Some other things to do before winter are one last weeding of the garden beds. This will improve the appearance throughout the remaining months of autumn and each weed you eliminate now, will be one less weed you need to deal with next spring. Prune out and remove any dead or diseased branches from trees and shrubs. Left unattended, these areas become prime entry points for additional diseases and insects. Deadhead perennials and remove debris to prevent overwintering of disease. This also eliminates areas that insect over winter in. Bring houseplants back indoors for the winter months when the nighttime temperatures start dropping into the lower fifties on a regular basis. Inspect and treat with insecticides prior to bringing plants in, so that you don’t introduce bugs to other plants you already have indoors. Make a final harvest of your vegetable garden. To lengthen the growing season, cover crops with a harvest guard when extremely cold temperatures are predicted. Once the soil temperatures start to cool, prepare soil beds and plant spring flowering bulbs. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and crocus need planted now. They need between nine to thirteen weeks of cold soil temperature to flower in the spring. When purchasing your bulbs, buy only top size to provide the best show. Support your local garden center, me and buy locally.
 
Now that your garden work is done and the weathers cooler, walk around your yard and look at what worked well and what you might like to change for next year. You may want to add more flower beds or even a water feature for next season. This is a great time to plan all these projects for next year so that you have the sights and smells of spring fresh on your mind, while the white fluffy flakes pile up outside.