Simple steps keep your garden looking good through winter and ensure a healthier start in the spring
Fall wreaks havoc on even the most orderly garden. Summer edibles start dying off. The last of the tomatoes rot. Fallen apples ferment in the lawn. Don’t leave the mess until spring! Check out these tips to help you enjoy a good-looking yard through the rainy months, keep your plants and soil healthier, and keep disease and pests in check without the use of toxic chemicals.
Clear spent edibles and pick up fruit
Annual summer edibles become more susceptible to disease once they’ve produced, especially once the rain comes. Now is the time to harvest everything that’s left on dying plants and then clear them from your garden. (Got green tomatoes? Coat slices in cornmeal and brown them in vegetable oil – delicious.) Leave veggies like basil, greens, and carrots that can keep going in cooler weather and consider additional planting. Put garlic in the ground now for harvest next summer.
If you see black splotches on stems or other signs of disease, be sure to get them out of your garden and keep them out of your home compost bin. Put diseased plants in your curbside yard waste bin to be hauled away.
Toss fallen fruit in the yard waste bin, too. Fallen apples or other fruit can carry the larvae of pests like apple maggots and codling moths that can cause problems in your garden next year. The fruit can also attract rodents. It’s best to get it off the property.
Prepping beds for spring: leave the leaves
Once your summer plants are cleared from beds and the fruit is picked up, cover them with a thick layer of leaves, rotted straw, or burlap sacks to help preserve soil structure and control weeds. In many cases, you don’t even need to do anything – just let leaves lie where they fall on bare soil. Leaves keep soil from eroding in winter rains and wind, and add nutrients as they decompose. This gives your soil, trees and other plants a healthy boost. Leaf mulch also provides food and shelter for soil critters that in turn feed beneficial ground beetles and many birds in need of winter food. But be sure not to pile leaves against plant stems or tree trunks to help avoid fungal diseases.
Want to give your veggie garden a leg up come spring? Fall is the time to add agricultural lime to garden beds, especially where tomatoes will be planted next year. You can also plant cover crops now for healthier soil next season. Do it in four easy steps.
Take it easy with the pruning shears
Fall is a great time to prune, but don't overdo it. Leave a little for songbirds to find nesting material and food. Your trees and hedges are part of the region’s green canopy that provides vital habitat and much needed winter shelter for wildlife. Nurturing a home for them in your yard ensures a healthy balance of predatory birds that will eat pests before they become a problem.
Now is the time to plant natives
Fall and winter are great times to transplant new plants into your yard, especially native trees and shrubs. Dormancy reduces damage during transplanting, and the rain and lower temperatures help the plants get established. Plan ahead for a more colorful fall next year: for fall-to-winter color, plant asters, seaside daisies and red-twig dogwood. All tend to thrive naturally, without pesticides or fertilizers, making them easy to grow and safe for people, pets and wildlife.