When those first nippy nights have you out scurrying to harvest the last of the tomatoes, it’s time to get busy putting your garden to bed for the winter. Insects and slugs are still active, so these Indian summer days are the perfect time to thoroughly rake the garden beds and haul the fodder to the compost heap. A properly maintained heap won’t spawn garden pests. Next step, mulching your beds to prepare the soil for spring. This retains the winter’s moisture. Proper care of your garden now in the autumn will minimize the work you will have to do next spring.

Take cuttings from the plants you wish to propagate and use them as starts to expand the nursery. A greenhouse or poly tunnel will facilitate getting the cuttings started putting down their roots so they will be ready to transplant when the soil is warm in the spring. Keep in mind that you can propagate not only herbaceous plants, but also shrubs such as spirea and forsythia.

Get busy tagging the dahlias early before they have bloomed their last blossoms and you have trouble remembering which plant produced which color blossom! Labeling the paper bag you slip the bulbs in will keep things straight when it’s time to put them in the ground.

Think ahead to next spring when you will delight in early blooms by planting the bulbs now, before the ground gets too cold to be pleasant to work. According to your zone, you will best do this planting between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Don’t put this task off too long, or you will find yourself digging in icy ground. Those magical Indian summer days are perfect for getting your mass plantings in the ground. Even if you don’t have space or inclination to mass plant, choose to plant several same-color bulbs in each clump. You will find that bulbs make much more dramatic statements when arranged in groups of like colors.