10 Leaf And Plant Tips for Fall

Warm soil, sufficient rain, and cool weather help make for the best root growth conditions. Fall is the best time to plant trees and prepare your garden for successful winter, and even spring, sprouts.

1. Rake and Compost Leaves
   Fall leaves make the best plant fertilizer, compost, mulch, and soil conditioner there is for your garden! Leaves need to be shredded with a mower or a leaf vacuum and compost them all together to make leaf mold. Leaf compost also makes a beautiful organic mulch for your veggies and your flower beds.

2. Plant Garlic
   Now is the time to plant garlic. You just plant it and forget it all winter and most of the spring. Plant each clove of the garlic separately. Each clove has a chance to root in before the cold temperatures of winter set in. In the springtime, each clove sends up a lovely green shoot and grows into a whole bulb of garlic by the summertime.

3. Plant Winter Veggie Crops
   Winter crops such as lettuce, kale, and spinach are all wonderful choices for some cool-weather greens. Radishes grow best when planted in cool weather and taste best when harvested young. Read the label to determine the variety you can harvest by Thanksgiving. Winter sowing can be done for certain seeds that need a cold period before blooming. Overwintering onion sets (and even some hardy peas and broad beans) are also an excellent addition.

4. Schedule Your Last Lawn Mowing
   Grass stops growing in the fall. Cut the lawn for a final time before snow covers it for the winter. This is a good time to clean and sharpen your powered yard equipment and empty any unused gasoline equipment. Stop using fertilizer on your lawn.

5. Take Care of the 4 D’s
   Fall is a prime time to remove any branches that are dead, damaged, diseased, or deranged (the 4 D’s) from your trees and shrubs. “Deranged” refers to branches growing into the center of the tree or crossing and rubbing other branches.

6. Plant Spring-Blooming Bulbs
   The fall is the perfect time to plant spring-blooming bulbs like tulips, allium, daffodils, hyacinth, and crocus. Plant them now, and you’ll be glad you did when you see them blooming after a chilly winter.

7. Plant Cover Crops on Bare Soil
   Bare soil will attract weeds, so cover that bare soil. You can use cover crops such as crimson clover or winter rye and let them take up the space. In spring, turn the cover crop back into the soil to nourish and improve the ground and help feed your spring and summer crops and flowers.

8. Cut Back Some Herbaceous Perennials
   The fall is time to cut back some herbaceous perennials that do not provide much winter interest or other benefits in the upcoming colder months. Leaves that can become soggy should be cut back. If you have native grasses like switchgrass or little bluestem, leave them standing to provide food and habitat over the cold months. You can cut the old growth in spring when the new growth begins to come up. Leafcutter bees, mason bees, and yellow-faced bees will nest in the hollow stems of many native plants. Leave your native plants standing over winter, and in the spring, instead of cutting them down. Leave 12 – 15 inches of stalk stubble standing for pollinator nesting sites.

9. Clear Up the Garden
   The fall is the time to compost, cover, and clean the vegetable gardens, flower beds, and patios. Cover outdoor furniture and bring terra cotta pots undercover. Compost and clear out dead plants from the vegetable and ornamental garden. Yard waste composts most quickly if it is shredded or mulched before composting. Leaves with signs of disease should be otherwise discarded (do not add them to the compost pile).

10. Apply Winter Mulch
    Mulch empty vegetable and ornamental beds with shredded leaves or mulch to insulate the soil from extreme temperature swings. You can use shredded leaves to keep the planting ground stable against too many freeze/thaw cycles. Apply mulch after the ground has frozen.