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Don't cut corners on Fall cleanup and maintenance if you want a healthy garden and landscape next year

9/21/2023

 
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A Fall Garden Checklist to guide you through essential tasks

It's nice to have a Fall garden checklist to help you prepare your garden for the coming colder months and ensure it comes back strong in the Spring.

Clean Up and Maintenance
  • Remove dead plants, weeds, and debris from your garden beds.
  • Prune and trim shrubs, trees, and perennials as needed.
  • Clean and store garden tools properly for winter. See the next blog post for how to clean and sanitize your garden tools.

Soil Preparation
  • Add organic matter like compost to enrich the soil.
  • Consider mulching to protect soil and suppress weeds.
  • Test your soil for pH and nutrient levels and make necessary amendments.

Planting
  • Plant fall-blooming bulbs like tulips and daffodils for spring color.
  • Sow cool-season vegetables like kale, lettuce, carrots, and radishes.
  • Plant perennial flowers and shrubs for next year's blooms.

Divide and Transplant
  • Divide and transplant overcrowded perennials.
  • Transplant any shrubs or trees that need a new location.

Pest and Disease Control
  • Remove and dispose of diseased plants.
  • Clean and sanitize gardening tools to prevent disease spread.
  • Consider applying dormant oil to control overwintering pests.

Fertilizing
  • Apply a balanced, slow-release fertilizer to lawns and garden beds.
  • Avoid fertilization of plants that are going dormant.

Watering
  • Adjust your watering schedule as the weather cools down.
  • Reduce watering for plants that go dormant in the fall.

Protecting Tender Plants
  • Cover tender plants or bring them indoors if frost is expected.
  • Consider using row covers or cloths to extend the growing season.

Lawn Care
  • Continue mowing the lawn until it stops growing.
  • Aerate and overseed if necessary.
  • Rake up fallen leaves to prevent them from smothering the grass.

Bulb Care
  • If you have existing bulbs, resist the temptation to cut back foliage until it has turned brown.
  • Plant spring-flowering bulbs (see our article about Spring bulbs here).

Composting
  • Continue adding compostable materials to your compost pile.
  • Continue to water the compost pile and turn to promote decomposition.

Garden Planning
  • Reflect on the past growing season and make notes for next year.
  • Plan your garden layout and order seeds and plants for the spring. Our article of garden planning software reviews is here and how to keep a garden journal is here.

Tool Maintenance
  • Sharpen and oil your garden tools for winter storage. Our Garden Tool Care Guide is here.

Wildlife Considerations
  • Make sure water sources for wildlife are clean and accessible.
  • Clean out bird feeders and fill with food for winter birds.

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    Authors

    Blog posts are written by Kathy Sullivan, Communications Director.  Contact BFGC:  blackforestgardenclub@gmail.com 
    If you would like to submit a guest article please email us.

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