Dinner was over, the kitchen was cleaned up. I headed outside to burn off some calories on the patch of tangled groundcover I was trying to eradicate.

Sadie naturally came with me and soon settled into her after-dinner snooze, flaked out in a patch of late-day sun.

All was good as I crab-legged my way under the rhodo to chase after some rogue bits of omphalodes - navelwort in non-Latin speak - that I missed on the first two passes through the area. 鈥淕ood鈥� is a relative word in this sense since I was working in a confined space, wrestling with the very devil of a plant, despite its low stature.

There I was, hunched over with one knee tucked under my chin and the top of my head holding up a large rhodo bough. I was making good progress on my project when I heard a whine behind me.

鈥淪eriously? You need a walk now?! Okay. Give me a minute.鈥� Darned if I was going to extricate myself with only 10 minutes into my work session. So, I pulled up a root, then one more, and one more. You get the picture.

Surprisingly, it worked because when I checked on Sadie, she had settled back into her snooze position. Good. No desperate need for a piddle. Just an attitude problem because I was ignoring her. So, I continued working.

Ever get a feeling you are being watched?

Craning my neck to look under my arm, there was Sadie sitting -very proper I might add -right behind me. And, boy! The Look! (Pet owners will know what I mean.) My status as a revered pet owner had seriously slipped a couple of notches.

Needless to say, I caved. Besides, my joints were starting to seize up and a short walk around the neighbourhood would be beneficial for me too, and conducive to some thinking on an article I had read that morning.

I hazard a guess there are some gardeners who may not be thinking ahead to spring when they are putting their gardens to bed in fall. Or perhaps you are like me and frantically dealing with the fall harvest with little time left over to properly prepare the garden for winter. (I can no longer replicate the long night hours spent canning whilst my toddlers were blessedly sleeping.)

As it turns out, the article said my lack of deadheading the last of the flower stalks is a good thing. Cheap too because the birds appreciate the seeds. They also forage for any on the ground, cutting down on a possible barrage of too many seedlings popping up in spring.

I know a tidy garden is pleasing to the eye but we are remiss if we cart all the leaves to the compost. Better we lay them on the soil for protection against erosion, as well as for the nutrient value released back into the soil as the soil organisms enjoy their feast.

Fall is an excellent time to test soil nutrient levels and pH, as well. (Check mblabs.com.) If test results show any lower than ideal levels, slow-release amendments can be added now, giving you an excellent jumpstart on your spring chore list.

If you are blessed with leaves from deciduous trees and have the means to shred them, such as a mulching lawnmower, layer them on your garden beds. It is a good soil erosion deterrent, good source of nutrients and good winter weather insulation for plants. But if you cannot mulch the leaves, just rake them up onto the beds anyway; it is still better on the garden than in the compost.

(Note: The additional zucchini info promised in my last column can be found at .)

Leslie Cox co-owns Growing Concern Cottage Garden in Black Creek. Her website is