Time to tuck in the gems of summer

Eight steps to prepare your garden and yard for winter

Leaves can be raked up, left to decompose into fertilizer under trees and shrubs, or shredded and used as mulch. (Victor Maffe/iStockphoto)

We can feel the chill wind blowing on our necks already, but before trading the joys of outdoor living for the great indoors, gardeners need to tuck in their flower beds for a long winter's nap. But what to do? Here's a fall clean-up routine in eight easy steps.

1. Bring in potted house plants after inspecting them for insects and disease. To move rosemary herbs indoors, pot them up and then place that pot in a larger pot full of soil. Place them in a sunny spot and keep them slightly moist at all times.

2. Start putting the flower and vegetable gardens to bed by removing and storing stakes, support hoops, ceramic pots, and delicate statuary. Cut down the dead tops of perennials and annuals (but not woody shrubs), and compost everything except disease-prone foliage, invasive weeds, and weed seeds, which should be bagged as trash. Do one last weeding. Non-hardy bulbs and tubers such as dahlias and cannas can be stored indoors until next spring after lifting them with a garden fork and cutting off their stems. Plant spring-blooming bulbs in their place.

3. Rake or blow leaves from lawns, ground cover plantings and paved areas, and alternately layer them in your compost pile with green material cut down in your veggie and flower beds. Or wrangle leaves in corners of your property in three-foot high piles, perhaps corralled by chicken wire. In 18 months they will have turned to leaf mold, a rich weedless type of compost. Let fallen leaves decompose under trees and shrubs, where they become fertilizer. You can also shred leaves with a leaf vacuum or by running over them with a mower with a bag, then dumping the shredded leaves on the garden as a nutritious weedless mulch.

4. Evergreens need deep watering before the ground freezes, as they never go completely dormant. If deer are a problem in winter, spray with a repellent like Deer Out, or encircle evergreens with stiff plastic netting. To prevent broadleaved evergreens from browning, spray leaves with a coating of Wilt-Pruf.

5. Water gardens should be cleared of decaying plant matter and leaves. Submerged plants can be cut back and ornamental fish such as koi can be brought indoors. If your pond is deep enough to leave them outdoors, stop feeding them until next spring.

6. Shrubs of questionable hardiness such as blue hydrangeas and English roses can be encircled by chicken wire filled with leaves for insulation. Roses can also be protected from winter kill by covering the base of their trunks with a foot of mulch or soil.

7. Make the last mowing for the lawn short, under two inches, to discourage fungus and prevent leaves from snagging. Spread lime over the lawn now to keep the soil from becoming too acid and apply a low-nitrogen fertilizer (5-10-10) to promote root growth. Then drain the gasoline from your mower and other power tools and lubricate moving parts before storing for the winter.

8. Store all chemicals away in their original containers in a locked cabinet that remains above freezing all winter. Hoses should be unhooked, drained, and stored. To prevent burst water pipes in the wall, find and close the inside shut-off valve for each outdoor faucet (usually in the basement). Open the outdoor faucet to drain water, then go back inside and put a bucket under each interior valve, unscrew them and remove the o-ring inside the bottom, and let the water drain out.