By KAITLYN ALANIS

Staff writer

As summer winds down and as the last vegetables in summer gardens are picked, it is an ideal time to transition into fall gardening, which Serenity Gardens owner Jana Dalke considers the best time of year to garden.

“It’s just time,” Dalke said. “It’s time to clean up and spruce up. Once that hottest part of the season is over, it’s time. It’s best to get into the garden as soon as you can to get it as well established as you can before winter hits.”

Dalke said many people do not realize fall is actually one of the most-recommended times to garden, and they instead think gardens should wind down as summer ends.

“As a whole, fall is recommended for planting trees, shrubs, and perennials,” she said. “Fall is a good time for planting perennials and shrubs because summer tends to be our most-taxing season with the heat and the wind.”

To transition into the new season, Dalke suggests cleaning up last-season’s garden first.

“Once the major heat of summer is over, people can start to clean up their vegetable or flower gardens,” she said, “and if there are any weeds, get rid of those and spruce up any spots you see.”

She said it is important to clean up gardens after a season ends because disease and bugs can overwinter in old foliage.

“Just take all the dead leaves and all that stuff out so those fungal spores don’t stay there,” she said.

Dalke said the best way to reduce chemical use is by removing all the foliage and keeping the garden clean and tidy.

“If you can get all that foliage and disease out of there, you shouldn’t have as big of an issue the following season,” she said.

Once the garden is clean, she said perennials and shrubs are the best to plant in the fall.

“These are good to start planting now because it has cooled down a bit, and as long as you’re not going on vacation it’s OK because they will still need watered daily or every other day for the first week or two of being planted before you taper off on watering,” she said.

She recommends fall as the best time to add color into a garden, including mums, pansies, and coneflowers. She also said fall is the best time for ornamental grasses, trees, and shrubs.