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Fall Garden Ideas – Fall Gardening Checklist

As Rudyard Kipling once said, “Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.” Many gardeners see fall as a time to start resting their gardens. However, fall is the perfect time to evaluate, design, and improve your gardens. Consider your landscaping. Fall is also a great time to perform grounds and tool maintenance. Do a soil test; sharpen your garden tools; clean your lawn mower for storage; improve the soil and cover the garden beds for the coming season. Those little efforts now will help your garden thrive come spring.

Other fall items to make?

– Stop fertilizing and water plants less as temperatures begin to drop.

– In general, cutting or not cutting certain plants seems to be a matter of region and preference. Ask a local gardening expert what he recommends for your plants.

– Meanwhile, dispose of diseased or infested plant debris to prevent the problem from coming back in the spring.

– A final weeding will help improve the appearance of your garden during the remaining months of autumn. Plus, every weed you remove now will likely prevent hundreds of weeds from sprouting in your yard next spring.

– In many areas, strawberries planted now will be able to bear fruit in October and November. Strawberries produce well for about three years. In addition to eating them, your next fall task will be to replace the old plants with new ones in that third year.

– Take cuttings, if desired, to overwinter indoors.

– Plant trees and bushes. Keep them well watered after planting so they can get used to their new surroundings before cooler weather arrives.

– Wrap any plants that will benefit in burlap before hard frosts set in.

– Prune diseased or stressed branches of trees/shrubs, buds now, while healthy parts of the plant are more easily differentiated.

– Evaluate which plants and shrubs have worked well in your gardens and which have not. Take notes for planning the next season. Take pictures of your successes and difficult moments. Plan your spring bulb garden now.

– As needed, divide perennials and transplant newly divided bulbs. Try to have a mild, cloudy day to minimize stress to the plants/bulbs.

– Once temperatures reach 60 degrees, prepare soil beds and plant spring-blooming bulbs.

– Cut back any flowers that have stopped blooming and/or stop dead seed heads in early fall if you want the plants to self-seed. Perennial wildflower and ornamental seeds can be harvested and sown now or in the coming months.

– Consider leaving ornamental grasses as they are. They make a beautiful landscape during the gloomier months.

– Rake and remove fallen leaves, fruit and dry brush.

– Watch for frost warnings; protect/cover plants and vegetables as needed.

– If you have a compost bin or pile, turn it over with a pitchfork or garden fork.

– Bring summer houseplants indoors for the cooler months when overnight lows drop to the 50s. Outside, mist all plants gently with water to kill any unwanted pests; Examine plants carefully before bringing them indoors.

– Once you’ve watered your last outdoor plant and cleaned your garden tools for the season, drain and coil up your garden hoses. Put away tools, hoses, and portable sprinkler systems.

– Pick herbs to freeze and/or dry. Be sure to bring green tomatoes and cucumbers indoors before frost. You can wrap them in newspaper and leave them in a cool, dark place to ripen or use them in creative cooking activities.

– Harvest the harvest of the vegetables and herbs that are still in your garden. Preserve, puree, can or freeze, with a smile.

Now that your “homework” is done and the weather is cooler, take a walk around your garden. Look at your landscape photos. Evaluate what has worked well, what you would like to see. You may want to plan a gazebo, koi pond, a few extra flower beds, or a water garden for the upcoming season. Outdoor lighting, retaining walls, patios, decks, and other structures can also be considered on your fall gardening checklist.

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