Think it's too late in the year to garden? Think again, says garden expert

Who says gardening is a summer hobby? 

Not Perry Grobe. According to him, there's still work to be done in the way of fall backyard maintenance. 

Grobe, who owns Grobe Nursery in Breslau, Ont., has quite the to-do list when it comes to fall gardening. 

But one place to start is watering, especially if you haven't been outside to tend much. 

Those plants, especially your evergreens, they need it now in order to protect themselves from the winter," he said. "So please give them a drink." 

The reason for that being plants six months from now are going to feel the effects of your fall gardening habits, Grobe says. 

It's the best way to make sure your plants don't stress for the future. 

"The fact is that the plants have had a really dry September and they need the water now to get themselves ready," said Grobe. 

Paul Zammit, professor of horticulture and environmental studies at Niagara College, agrees with that notion, and says that plants are often found pretty dry by the time fall comes around. 

"It is concerning how dry it is," he told CBC Radio's Ontario Morning. "Be very careful with plants around foundational evergreens." 

"I wish people would stop thinking about putting the garden to bed," said Zammit. "We don't do so, there are so many things we can be doing, including right now planting." 

But the time for that might be now rather than later because if you ask Grobe, fall gardening is already half over. 

He says while many people believe it begins at the start of autumn, it really begins around the time kids are going back to school. 

"It's almost half over," he said. "The thing to do is, if you're intending to do some planning, is get at it and get it in the ground as soon as you can. Because the longer that plant has to root into the fall, the better." 

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Balcony gardening 

Balcony plants hare handled a little differently. Grobe says some outdoor plants may have to start making their way inside, especially tropical plants. 

He advises then quarantining those plants in some way, and then spraying them with an insecticide. 

"You can get pests even on a balcony that you don't really want in the house for the winter," he said. 

There's still some time to do this, so Grobe advises bringing those plants in before the temperature dips down to 10 C. 

"We've been blessed so far. It's been fairly mild, but you're coming to it fairly soon. You know, if certain things like if you have basil or whatever going out in your balcony, you don't want that out for too much longer."