Enjoy your garden with a fall gardening checklist. If you want to grow a year-round garden or enjoy a spring and summer garden you’ll want to add a few tasks to your fall gardening list. I’m walking you through what to take care of now in order to enjoy your garden later.
As the days get shorter and the temperatures drop it’s important to take care of a few things in the garden so you can enjoy food or flowers later. Today I’m sharing my fall gardening list with you to help you get a jump start in your garden.
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I live in the Pacific Northwest and that means long cold and wet fall and winter months. Our days are dark and wet so our hot growing season is small.
Many people don’t grow year-round gardens around here because there isn’t a lot to grow. I do grow a lot of broccoli, different lettuces, and carrots which are nice. But there are things that I plant in October so I can enjoy them next year.
What to include in your fall gardening checklist?
Tasks that I include in my fall gardening checklist are tasks that will clean the garden and allow me to grow more food. Let’s dive into what to include in a fall gardening checklist:
Clean and trim
- Clear out old dead plants
- Trim back trees, roses, and scrubs
- Trim back summer bulbs
- Clean up hanging baskets and flower containers
Plant for now and later
- Plant next years bulbs like onions, garlic, and flowers
- Replant lettuce and other winter growing crops (carrots, peas, and lettuces)
- Plant cover crop to add nutrients to the soil like clover
Feed
- Feed your perennials before the first frost hits
- Add compost to garden and flower beds
Cover and protect
- Rake leaves over roses and other shrubs that need extra protection
- Add burlap to shrubs (only if you live in areas that get a lot of snow or have very cold temperatures.)
If you spend a few hours trimming your plants back, feeding them, and planting bulbs for next year your garden will be happy and will have a jumpstart on your spring garden.
Gardening Tools and Gear Maintenance
Now that your yard is ready to go this fall it’s time to focus on your gardening tools and gear.
- Clean hand tools and put them away
- Sharpen blades to trimmers and lawnmower
- Drain hoses and irrigation lines add covers
- Drain gas lines of any gas-powered small engines like mowers and leaf blowers
By spending a bit of time doing maintenance on your garden tools and gear you’ll prolong the life of your gear saving you money and keeping your supplies in great shape. Follow along at home with the free fall garden checklist, you can download that below.
It really doesn’t take a lot of time to maintain a fall garden and all of your hard work will pay off with an amazing garden when following this checklist.
if you till your garden veggie plot now, yu unearth many insect pests that have burrowed for winter or laid eggs. The birds will scavenge them now and you will have fewer nasty bugs to contend with in spring.