October is the perfect time to start thinking about what to do in the garden as fall approaches and before your first frost. Today we want to share some tips and ideas to help prepare your garden for fall. This is the time of the year when there is much more than a summer garden offers, yet it is also the right time to start laying down a plan for the fall season. Take advantage of the autumnal weather to change your garden to something you will enjoy even more when next year comes. It's a good time to plant those lovely spring bulbs and many other plants, mulch your borders, and prepare new ground for growing. You can add winter plants to your gardens before fall.

Things To Do In The Garden In Autumn

Here are some things to do in the garden in autumn:

1. Mulch Your Flower Borders

Mulch is a thick, loose layer of material placed on top of bare soil in flower beds or containers. This layer helps to suppress weeds, increase water retention, and improve the quality of the soil. Some popular mulching materials include garden compost, wood chips, manure, and leaf mold. Add your chosen mulch to a depth of about 2-3 inches, and always leave a gap between the mulched area and the woody stems of plants. You should know how to repot a plant to landscape your garden.

2. Care For Your Soil

Leaving beds empty with naked soil over winter isn't good for the soil's health either. Mulch bare vegetable and flower beds to keep them safe. Alternatively, if they are full of weeds, you can cover them with a sheet of cardboard or woolen carpet and leave the weeds to break down in time for planting in spring. If you can, avoid digging in the soil since this will disturb the structure and the soil organisms.

3. Plant Bulbs

Spring-flowering bulbs can be potted up or put into your borders in autumn. It's essential to plant bulbs such as daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses before the end of September, as the soil retains its warmth. For tulips, the preferred months are October and November. You can grow the bulbs of tulips, crocuses, and daffodils in pots or your flower borders. When you have a large expanse of grass, plant crocus bulbs in drifts to get an explosion of color in the early springtime. If you're potting up plants in a peat-free compost pack the bulbs as close as possible to each other for a good colorful display. You can stack them so that you see a succession of flowers. You can also plant trees in winter for a better look at your garden.

4. Remove Leaves

It is the best time to clear leaves from the lawns when they start falling and the season heads into mid to late autumn to keep the grass healthy. It is possible to use a rake or battery-powered leaf blower and retain them to create leaf mold for feeding next year's plants. Simply pile the leaves in wire cages and let them rot. 

Strong bags, tied top and bottom, punctured near the bottom for air circulation, and usable as mulch around plants the following year, are a good option if you have limited space. If your roses do have a blackspot, taking fallen leaves off their base and putting them in your garden waste collection or dustbin is a good idea as the leaves can harbor this disease through winter. Prune your plants before fall so they can grow properly in the winter.

5. Splitting Your Perennials

If some of your perennial flowers are thriving and developing large clumps, now is the time to lift them and split them into sections. You can put one section back in the same place and another almost anywhere in the garden, or share with friends. This method is particularly good for hardy, cold-hardy perennials like geraniums, lungwort, lady's mantle, astrantia, and phlox.

Important Tools in Preparing Your Autumn Garden

The most important selection of plants for fall must be done. It is preferable to utilize those species that can stand the lower temperatures. Some examples of these plants are pansies, chrysanthemums, and ornamental kale. These types will give an assortment of bright colors in your garden and can tolerate the changing weather. Soil to be prepared for planting in the autumn season requires some special equipment. A garden fork or tiller loosens compacted soils so that plants will easily root themselves. A rake can also come in handy when debris on the surface of the soil needs to be removed after tilling.

A good cleaning and maintenance job does make a thriving autumn garden. Pruning shears can help shorten dead branches, shape plants, or just tidy up your entire shrubbery, while a leaf blower or a rake can clean up leaves that have fallen. These are just a few ways how to maintain the tidiness of the garden and avoid diseases. A pair of hardy gardening gloves will not be forgotten in protecting your hands on the job.

How to Buy Plants From Eureka Farms?

You are now licensed for a full-scale nursery with an extensive inventory of landscaping trees, fruit trees, palm trees, and the largest houseplant collection. If you want to enhance your curb appeal or turn your porch into a class act, Eureka Farms can guide you on how to do it all, from topiary trees and hedges to everything in between. You can rest assured that we will handle the shipment with the utmost care across the country so that when your plants reach you, they will be as fresh as new. These indoor plants require less upkeep, improve home air cleanliness, brighten moods, and provide essential touches of the natural world to the work-from-home office. Happy Planting!