While spring is the time to plant ever-popular garden vegetables, summer annuals and many other plants, fall is an excellent time to consider many garden-planting tasks.
Fall is the best choice for many reasons: The weather is usually better, and you don't have to deal with spring storms and wet soil left from melting snow.
In the fall, the soil is usually warmer, drier and easier to work. With the majority of the Utah's population living on the bottom of an old lake bed covered with heavy silt and clay soils, this alone is a good reason to get excited about fall gardening.
Over the next few weeks, we will consider fall gardening tasks. Some, such as planting spring-blooming bulbs, have to be done now. Others, such as fertilizing your lawn, are highly recommended, and yet other can be procrastinated until next year.
Sometime over the next several weeks the weather will make a major shift. In the temperate zone climate that we live in, we have four distinct seasons, and fall always brings frost. In the garden, frost can bring life to some plants while killing others.
Fall is also the time to rid yourself of a tree or another plant that has been put in the wrong place. When it comes to removing an unwanted tree, there is a right and a wrong way to do it.
If you do it the right way, the plants disappear. Do it the wrong way and they arise from the earth like the proverbial Phoenix to haunt you.
A word of caution: Homeowners should never climb trees or operating chain saws while standing on ladders. Trees that overhang homes or that could fall on you while you are taking them down are best left to professionals. And never work near any trees that are near power lines.
To get started, evaluate what kind of tree you are removing. Look at how the tree reproduces. Some trees have a simple root system without horizontal stems. When you remove these trees, they do not sprout back, either from the trunk or the horizontal runners.
Most trees fit into this category. Conifers, (spruces, firs, pines etc.) will not sprout back from the trunk, so cutting the tree down or pulling it out gets rid of the unwanted tree without additional treatment.
Other trees propagate or start new trees by sending out sprouts. Horizontal underground stems send up shoots throughout your landscape. It is a consistent problem, but if you cut the trees down, the sprouts multiply exponentially.
Aspens, poplars and willows all have this type of spreading, sprouting root system. Siberian elms, Russian olives and Gambel oaks also spread this way.
These types of trees must be killed off before they are cut down. The process takes some time, but it will save endless hours trying to kill individual sprouts as they come up in your lawn.
Use a hatchet or a machete to make a series of downward chops around the base of the tree trunk. Don't try to cut the tree down, just slice through the bark to get to the cambium layer. Then pour an herbicide into each opening as soon as you make the cut.
Don't let the area dry out, or the herbicide will not be absorbed into the trunk. Use a concentrated herbicide at full strength, but don't apply excessive amounts. Don't let the herbicide run down the side of the bark.
There are many herbicides registered for controlling woody plants, including glyphosate (Roundup) and many other lawn weed killers. Protect yourself and the environment by reading and following all label directions.
Once the herbicide has been applied, the tree will then move it into the root system, killing it. Once the tree is dead, you can dig it up or chop it down.
If you are trying to remove unwanted sprouts, remember that the sprouts are attached to the main tree. Killing off the sprouts can often damage the mother plant, if if that plant belongs to your neighbor, you might end up in court.
Larry Sagers is the horticulture specialist, Utah State University Extension at Thanksgiving Point.