As the beautiful Lehigh Valley landscape takes on its legendary colors and the unwelcome first frost arrives, home gardeners often have questions about fall tasks.

Here are some concerns with answers to make your autumn easier and pave the way for an early start on next year’s garden.

Must I rake all the leaves?

Ecologically speaking, you do not need to rake leaves, but a heavy layer can smother your lawn grass and prevent new growth in spring.

Compacted leaves can promote snow mold diseases that damage turfgrass. The easiest way to treat leaves on your lawn is to pass over them with a mower a few times to shred them into small pieces. This method will return nitrogen to the soil as the chipped leaves decompose.

In the garden, you can leave them where they fall, so they help insulate plant roots. You can rake them and run them over with the mower and then return the shredded leaves to the flower beds. If you want to remove leaves from your garden, add them to your compost pile, rather than bagging them and hauling them away.

Do I have to cut down everything?

Some plants should be left standing. After the first frost, pull out annuals and plant debris from the kitchen garden. Throw plants on the compost pile, except for any diseased material which should be bagged and placed in the trash.

Don’t cut down perennials that add interest to the winter landscape. You can leave ornamental grasses such as feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) with its tall plumes, and perennials such as blue false indigo (Baptisia australis) that has interesting elongated black seedpods.

Some plants provide food for birds, and you should not cut these down. For example, goldfinches love the seedheads of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Overwintering birds find protection in plant stubble and groundcovers. Many perennials help beneficial insects in winter by providing shelter from their predators.

Don’t cut back marginally hardy plants like garden mums (Chrysanthemum spp.) as their tops help them survive the cold of winter. There is no need to cut back low-growing evergreen or semi-evergreen perennials such as hardy geraniums, heucheras, hellebores, and moss phlox.

You should cut back plants diseased with powdery mildew such as bee balm (Monarda). Remember to destroy, not compost, diseased stems and leaves.

How do I prevent tender plants from dying in the winter?

Dig up tender bulbs, such as cannas, caladiums and dahlias, and store them where they will not freeze. Pack them in boxes of sawdust or peat most. You may want to save seeds from your favorite non-hybrid plants. Find a place in your garage or basement for shrubs or trees that you are growing in pots, especially Japanese maples (Acer spp).

You may have plants in their nursery pots, still unplanted, in the fall. For these plants, you can dig holes in the empty vegetable garden and heel them in.

So that you don’t lose roses and other shrubs to harsh winds, you can protect them with burlap windbreaks or enclosures. You can spray the leaves of broadleaf evergreen shrubs with an anti-desiccant to prevent moisture loss caused by cold weather conditions because when the ground is frozen, the evergreens can’t replace moisture lost through the needles. Use mulch, such as three to five inches of straw, to insulate plant roots from severe winter temperatures.

Can I plant anything in the fall?

Plant bulbs in cool weather before the first hard frost. They need an extended cold period to grow foliage and to bloom. Container-grown plants can be put in the ground from early to mid-fall giving them time to establish a root system before the ground freezes. Add a thick layer of mulch to prevent them from heaving out of the ground when it freezes and thaws.

Do I need to weed in the fall?

It is important that you do a final weeding in the fall before weeds left in the garden go to seed and produce hundreds of new weeds next year. Fall is the best time to treat lawn weeds with a broadleaf weed killer.

Enjoy the beautiful fall foliage as you “put your garden to bed.” You can look forward to a rest from gardening tasks this winter knowing that you have made a good start for the next growing season.

“Growing Green” is contributed by Lehigh County Extension Office Staff and Master Gardeners. Information: Lehigh County Extension Office, 610-391-9840; Northampton County Extension Office, 610-813-6613.