Mountain checklist - gardening techniques in early fall

* Harvest crops. Cantaloupes are ready to pick when the skin is well netted and the fruit slips easily from the vine. Pick watermelons when tendrils near the fruit start to brown, and winter squash when the rind colors up and hardens. Pick cucumbers and summer squash any time: they're excellent when young and tender. Ripe kernels of corn should be milky inside - if the liquid is watery, the corn is immature; if pasty, the corn is past its prime. Harvest raspberries when the sun is high and berries are warm to the touch. If a light frost threatens, protect eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes under floating row covers.

* Plant lawns. Early fall is ideal for seeding a lawn or laying sod. Keep the turf well watered until cold weather stops its growth.

* Plant bulbs. Set out bulbs of crocus, daffodils, hyacinth, Iris reticulata, scilla, and tulips. To protect them from soil temperature fluctuations, plant large daffodil and tulip bulbs 10 to 12 inches deep; small bulbs 5 inches deep. If daffodils and tulips were crowded last spring, lift, divide, and replant them.

* Plant perennials. Set out perennials like campanula, candytuft, catmint, coreopsis, delphinium, dianthus, foxglove, gaillardia, geum, penstemon, phlox, salvia, and yarrow. Water them well. If the ground in your garden freezes hard every winter, spread organic mulch around plants to insulate the roots and keep the freezing soil from heaving plants out of the ground.

MAINTENANCE

* Clean the greenhouse. Scrub out seedbeds and flats with a weak solution of bleach and water. Then check and replace weather-stripping, broken glass, and torn plastic. Finally, check vents, filters, and heaters, replacing or repairing broken components before winter comes.

* Divide perennials. In all but the very highest elevations, lift and divide crowded clumps of bleeding heart, daylilies, hostas, peonies, and Shasta daisies. Mulch after replanting.

* Fertilize lawns. Apply about 10 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 1,000 square feet of turf.

* Lift and store summer bulbs. When foliage dies down, lift cannas, dahlias, and gladiolus. Let the bulbs or tubers dry for a few days, then store in sand, peat moss, or vermiculite at 35 deg to 50 deg in a well-ventilated space. Leave potted begonia tubers in containers.

* Make compost. Build a pile about 4 feet in diameter, alternating layers of green (grass clippings) with brown matter (dried leaves). Keep the pile as moist as a wrung-out sponge, and turn it weekly.

* Water. Don't forget to water plants growing under eaves and in containers.

PEST CONTROL

* Prevent snow mold. If your lawn is subject to snow mold (a fungus), rake the thatch, then spray the turf with a fungicide.

RELATED ARTICLE: Watering vs. spritzing

A little water does plants little good. That's because soil is hierarchical. Particles in the upper layers have to be coated with a film of water before any excess is released to lower levels. Sandy soil, made up of large particles, is saturated quickly. But finer-textured clay soil, with many more surfaces to coat, takes much longer.

Most gardeners turn off the water too soon. They moisten the top inch of soil and let the lower levels go thirsty, discouraging plants from developing deeper, drought-protecting roots. To wet a 4- by 5-foot flower bed to a depth of 2 feet (the average root depth of perennials) in clay soil, with a hose delivering 2 to 3 gallons per minute, for instance, requires at least 30 minutes of steady sprinkling. Watering the same area with a soaker hose, which delivers water much more slowly, requires at least two hours.

- S. C.