ready for winter

Pictured is a portion of one of my backyard flower beds. All of my daylilies are tucked in, ready for their journey through winter. Each individual plant has had their annual "medical check-up," which includes gently pulling out the old scapes, removing any weeds, making sure no moles have tunneled around or under them, and no bunnies have made homes in them. The foliage has been cut so I can more easily see what is going on with each plant and to discourage any pests/insects to take up residence. I protect the newer plants with tomato cages so the deer don't try to eat or pull on any newly planted roots. I also use the tomato cages as reminders of where I have other things planted.

Fall is a great time to get rid of weeds. Consider this: Weeds that are spread by seed produce thousands of seeds. Lambsquarter can bear up to 72,500 seeds per plant, curly dock can bear up to 30,000, purslane 52,000, and redroot pigweed 117,000.  If even 50% of the pigweed seedlings germinated next spring, you'd have 58,000 pigweed plants to pull or otherwise get rid of. Better to get rid of them now! Here's a comprehensive list of Wisconsin weeds with photos.  I was glad to see Morning Glories appear on this list - I have been trying to get rid of them in a place I no longer wanted them for years.

Hopefully, you have all of your fall garden work done; winter is on the way.

Weed facts from the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension