It's been a wonderful stretch of Indian summer and easy to be lulled into postponing garden chores.

Get off your butt-inski (if you have to ask, yes, we all have one) and head outdoors. Walk around a few minutes, inhaling the fresh air and admiring butterscotch and scarlet leaves accented by Iowa's clear blue skies, groan and stretch, sip from your coffee mug, then get busy. It won't be long before the winter of our discontent arrives on the doorstep with a brain-numbing thud - along with spring garden catalogs for daydreaming.

It's obvious, but the first chores is raking. Left on the lawn, leaves cut off sunlight to the grass, trap moisture and encourage fungal diseases. Compost leaves if you have space or shred 'em and till or dig into vegetable and annual flower beds.

Give trees a good soaking after dormancy but before the ground freezes. Deeply water shrubs and perennials at the base of plants. Be careful not to oversaturate the soil, particularly if you've planted bulbs in the area. Too much moisture can cause bulbs to rot.

Leave the "scorched earth" policy at the perennial garden gate. Mums, Russian sage, butterfly bush and ornamental grasses, for example, should be left alone because stems and spent leaves protect plant crowns and capture show to insulate roots. Stop just above the crown when cutting back other perennials. In the front garden, I trimmed back coneflowers, rudbeckia, daisies and other perennials to allow spring bulbs to put on a better show.

Weed beds. (Don't blink; you didn't misread). Weeds may die but seeds live on.

Lift canna, gladioli, dahlia and tuberous begonia tubers and corms and prepare them for winter storage.

Yank up dead annuals and clean out the vegetable garden. Toss diseased plants and compost the rest. Dig or till fresh compost or shredded leaves into the vegetable and annual flower beds. Save some shredded leaves to mulch perennial beds.

Alternate freezing and thawing of the soil in late winter can heave plants out of the ground, causing winter kill. Mulch can help plants retain moisture against wind, soil erosion and heaving. Three to six inches of mulch is effective, but don't smother plant crowns. Don't toss on the mulch blanket too soon. Mulching plants before the ground freezes makes them more susceptible to winter injury.

Other chores include wrapping or protecting young smooth-barked tree trunks to prevent rabbit and rodent damage and sun scald; clean garden tools for winter storage; remove, drain and store hoses.; erect burlap wind breaks or snow fences as needed; fire up and run the mower until it runs out of gas (maybe around the yard for a few passes?), then clean blades, remove the spark plug, etc., to mothball for winter.

It's also a good time to check out the snowblower and make sure it's in good working order.