8 step fall garden checklist
As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp,it is the perfect time to transition to your fall garden. By taking a few key steps now, you can set yourself up for a flourishing garden when spring arrives. Here’s a comprehensive fall garden checklist to help you prepare.
1. Assess your Gardens
LOOK: at everything you grow for food production and your flowers, too. This includes container gardens, annual vegetable garden, perennials such as fruit trees, berry patches, asparagus and rhubarb beds.
ASK : what went well and what didn’t. Take notes. Which plantings provided great harvest? Keep doing what you’ve been doing with them. Which plantings did not do well or failed? Why is that so—pests, disease, lack of water, too much water, no pollination, weeds, etc.
ASK: what you had too much of or not enough. If you were overwhelmed with produce adjust how much you plant next year. Do you have a growing family that will demand a greater amount of food? Plan accordingly.
NOTE: Yes, literally write down or record– those answers and then identify what you can adjust to have a better outcome next year. Also, determine whether you should add more fruit trees, fruit bushes or other perennial plants. Decide if you need to make the asparagus and rhubarb beds larger.
All of this information feeds into your plans for next year.
2. Final Collection of seeds, Perennial Tubers and Herbs
When plants have gone to seed, it is time to harvest those seeds for next year’s planting time. Add to your plans for next year a designated portion of your garden plants to harvest as seed. From beans and legumes to lettuce and dill you can set aside just a few plants to go to seed and you will have a great supply for the following year.
Dahlias, tuberous Begonias, Canna and Gladiolus are examples of floral tubers that you many need to dig up if you are in a colder zone. This eliminates buying new tubers each spring.
Some herbs, such as ginger, turmeric, licorice and echinacea have the highest concentration of nutrients at the end of the growing season. Once those plants are established (3 years old), when the leaves begin to wither you can dig carefully at the base of the plant to uncover the roots or rhizomes. When you harvest keep in mind you need to leave enough to support the plant’s growth the following year.
3. REMOVE THE OLD PLANTS
A key of your fall garden is to remove all the old foliage. Here are your reasons why: Any plants that have signs of disease or fungus will infect the soil for next year’s garden. Additionally, if your plants battled insects, there can be eggs or larvae sill on the plants that will multiply the pest population next year. Also dead plants left in the garden will become a home for rodents.
You don’t have to pull up the plants, disturbing the soil. Just cut the plant at soil level and remove: diseased plants to a burn pile, and healthy plants to the compost pile.
4. Control the Weeds
FIRST As much as is possible, pull out weeds from the garden. Start with concentrating on weeds that have flowered and gone to seed. Then, as you have time, remove the others.
THEN plant a cover crop . Cover crops are just what their names say. They cover the ground, denying access to seeds that could land in the soil during the winter months. This means there will be many less seeds in the ground to take root and grow in the spring. In addition, they discourage soil erosion from wind and water.
Some good cover crops include hairy vetch, clover, and buckwheat.
5.TEND TO YOUR PERENIALS
This can have many variations. Perhaps you have a plant that has been in the same container for a few years and is no longer growing. Make a note in your planning schedule to transplant it either to a larger container or into a prepared bed next spring
Established perennials, such as rhubarb or comfrey will multiply until they have filled their planting area. They are easily managed by dividing their roots, leaving half in the original location and planting the other half in a new location. You can transplant now or in the spring when the ground thaws. I started with 12 comfrey roots and have divided them several times so that now I have comfrey plants edging several different gardens.
Monitor your fruit trees and fruit bushes. Did they look healthy this year? Was the foliage deep green or pale and yellow? These are signs of mineral deficiencies. Research your particular plants to learn the best way to keep the soil healthy for them.
6. Fertilize and Amend the Soil
The soil is the platform of a flourishing and productive garden. The best time to make amendments to your soil is in the fall. It gives a healthy start to next year’s garden. Many vegetables, such as cabbage and broccoli, are heavy nitrogen feeders that deplete the soil over the course of the summer. Cover crops and legumes or beans introduce nitrogen back into the soil.
Along with cover crops, you can add minerals such as potassium and phosphorus. They take a long time to break down to be available to the plants, so it is good to add them in the fall. Other minerals and fertilizers break down much more quickly so it is best to wait till spring to introduce them to the soil.
Compost is a great way to nurture your soil in the fall. If you don’t have compost available, you can put down a layer of manure. Chicken, cow, horse, llama or pig manure will break down over the winter months and provide natural fertilization for your garden..
7. Mulch
You’ve cleaned up your garden beds and amended and fertilized the soil. Now enrich the soil even further with organic matter – mulch. This can be woodchips, leaves, straw, or cover crop. It will break down and add organic matter back into the soil.
You can utilize sheet mulching, which is to make thick layers of mulch that will break down and work into the base layer of soil. This works long-term over the years, adding richness to the soil, layer by layer.
If you have a new ara you want to begin to develop for gardening, sheet mulching is a great way to bein the transformation. An area of compacted soil can be turned into a healthy medium for plants within two years of beginning to sheet mulch it.
8. clean up and store garden tools and supplies
Plant stakes, bird netting, row covers, mobile trellises, water hoses and rain barrels need to be collected and stored away for the winter. Now is a great time to look over your garden tools, remove any rust, clean them and store away. If you didn’t disinfect seed trays and pots after use in the spring, do so now so they are ready for your early spring indoor seed planting.
Final thoughts
Completing this fall garden checklist not only preserves the hard work you’ve put into your garden all season but also sets the stage for an abundant and healthy garden in the coming year. By taking these proactive steps, you’ll be able to enjoy a seamless transition from one season to the next and welcome spring with confidence.