Fall Garden Tasks You Can’t Ignore
As the leaves begin to fall and the temperatures start to drop, it's time to start thinking about your fall garden tasks. There are a few tasks that you should do in order to make sure your garden is ready for the cold weather.
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Fall Garden Tasks You Can’t Ignore
Old Plants
Let's get ahead and clean up the summer garden before it gets too cold. Once the plants are dead, it is good practice to remove them as soon as possible. As you harvest your plants, remove them from the garden. Save yourself a trip later to remove them.
Fungal diseases and many garden pests will overwinter in the dead leaves and stems, prevent this by removing them altogether.
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Composting
Compost only the healthy plants that show no signs of disease. This is especially true of tomatoes which can harbor fungal diseases that will spread in your compost.
We like to spread our compost over the garden after all plants have been removed. We are working with new garden space so we also till the compost into the dirt. The majority of our compost is chicken shavings/compost.
Mulching
Mulching/covering is important in either a no-till or a tilled garden and is really the secret to decreasing weed issues and improving garden results.
This is the time of year when I like to mulch our garden beds in front of our house. Making these areas weed-free come spring is going to save me a lot of time that I could use elsewhere.
Planting for Fall & Winter Harvests
The colder months are upon us, but there are still plenty of things to do in the garden including planting fall and winter crops. Or even those things that you are going to grow over the cold months into winter like garlic.
- broccoli
- cauliflower
- lettuce
- kale
- chard
- cabbage
- collards
- parsnips
- spinach
- radishes
- onions
- garlic
- turnips
- beets
- carrots
Plant Bulbs and Trees
If you love early spring daffodils and tulips, fall is the time to plant them. It’s also the perfect time to plant shrubs as well as ornamental and fruit trees.
Make sure your first frost is still a few weeks out so new plants have time to adjust to your garden before the freezing weather hits.
With the seasons changing, now is the time to start thinking about tasks for your garden. Here are a few things to keep in mind for fall and winter:
Start planning what you want to plant in the spring. This is a good time to do some research and figure out what will work best in your garden.
More Gardening
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When to Start Seeds Indoors for Spring Planting
