This Wednesday was the first day of Fall. If you’re anything like me, you’re super excited for cool weather, sweaters, autumn leaves and campfires. To celebrate the season, we have found a list of specific jobs to do during the fall.
1. Plant bulbs
This is the time to plant spring-blooming bulbs like tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils. Get them in the ground before it freezes! Put in a little effort in the fall, and you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous color in the spring.
2. Store tender bulbs
Before the ground freezes, dig up and store your non-hardy bulbs like gladiolus, dahlias, cannas, and tuberous begonias.
3. Prepare your pots
Empty terra cotta and other ceramic and stone flower pots and store them in a garden shed or other covered spot. Leaving them out all winter will allow moisture to get inside, and as the weather warms and cools, the moisture will expand and contract, which could cause the pots to crack.
4. Rake, rake, rake!
Keep the leaves raked up from your lawn and gardens. Composting is a great way to get rid of all those leaves, while turning them into something useful for your garden.
5. Cover it up
Consider planting a cover crop in your vegetable garden. This can help break up clay soil, enrich sandy soil, and get your garden ready for next year’s vegetable crop.
6. Put your tools to bed
Give your garden tools a good cleaning and store them in a shed for the winter. Removing any dirt and chemicals will help prevent rust and corrosion.
7. Give trees a drink
Once the ground freezes solid, your trees and shrubs won’t be able to get any extra water until it thaws. To make sure there’s enough water in the soil, give them a big drink now, and add mulch to help keep the soil moist.
8. Under wraps
Consider wrapping the trunks of newly planted and thin-barked trees like linden, ash, and maple. You can use plastic winding tubes or a brown paper wrap. This prevents the bark from cracking due to the contracting and expanding that comes with freezing and thawing.
9. Prudent pruning
In the late fall, you can prune many types of trees. The sap loss is minimized during colder weather, which means there’s less stress to the tree. Flowering trees like cherry, peach, and plums, however should NOT be pruned in the fall. It’s best to prune them near bloom time.
10. Spring green
If your lawn has bare spots, this is the time to overseed. It’s not as simple as just tossing seed onto the lawn and hoping for the best, though. You need to get the seed down to the soil level, or it will just germinate in the thatch layer and die.
11. Tuck your strawberries into bed
The growing season is over, but your strawberry plants have already set their flower buds for next spring. For a good harvest next year, make sure the berry plants have a snug bed this winter.
Do you have any other landscaping or gardening chores that should be done in the fall?
Share them in the comments below! We want to hear from you!!
A version of this post was originally shared on “Living The Country Life.“
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