Is pruning part of your Fall garden tasks list?  Are you aware that one of the benefits of keeping your shrub and tree leaves in your garden is that they can add nutrients to your garden soil, naturally?  Today on Episode 25, we help you understand why it's ok to prune this fall and how to get it done.  Also, we discuss the second of the three benefits to keeping fallen leaves in your garden. This is the fourth of our 7-part podcast mini-series outlining 8 of the most common garden tasks that should be on your list and week four of our Fall Garden Bootcamp Challenge!  By the end of this episode, you will know why and how to prune in your garden this Fall and how to reincorporate fallen leaves back into your garden for a natural fertilizer!! 

Fall and Spring Garden Bootcamp Challenges from our Free Resource Page at spokengarden.com/may-garden-boot-camp-challenge. 

Oh, and of course a big THANK YOU from Allison and I to everyone who has signed up for the Fall AND Spring Garden Bootcamp Challenges! 

AMAZING resources for you, like Pruning and Mulch Cheat-Sheets, to help you for the Garden Bootcamp Challenges and in your garden, in general.  These will be in the Downloads Section on the right hand side of each podcast episode page and can also be downloaded from our free Resources Page.  If you haven't already signed up for access to our free Resources Page, you can do so by visiting spokengarden.com/resourcelibrary . 

 Ok, let's get started..... 

For our segment, "That's Good-To-Know", our topic is planting your Daffodil bulbs this Fall! 

You can visit Nature Hills or Burpee to buy your Daffodil Bulbs!  

So, here are some quick tips to plant your Daffodil bulbs this Fall: 

• Plant each bulb in the correct orientation...  
• Plant each Daffodil at a depth of... 
• Make sure to include any mulch on top of your soil as... 
• Be sure to plant bulbs 6-8 weeks before... 

Some other popular bulbs to plant this fall to flower this next spring are Tulips, Lilies, Snowdrops, Grape-Hyacinth, Crocus, and Gladioli. 

Main Topic:  

Now on to our main episode topic, Fall Garden Pruning and the second of three parts for Fall Leaf Cleanup! 

For Fall Pruning, let's first review a couple of things: 

In general, Pruning is the... 

3-pillars of Pruning: 

For a quick primer on the 3-Pillars of Pruning, listen to our DIY Garden Minute Ep10 – The 3-Pillars of Pruning, Revealed! 

For today's episode, I am going to talk about pruning plants in your garden as it applies to ornamental plants.  

For the Fall, YOU CAN PRUNE your plants, BUT 

Pillar 1 

Pillar 2 

Pillar 3 

Now, here are some different plants to apply the 3-Pillars of Pruning to and some tips for each one:  An examples of a... 

• (Shrub) is a Rhody or Rhododendron:   

• (Tree) is a Western Red Cedar 

• (Tree) is a Kousa Dogwood:  

So the bottom line here is... 

Now, let's talk about the second of the 3-benefits of keeping fall leaves in your garden.  I mentioned in Episode 23 that there are three benefits to keeping fall leaves in your garden, the first one being to use fallen leaves as a mulch layer to help suppress weeds.  Today, I want to talk about the second benefit to keeping leaves in your garden, which is adding nutrients to  your gardens' soil as they break down and decompose... 

Pro-Tip:    

More on the third benefit of keeping leaves in your garden this fall in epidose 27, the 7th part of this podcast mini-series. 

NOW, you can get more Pruning Tips and do's and don'ts for this Fall and Winter by checking out our blog post titled "How to Best Prune Your Garden This Winter. Yes, It Can Be Done."   and you can download our "Prune Like a Pro Freebie! by going to our Free Resource Library. 

Review of best pruning shears and loppers for you so you if you are looking to buy your pruning hand-tools, we've got you covered!. 

Wrap up 

That’s it for this episode!  Thanks for listening to the Spoken Garden Podcast! 

For more information on how to prune in your garden this fall or any other time of year, listen to podcast episode #9, and DIY episodes #2 and #10 and check out these episodes' webpages, too!  

Also, listen to our DIY Garden Minute episodes for Garden Tips and Tricks in One Minute! You can find these in the main webpage menu under DIY.  Go to www.spokengarden.com . If you liked our show, please favorite, like, or share it by clicking the appropriate button on your devices screen.  If you have any suggestions of topics or have specific comments, please also feel free to email us at SeanandAllison@spokengarden.com .  Join me next time for Episode 26 where we will talk about Planting, Transplanting, and Fertilizing, as part of the 8-Fall Tasks you should be doing and also part of our Fall Garden Bootcamp Challenge!  Until next time, see ya in the garden!