Time to ...

Plant any perennials

and nursery stock still malingering in pots - please! If this isn't possible, protect them from winter by sinking the pots in a sheltered area. The top of the soil in the pot should be slightly higher than the surrounding soil, which must be well drained (add sand as necessary).

Lift all tender bulbs and rhizomes for winter storage - a taste of frost is OK, but a hard freeze will kill.

Ask yourself why you give leaves to the trash collectors when you could get free humus for next year by raking them into a compost pile instead of bags. Mixing in green matter like impatiens (roots and all) helps the carbon-nitrogen balance. To get the compost ready for use by late spring, rake dry leaves into a pile, use the lawnmower to grind them up, then add to the heap and water it.

Store equipment for the winter, but feel free to leave soaker hoses -unconnected - in place. Earn the rarest of merit badges by cleaning and oiling trowels, shovels, pruners, and other tools.

Start paperwhite narcissus indoors in the next week or so to have blooms at Christmas. The easiest way is to place them on an inch of pebbles and add water to barely touch the bulbs. Use this surprising method to keep them from growing tall and floppy: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of gin or vodka to the forcing water. Really.

Delay major pruning of buddleia, caryopteris, and lavender till spring.

Resolve not to be so late next year, but you can still plant spring bulbs.

- Michael Martin Mills