LADY BUG: AUTUMN IS IDEAL PLAN TO ESTABLISH PLANTS, RENOVATED OLD GARDENS

September is the beginning of a busy time in the garden. It is the time when we begin to think of cooler weather and the attention plants need for the winter months. Lawns need care, bulbs are to be planted, established bulbs fed, and evergreens, trees and shrubs need special planting.

Fall is the key time to establish a healthy turf for next spring and summer. Many new lawns are being established and old ones may be reseeded. Bare or thin places in the lawn should be lightly scratched over to make groves in the soil for seeding. A straw covering helps speed the rate of growth.

Authorities tell us to till new areas after stones and debris have been removed. Fertilizer and sometimes lime are added. Newly seeded areas should be kept moist until germination occurs.

In vegetable gardens, spent crops should be removed, the soil reworked with organic matter and super phosphate added. Lettuce, radishes and spinach are good fall crops.

Fall is also an ideal time to establish ground covers. They may be used in shaded areas, slopes or just to reduce the size of the lawn.

Flowering trees are great for weekend gardeners. You want your cake and eat it, too. You want the colossal splash of flowering crabapples, redbuds, dogwoods, magnolias and other flowering trees that explode into early spring. However, you dread the mess the flowers make and complain when you have to clean up fruit from the crabapple. You must make up your mind: do you want this burst of colorful flowers, and enjoy them and then clean up the mess that they leave after the show?

Gardeners must remember this floral beauty is generally only 14 to 21 days long and the rest of the season he/she has to look at a lonesome shade tree. When you are thinking of a beautiful flowering tree, you should also think utility as well. What will the overall shape of the tree be without those lovely flowers, and is the foliage dense enough to provide shade or a screen in the yard?

As a general rule most flowering trees do not exceed a height of 20 to 25 feet, but there can be exceptions. Their mature spread is generally considered to be about 20 feet. Evaluate the tree requirements before you place them in.

If you plant trees and shrubs in the fall, be sure to give them mild support with stakes or wires so winter winds will not harm them. Long canes of roses should be trimmed back to prevent whipping by the wind. Clean up all fallen leaves from the rose bushes to reduce infection, especially the dreaded blackspot, for next year.

Acid loving plants, which includes holly, azaleas, and rhododendrons, often suffer during the winter because of lack of moisture in the fall. One should make sure they are well watered as needed until cold weather sets in. If the foliage is showing yellow in the leaves, iron is tied up. Apply ground sulfur and epsom salts now to improve the color by spring. Mulch plants well if needed. Plants set out this fall need the addition of organic matter and sulfur. Mulch and keep watered well to insure new growth.

Despite the cold of winter, fall is the ideal time to add new plants to the landscape and to renovate old plantings. Garden centers soon will have a generous supply of both evergreens and deciduous trees. Fall planted material in properly prepared soil will make good root growth before the ground becomes frozen.

Most evergreens may be pruned now if the size and shape needs to be controlled. Avoid pruning spring flowering shrubs and trees as the buds are now forming and pruning will remove the flowers of spring. Remove dead or damaged wood only. Do not prune boxwood at this time. This would stimulate new growth, which would winter kill.

This is also a good time to collect dried materials for making winter arrangements.

Many homeowners enjoy making and changing door decorations with appropriate wreaths for each season. Seed pods, berries, dried flowers and herbs may be combined for attractive welcomes.

New bulb catalogues are arriving daily with oodles of new introductions of spring flowering bulbs. It is well to place orders early to get "the cream of the crop." Those of you who are familiar with this column know there will be lots said in favor of these spring beauties. There are always new introductions and for years there have been many added to our place.

One of the choicest garden products -- the tomato -- is still with us, and although they are not quite as flavorful as at the beginning of the season, they are still worth a walk into the garden. Consensus in that Big Beef won the popularity contest this year.

~Mary Blue lives in Cape Girardeau and is an avid gardener.