It’s October which means, it’s Fall!!! What a great time of the year, from pumpkins and apples to pumpkin spice lattes, what is there not to love??? Today I am talking gardening! I know, not my normal area but I am a homeowner, a DIY-er and therefore, I end up being a gardener! So let’s talk Gardening Ideas: 6 Ways to Prepare Your Garden for Fall.
We bought our house 2 years ago and the house was basically in the forest. My husband has been working tirelessly on bringing the trees away from the roof and clearing the ground of weedy bushes. I have found no less than 20 decorative stones buried in 3 inches of earth, and I know there are more. It’s kind of become an obsession! 🙈
Living in the north it’s the time of year to think about what we want to get done before that “white death” comes (aka snow 😂). For us, it’s especially important this year because our youngest daughter is a Senior in high school so as soon as the weather breaks we will be in high gear getting ready for a grad party! So anything we can get done now only helps us come Springtime.
Here are the 6 gardening ideas you can do to prepare your garden for Fall and eventually Winter!!!
Assess the Damage
Take a look around your plants and determine what worked, and what didn’t work.
- Are there any plants that need divided?
- Are there any that need to be replaced?
We have lots in our yard that need divided, as you can see with this hosta. It’s getting pretty big!
Replace Old with New
So if something isn’t doing well maybe you should think about replacing it. The two great times of the year to plant is the Spring and Fall.
If you know something isn’t working then check to see if it’s getting too much water or too much sun. You might need to replace with something different altogether.
We decided to pull out a bunch of weedy bushes (yes that’s the technical name 😂). Remember, I am not a gardener! So instead of Latin, you get weedy bushes! LOL
This thing dead center is my weedy bush. Someone once told me the real name but I can’t remember it. These are the things that grow along fences on the highway, where it’s hard to mow the grass. This one area of our yard has a ton of these of varying heights. This one is pretty big. My husband and I cut one down last weekend, he had to use the chainsaw! And we filled 4 lawn bags with this thing. UGH!
Here is a picture of what we have added to the garden.
It’s a little hard to see but in the bottom of the picture are the ferns we added (they like a little sun and are deer resistant. Something we really need around here!). At the top of the picture are some hosta, the ones we chose like full shade. Right now they are pretty little, hopefully, they grow quickly!
These beauties are limelight hydrangea. Aren’t they stunning! My neighbor is in love with them. These are what we are putting where those ugly weedy bushes were. By taking out the weedy bushes we allowing more light to get to the garden floor.
It’s still a work in progress, still pulling out the weedy bushes and adding new plants. I will add a final picture when we are all done.
Add Mulch
Consider adding some mulch if you plant something new or divide a plant and plant it somewhere else.
Also, a good idea if you have any bare spots.
I have a ton of bare spots right now but made sure I added mulch to all the new plants I put in the ground. Yes, I have been that person with mulch bags in their yard….all…..summer! 😫
Check for diseases
If a plant isn’t looking good, like spots or losing leaves prematurely, it might be diseased. I recommend bringing a picture of the plant or a stem cutting into your local nursery to ask an expert what he/she thinks.
Here are some examples of diseased plants to give you an idea and a great post on what the disease could be.
Prepare for Spring
Now is a great time to deadhead spent blooms, and to divide plants that are getting too big.
Dig up any non-hardy bulbs or tropical plants and move inside. Here is a great post on what to do with non-hardy bulbs. And here is a great post on what to do with tropical plants in the winter.
Add compost and peat moss to replace nutrients lost over the summer. Don’t know which to use? Peat moss has very few microorganisms and is very acidic. Compost has many microorganisms and is more basic in pH. Compost is also free but Peat moss must be purchased. This post gives you information on which is the best one to use in your garden.
Disinfect Pruners
Disinfecting your pruners and other tools helps prevent the spread of diseases among your plants. Clean them first, remove all debris, then you should disinfect.
There are lots of things you can use to disinfect your tools. Household cleaners like Lysol are great because they aren’t corrosive but might not be the most effective.
Chlorine bleach works great but is corrosive.
Ethanol and rubbing alcohol works great, but they are flammable. So let’s keep the flames away alrighty!
And then there are TSP’s. That stands for Trisodium Phosphates. Check out this post for more details.
I am having a blast with all these fall gardening ideas. My yard is transforming more and more every weekend! My front porch is also all decked out for Fall. Did you see my Fall Home Tour post? Go check it out next! Here is a teaser picture of the front porch!
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