September can be a profitable and enjoyable month for gardeners with the harvest of their many fruits and vegetables that survived the spring rains. For sure this was not a "normal" growing season.

Fortunately there is time for making a few late plantings and preparing for next year's garden. If you're not satisfied with the quality or yield this year, resolve to do better in variety selection or growing next year.

With good fall growing conditions, there is time to plant and harvest snap beans (50-54 days), beets (52-58 days), leaf lettuce (45 days), radishes (22-25 days) spinach (37-45 days). If unfavorable growing conditions delay maturity and the harvest, only a little seed and labor will be lost.

Keep tomato plants growing. Water, nutrients, and pesticides—especially those for disease control, are needed to keep healthy, fruitful tomato plants until frost. One or two pesticide sprays at 10-day intervals should be all that is needed if the water and soil fertility are maintained.

Cut or kill weeds in the garden. Do this before they make seeds and you will have fewer weeds to fight next year. Build up your compost pile with garden debris. All the expended plant material in the garden can be tossed into the compost pile for decomposition.

Don't prune fruit trees. This is the time of the year that leaves are feeding the roots, so the only pruning that should be done is the removal of broken branches and limbs. Verify peach trees for gummy areas containing sawdust. The sawdust would indicate that borer residue probably is cold or physical injury, and nothing can be done now. Some winter injury will cause gumming of trunks and crotches.

Fall is also a good time to fertilize your trees. Most professionals prefer fertilizing trees and shrubs in early spring, early summer, or late fall. Spring applications provide nutrients for the initial flush of spring growth, when nutrients are often most needed. Fall applications provide nutrients that are absorbed by plants and stored until they are needed for growth. If not absorbed by the roots however, nutrients such as nitrogen can be easily lost by leaching and thus not be available for spring growth. The University of Illinois recommends that fall fertilization rates not to exceed 2 to 2 1/2 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 feet. For trees growing in turf grass areas, those numbers include nitrogen applied to turf, as nitrogen is mobile and leaches to the tree roots.

Don't get alarmed if your pine trees begin dropping their older interior needles. As I have stated before it is a natural occurrence. You'll probably need to add some more mulch to the tree areas, also. Keep in mind to not cover the main stem or trunk. In other words, don't bury it in mulch. This will lead to rodent damage and disease of the plant. Two exceptions to this rule are the rhododendron and the rose, which must have their crowns or trunks protected in order to prevent winter damage. Depth of mulch depends on the type of mulch being used and the plants being mulched.

For those of you that will be draining your swimming pools do not let the water flow over the roots of your trees. The chlorine in the water can harm the roots. Root injury will be manifested as a dieback of the tops of the trees.

Fall is a very good time to take a look at your flower gardens to see what stays and what must go. You can now dig up your dahlias, tuberous begonias, callas, caladiums, gladiolus and cannas, that is if they are thru blooming. Be sure and get them out of the ground before the first killing frost. Peonies may be planted at the end of the month through late fall. Before returning houseplants to the home thoroughly rinse off the foliage and container, inspect plants for insect pests, and treat if necessary. Be sure to remove spent blooms and/or dead leaves or stems. Prune if too large. You can discontinue fertilizing in October.

GARDEN QUESTIONS FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Q) I have had a lot of trouble losing lily and tulip bulbs in the winter. Some rodent makes burrows 3 inches below surface of ground. I have used wired baskets in planting, but to no avail; also poison and traps. What can I do? A) You may have to encircle the whole bed with fine mesh wire netting, 12 inches wide, buried vertically, and extending 2 to 3 inches above the ground surface. Do not mulch bed until the ground is well frozen. Liberal addition of pebbles or stone chips to the soil when planting a bulb discourages mice.

A) How should I plant tuberous anemones? A) You should plant them in early fall in porous soil containing generous proportion of humus. Set tubers 2 or 3 inches apart, and cover about 2 inches deep. Light woodland shade is needed. I planted some 3 years ago—they have bloomed continually for the past two months. They should keep on blooming until the frost gets them.

Q) What type of soil is needed to grow daffodils? A) Any garden soil is suitable, providing it is deep, well drained, and reasonably fertile. Avoid planting in hot barren soil or where the soil remains wet for long periods. They will not survive in wet soils.

Q) How should I fertilize daffodils that do not need lifting and replanting? A) Top-dress in early fall with super phosphate and in early spring with a complete fertilizer and compost or old, well-rotted manure.

Q) I have ordered some lily bulbs—first for me. Can you tell me how to plant and care for them? Will they arrive too late to plant? A) The ground should be deeply dug and compost or peat moss added. Small bulbs should go 3 to 4 inches deep; 5 to 6 inches is about right for large bulbs. Madonna and chalcedonic lilies and their hybrids should be covered 1 to 2 inches. Going by the rule that shallower number is for heavy soils; deeper number for light sandy soil types. The best time to plant is as early in the fall as you can obtain the bulbs. If necessary, mulch the spot well with thick newspapers and leaves to prevent freezing until the bulbs arrive. Then plant them immediately. Bulb suppliers have improved storage techniques, so it is now possible to get some good American bulbs in spring as well; but the selection is not nearly as complete as in the fall.

Hope you have a great Labor Day Holiday.

If you have any horticulture questions, call the U of I Extension office 345-7034. Volunteer

Master Gardeners are in the office on Monday and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m.

This column is based on information and materials at the University of Illinois Extension office, located at 707 Windsor Road, Suite A., Charleston, 61920; phone 345-7034; or web site: www.extension.uiuc.edu/coles/