can buy bulbs at most garden centers, or if you have enough time, order them through catalogs.  By choosing different varieties, you can enjoy spring flowers from late winter to early summer.  For an early glimpse of spring, plant crocuses and snowdrops.  Daffodils bloom next, followed by tulips, squill, and grape hyacinth. Indian hyacinths (Camassia) are some of the last, along with Summer Snowflakes (Leucojum).
When purchasing bulbs, buy only best quality bulbs--ones that are large, firm, and of good color.  Cheap bulbs will only produce feeble, or sometimes even no, flowers.

Choose a site that has acceptable drainage and at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.  If the soil is poorly drained, consider building raised beds, or planting chequered lilies (Fritillaria meleagris). To prepare your planting beds, dig up six to eight inches of soil.  Add peat moss or other organic matter, then mix in fertilizer containing phosphorus such as rock phosphate, superphosphate, or special bulb fertilizer.  If rodents, skunks, or other small mammals are a problem, bone meal will only attract them.  You can help avoid digging problems by placing a fine wire mesh over the bulb bed.  Or place sharply crushed rocks or crushed shells you can buy for this purpose around bulbs at time of planting.  You can find these at complete garden or feed stores.

I like to plant bulbs in groups or clumps rather than in rows.  For a nice show of color, I plant bulbs in front of evergreen shrubs or among perennials and other flowering shrubs.  Formal tulips look best planted in beds in symmetrical arrangements while daffodils should be planted in "naturalized" or informal plantings.  A good method for informally arranging daffodils is to throw them over your shoulder, and plant them where they land!
Plant bulbs upright, pointed ends up, at the recommended depth.  As a rule of thumb, bulbs should be planted three times as deep as the bulb's greatest dimension.  Use a shovel, trowel, or bulb planter, and space bulbs according to size.  Large bulbs such as tulips and daffodils should be placed four to six inches apart while smaller bulbs such as crocus, snowdrops, and squill should be placed one to two inches apart.

When plants emerge in spring, fertilize lightly with bulb fertilizer at least two inches from the plant.  Once flower petals fade, use scissors to remove the flower parts and stem before the plant produces seed pods. However, let the leaves remain until they have turned yellow, so the bulbs get plenty of nourishment for the following spring's display.  You can camouflage the bulb foliage by carefully planting summer annuals around the bulbs once all danger of frost is past.  I often interplant daffodils among my perennials.  This provides color before the perennials emerge, and then the new perennial leaves hide the dying daffodil leaves.

Although most spring-flowering bulbs are perennials, you may need to replant tulips and hyacinths each year as these blooms aren't as vigorous the following bloom seasons.  Daffodils, scilla, and crocus, on the other hand, are stronger and spread further with each bloom season, so are best left undisturbed.
If bulbs become overcrowded, with fewer and smaller flowers, they may need dividing.  Under ideal conditions this may be every two or three years.  The best time is when the foliage begins to turn yellow.  Replant immediately, following the fertilizer and planting recommendations described above.

If you need to move perennial spring-flowering bulbs, it is best to do so after bloom before the foliage dies and you can’t find the bulbs!  You can pot them, or “heel them in” planting in a group or in a row to allow the leaves to die back normally. To speed up the dying back of daffodil leaves, plus have them less floppy and unsightly, some gardeners double the leaves over and either tie them in a knot or with a rubber band. Just mark where the bulbs are so you can find them later.

Article provided by: Dr. Leonard Perry
University of Vermont

Endless Summer Hydrangea

Endless Summer Hydrangea

Endless Summer Hydrangea is claimed the first hydrangea macrophylla that blooms on both old and new wood yielding a spectacular showing of flowers throughout the growing season. You can encourage more flowers on Endless Summer Hydrangea by pinching out spent blooms on this cultivar. Endless Summer Hydrangea grows to a height of 3 - 4 feet. Deciduous. Zones 4-9