Fall garden tasks keep yards looking good

October is all about apples and bulbs, pumpkins and final harvests, raking — and more raking. Some chores to keep your garden on track:

• Replace summer annuals with pansies. They’ll bloom all fall and return in spring.

• Continue watering plants and trees, especially evergreens.

• Pick the last fruit from trees and clear faded vegetable plants, leaving Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower to be harvested through fall.

• Plant new trees and shrubs. If they come bare root, soak roots in water for eight hours before planting.

• Plant bulbs in pots to grow indoors. They’ll bloom earlier than they would outdoors, and your winter self will thank you.

• Plant dormant, oneyear rhubarb crowns for June harvest.

• It’s time to plant perennials. They’ll fade soon, but they’ll be back to brighten your garden next year.

• For holiday blooms, start paperwhites. Place bulbs, pointy end up, in a shallow bowl of gravel with just enough water to reach bulb bottoms.

• Cover ponds with net- ting to keep out fallen leaves.

• To keep a lawn healthy, continue mowing the grass until it stops growing.

• Empty, clean, dry and store terra cotta pots indoors. Leave them out, and they’ll crack in the cold.

• Rake and clean up pe- rennial beds. Discard diseased plant parts in the trash and compost the rest.

• Clear vegetable beds, then till compost, manure and lime into the soil.