To get your garden ready for spring blooms, here are a few things you can do each month this autumn to make your garden the best it can be:

September

• Begin to transfer some of your garden herbs into pots to grow indoors during the winter. Basil and parsley will be fine indoors, as long as they are placed in a sunny window. Rosemary makes a good indoor herb as well.
• Start collecting newspaper in case frost is expected. If you find yourself faced with an unexpected frost, and your plants are uncovered, you may be able to save them by hosing off the frost early in the morning before sunlight hits the leaves.
• Early September is the best time of the year for planting grass seeds in the lawn’s bare spots because cooler fall temperatures favor grass and not weeds.
• To extend your lettuce harvest, drape two layers of floating row-cover fabric.
• Potted pansies, calendula, and marigolds can add brightness to autumn – they often bloom until Thanksgiving or longer.
• Kales and cabbages are very cold-tolerant plants and are great to grow in the fall.
• Before the first frost, cut squash and pumpkins from the vine and store at room temperature.
• Dig up potatoes and place in a cardboard box or bushel basket and store at a little below room temperature.
• After onions are thoroughly dry, cut the stems to an inch and place in a mesh bag and place in the coolest spot indoors.
• Cut the tops of beets and carrots to about an inch and store in a ventilated, plastic bag in the refrigerator.

October

• October is the month to rake, clean and plant.
• Use a mulching mower to shred leaves that pile up on the grass.
• Once leaves have been blackened by frost, dig up cannas, dahlias and gladioli to store in a cool, dark place indoors.
• To protect tender roses, tie the stems together with twine, loosen the soil on one side of the bush, and gently tip it into an eight-inch deep trench that you cover with soil.
• Make sure the soil goes away from the centers of perennial plants so water doesn’t collect and freeze.
• To protect tulip bulbs from animals, soak them for five minutes in Bulb Guard and allow them to dry thoroughly before planting.
• If the weather is still dry, continue regular watering, paying particular attention to recent plantings.
• After the first frost, harvest cool-weather vegetables such as kale and parsnips. Dig artichokes as needed.
• Clean up dropped apples or crabapples. Throw out any dried fruit that still hang from branches.

November

• Be sure to finish planting bulbs before winter sets in.
• Replace temporary plastic markers with metal labels that won’t crack in the cold. If the lettering is fading on old labels, replace them too.
• If you have peonies, cut them to the ground, removing all stems and leaves.
• For young beech, maple and fruit trees, put on spiral vinyl covers or burlap screens to shade them from the winter sun. Or you can paint the trunks with mixture of equal parts white latex paint and water to deflect sun and avoid a heating/thawing process.
• If you have strawberries, apply winter mulch after the ground freezes.
• Once rhubarb and asparagus plants are completely frost-blackened, cut and remove the above-ground growth, and spread a one-to two-inch layer of aged manure or compost around the plants.
• Store all leftover seeds in an airtight container.

Sources: Midwest Living Magazine; Neil Dylla, master gardener at Northwestern Health Sciences University