Fall and Your Garden
Well, autumn is here! I thought it would be a good time to share tips for taking care of your garden with the fall season in mind. Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year.
Everywhere you look there are beautiful yellows and oranges that contrast against the reds, browns, and evergreens in a cascade of gorgeousness that can’t be equaled in the finest paintings.
I am sure you want YOUR garden enhancing the natural beauty that comes with this glorious autumn season!
Let’s get to making your yard beautiful for the fall…
Garden Tools Care Tips
- Digging tools like shovels, hoes, and hand trowels should be free of dirt each time you use them. Wash them with warm water. Dry completely.
- Sharpen dull tools when needed. Keeping your tools sharp will enable you to use them at the start of each season rather than having to prepare them for next season.
- Cutting tools such as pruners and loppers should be cleaned each time you finish using them. Cleaning them each time will keep them from becoming gummy from tree sap. To thoroughly clean the sap from the blades, use steel wool to remove the residue. Make sure the blades stay dry and follow up with a thin coat of mineral oil.
- Tools with wooden handles. Check the handles regularly to be sure the wood isn’t split. Split handles should be replaced. Generously oil the wooden handles with boiled linseed oil, allowing it to soak into the wood prior to wiping of the excess.
Fall Gardening
Most people believe that once the weather begins to cool, gardening must come to an end. However, if you plan things correctly, the autumn can be the perfect time to start a whole new garden.
To get the most out of your garden, use cold frames or hotbeds to plant in, as well as your summer garden plot. Check with a local county agent or nursery to see what can be grown in the fall and winter.
Cool-season vegetables include carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. Depending on where you live, the variety of vegetables might be different. The beginning of fall is the prime time to plan and plant your garden.
Prepare the garden by removing any of the summer season’s plants and any weeds that might have grown up.
If you can keep your fall garden watered properly, you should be able to plant the seed directly into the ground. However, if you are not sure your garden will get the water it needs, consider purchasing seedlings from the local nursery. Plant the seeds deeper in the fall than you would during the spring since the moisture and temperature of the soil is different.
It is also very important to protect the garden from the first early frosts. Consider covering your beds and rows with burlap or put stakes along the rows and float a cover over the plants to protect them. If you have a smaller garden and only a few plants, you can use milk jugs, paper cups, or something similar to protect your plants from frosts.
Plan your garden based on the type of plants – frost tolerant or frost susceptible – keeping the types of plants together so they can be easily harvested. Some frost tolerant vegetables include beets, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, garlic, lettuce, onions, and spinach. Frost susceptible vegetables would be beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, potatoes, and squash.
Remember, just because autumn is here does not mean that you can’t still enjoy gardening.
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I would love to see some of your garden pics! Please feel free to leave a link reply to your fall gardens, or send them in and I will post them! Lara@momsoffaith.com
Happy Fall!