Getting Your Garden Ready for Fall

So its the beginning of September, we are just a few short weeks away from Fall! Now is the time to start prepping everything for those winter months!

I’m talking about planting your spring bulbs, so they bloom come spring.  Talking about harvesting the last bits of your garden and planting your fall/winter vegetables. I’m talking about cleaning up the garden and the everlasting fall leaves that never seem to be finished falling from the trees.

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Yeah, that’s right Oak Trees. I’m looking at you! There’s…just…so…many…leaves!

However! Cleaning up the garden and yard not only can you create your own compost from the leaves but it’ll help your perennials for the next spring/summer.

Spring Bulbs Galore

Time to get ahead and think of your spring flowers! And I don’t want you to think that there is a limited amount of spring flowers. There are more than just tulips and daffodils out there, don’t let your local grocery stores fool you! Go out there and be creative and plant as much as you can! The bees need these early spring flowers!

So what other spring bulbs can I plant, you ask??

Great question!

• Allium
• Bluebells
• Crocus
• Daffodils
• Dutch Iris
• Grape Hyacinth
• Hyacinth
• Scilla
• Snowdrops
• Tulips

These also come in different colors and some of them have different types.They may look a bit different from each other but are within the same family.

It is necessary to plant them before the winter comes. Bulbs need this time to pre-chill in order to bloom. But you also want to wait until the ground is cooler to plant them. Most of the packages that the bulbs come in will have directions for planting depth and spacing. Be sure to follow accordingly.

Be adventurous! And creative!

Try stacking the bulbs when you plant them, see how it turns out come spring! If you would like to cluster a few different types together be sure to plant the taller flowers in the back and smaller ones in the front so you can see all the gorgeousness of every individual. Clusters like this will definitly give your garden that wow factor!

Harvesting/Planting Fall crops

So now that its the end of the summer and we are heading into the Fall. We are getting the cooler temps come nightfall and starting to lose our precious daylight at the end of the day. I bet your crops are starting to look dull, rugged and straight run down. Pull them out and start your Fall Harvest.

There are plenty of great crops that you can grow in the Fall:

• Start these from Seed (cause they grow like weeds): Carrots, Kale, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Onions, Radish, Spinach, Turnip

• Transplant(cause they grow like molasses): Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kohlrobi
  

Now once you’ve done this, watch them grow and enjoy the wonderful nom noms that come from your harvest.

Clean Up the Annuals/leaves

So all those beautiful annuals that you planted during spring and summer have now died down and look like doo doo. Don’t cave into the overwhelming feeling of “Well, its too late now, i’ll just wait til spring to clean up.”

FALSE! Its not too late! Do it now! You got this!

It’s extremely important to clean up all those annuals before the winter hits! And of course, all those darn leaves, that no matter how many times you mow the yard…they are still there.

I live in a wooded area. I swear, you mow in one direction the length of your yard then you turn around to go back the other way and it’s like you haven’t done anything. You will think to yourself….”I had the mower on…right?!”

While you are going through planting all of your lovely spring bulbs, you can grab a wagon, trailer, bucket, whatever your darling heart desires and pull out all those dead annuals and rake up the fallen leaves.

Make sure to keep any seeds from the dried flowers! You can use these to start your own seedlings.

Not only will it make your garden just look better, and less…dead, it makes your soil healthier. Also, be sure to protect any perennial you may have from the harsh winter ahead.

What Could Happen

Leaving the fallen leaves on your garden can lead to your perennials getting root rot. The leaves collect extra water from sitting and all the excess water will lead to pests that you reeeeallly dont want around.

Such as mosquitos…bleh.

They will lay their eggs in the water, and you’ll have your very own breeding ground of new itty bitty baby mosquitos. I can just hear the West Nile Virus calling my name. Don’t become a feast for mosquitos, take care of those leaves.

Take all those beautifully colored leaves and dead plants or cuttings and any remaining weeds that you have now collected and throw them onto a compost. This stuff is great for your soil and adds essential nutrients back into the ground. And will help your flowers and vegetables blossom more brilliantly.