These fall gardening and lawn care tips will keep you growing and give your yard a beautiful head start on next season. Fall is perfect for planting because the weather is cooler and less stressful on new plants. Roots have time to establish before winter. Fall is the time to plant spring-flowering bulbs. It’s also the best time for fall lawn aerating and overseeding.
Fall Gardening and Yard Care Tips & Ideas
1. Aerate and dethatch the lawn now to improve its ability to absorb water, air and nutrients. Lawn aeration reduces water runoff, improves root growth, and enhances its ability to endure heat and drought stress. Thatch build up chokes the lawn; it hinders water penetration and weakens the lawn. Dethatching the lawn allows new grass shoots to grow, and improves the root system.
2. Compost leaves, grass clippings, and spent vegetable and flowers now to make brown gold for your lawn, flower beds, and garden.
3. Plant cool season vegetables such as lettuce, radish and carrots now for Fall harvest. See our tips for planting a Fall Garden.
4. Divide daylilies after they have finished blooming. Or plant more daylilies now to attract lots of bees and butterflies next summer. Divide and transplant early-blooming perennials.
5. Take notes and pictures of your garden now, to plan for future plantings.
6. Add ornamental kale to borders and pots for color and interest in the fall garden. Also include colorful pansies; they thrive in cool weather.
7. Fall is the perfect time to plant new shrubs. The combination of warm soil and cool air encourages root growth. This helps newly planted shrubs and trees get established before the ground freezes. Try witch hazel for its golden yellow in fall and spidery yellow flowers in late winter.
8. Plant spring-flowering bulbs before 1st frost in your area. Tuck bulbs among existing perennials, or create a bulb garden to enjoy a riot of color in spring! And see our helpful planting chart:
Featured Mantis Product:
Mantis Lawn Aerator and Lawn Dethatcher Attachments
Use the Mantis Tiller with the Aerator or Dethatcher Attachment and quickly improve the overall quality of your lawn.
My wife has recently gotten into gardening and I wanted to help her plan out her ideas for the other seasons. It really helped when you suggested planting new decorative shrubs during fall because my wife is starting out small with her ideas and so shrubs seem like a good place to start before we start tackling the big stuff. I’ll be sure to look for a place where we can order proper shrubbery supplies before the seasons roll along. Thank you!
Wow, I never knew there were so many different types of flowers and vegetables that grow a lot better in the cool season. I previously had imagined that the cool season, since it has a lot less sunlight, would be a bad time to begin my yard and garden project. Now that I know that there are a lot of options for this, I’ll consult a lawn care service and have them guide me through the initial process so we can pick out the proper plants for it.