As tree leaves flourish into bright fall colors, home gardens are fading into collections of brown leaves and stems. Just because the growing season is ending, however, doesn’t mean that the work is over. Karen Mitchell, consumer horticulture Extension specialist, offers a few tips to set your garden and lawn up for another successful year.
1. Don’t start cleaning up too early.
It can be tempting to start wrapping up your garden at the first sign of cool weather, but it may still have another month or two of potential growth.
“This is the last burst of garden activity before dormancy begins,” Mitchell explains.
Cooler weather can be a great time to plant trees or herbaceous perennials, like serviceberry or coneflowers. “This isn't the time to lock up the shed; it's a great time to plant.”
2. Don’t clear out all the dead plants and leaves.
Many people think they must remove every leaf and dead stem to prime their garden for next spring. In Mitchell’s experience, clearing out all plant debris often causes more harm than good.
“All plant and insect populations have this ebb and flow. When we remove every little leaf, we might find that the pests out compete beneficial insects. There is research that backs up weeds and leaf litter harbor insects and disease, but dead plants also harbor some of our beneficial insects that will fight other pests,” Mitchell says.
Dead flower stems, for example, give pollinators a place to overwinter, and flower seed heads, like those on coneflowers or rudbeckia, feed birds and other wildlife. Fallen leaves offer similar benefits.
“I like to recommend a balanced approach; tidy as needed. You can leave the leaves in the garden bed — as long as there's no disease — but remove them from your lawn. Or you can use the leaves and spent perennials as mulch around trees. It can be difficult to get past the aesthetics of it, but I try to challenge people to look past the dead material and see the life it's supporting.”
3. Don’t avoid fertilizing.
“This is actually a good time of year to fertilize if you are looking for that green, lush, weed-free lawn,” Mitchell explains. “One way to reduce chemical inputs, like herbicides, is by making sure you have a healthy lawn.”
Healthier grass outcompetes weeds more easily, so giving your lawn a little boost now will create stronger, better grass come spring.
4. Don’t stop weeding.
Weeds keep growing late into fall, and cool weather doesn’t deter them. Giving up on weeding too early can be a recipe for disaster next growing season.
“My graduate work was in weed science, and so I have a lot of respect for weeds and how adaptable they are,” Mitchell says. “I’ve found pigweed — that you've been pulling out of your garden all season — will still germinate right now. Cold weather signals that plant that it's going to die soon, so it will quickly flower and produce seed even when it's only four inches tall. You really don’t want weeds to go to seed at any time of the year.
“Weeds are extremely adaptable, and that’s what makes them so successful.”
5. Don’t forget to plan ahead for next year.
Late fall, around October, is the perfect time to plant spring flowering bulbs.
“In September, you should step back and evaluate your garden, take an inventory. If you don't have a lot blooming right now, or if things are starting to die out, use that as an opportunity and think about what you could plant in the next month to fill in those gaps.”
To learn more about what to do with your garden this fall, check out these Extension resources:
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