The beautiful weather we enjoyed this past week hopefully reminded you that it is not too late for fall gardening tasks, despite the fact that Thanksgiving is only weeks away. It is not too late to plant spring-blooming bulbs. These can be planted until the ground is frozen, and although we've had some hard frosts, especially in the outlying areas, the ground is still very workable.  

It's not too late to start or expand a garden bed for next year. Use black and white newspaper to smother the grass and prevent weeds; then pile on some compost, leaves and even spent plant material to let it all decompose over the winter into rich garden soil. Organic material can be added to an established bed or border to get the same result by next spring. It's also not too late to start a compost pile. It may not see much aerobic activity during the cold weather, in fact it might even freeze, but as soon as the weather warms up, those microbes will be active and you'll be on your way to a nutrient-rich, free soil amendment. With all the leaves that are available now, you'll have plenty of brown material to start your pile.

Unfortunately, it is too late to prune, especially spring-flowering shrubs. Their buds have already formed, so pruning would result in no flowers next spring on lilacs, forsythias and the like. But it is not too late to be active in the garden before snow and freezing temperatures take over!

—Rose Rankin