what to do in the garden in autumn

Autumn is a time of transition in the garden as summer blooms fade and the garden prepares for colder weather. As the leaves begin to turn and the days grow shorter, gardeners everywhere know that autumn has arrived. While some may view this as the end of the gardening season, there is actually a lot that can be done in the garden at this time of year! Here are some tips on what to do in the garden in autumn.

Preparing the garden properly each autumn will result in a healthier, more robust spring landscape. Here are some tips for autumn garden care:

• Remove spent summer annuals and vegetables that have died back. Compost or discard diseased plant material.
• Plant fall vegetables like kale, spinach, lettuce, and radishes in the garden space freed up after removing summer plants. Determining planting times requires checking your first expected fall frost date.
• Cut back perennials left untended in the summer to tidy the garden. Leave some perennials and grasses for winter interest.
• Divide crowded perennials like hostas, irises, and daylilies to rejuvenate them. Replant divisions to share extras.
• Prepare beds for spring bulbs by amending soil and planting bulbs like tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths in late fall at proper depth.
• Refresh mulch in your garden beds to conserve moisture, suppress weeds, and protect plant roots from extreme cold. Opt for shredded bark or leaves.
• Prune shrubs and trees to remove dead or damaged branches. Make shaping cuts to improve form but avoid heavy pruning.
• Fertilize lawns in early fall with products containing nitrogen to encourage root growth going into winter dormancy.
• Monitor for pests like aphids and apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees to control overwintering pests and diseases.
• Drain and store garden hoses and irrigation systems. Shut off and drain water to outdoor faucets.
• Cover sensitive perennials, shrubs, and container plants with frost blankets as needed when freezing temperatures begin.

Soil Care

When carrying out autumn soil cultivations, the gardener’s goal is to aid drainage, ensure aeration, incorporate organic manures, ensure thorough moisture penetration, and thus prepare the soil for spring work.

How to keep your flowers blooming as long as possible

Although Autumn is when leaves begin to fall, flowers are still plentiful in the garden and the period of bloom-bearing can be extended by removing withered leaves and seed-pods from the plants.

Daffodil bulbs can be obtained by lifting old plants and separating the new bulbs from the old ones, and then replanting them separately.
Polyanthus plants can be set during Autumn. Old plants can be divided and replanted.
Thrift is an easy plant to grow in a rockery, and can be planted now, A root can be taken from an old plant.
If Marigolds have not been grown in the garden, now is the time to sow seeds for next year; also those of the Californian Poppy and Coneflower. All these seeds will stand the winter, and bloom the following year.

Young plants of Carnation and Pink can be planted this month. These flowers will make a splendid show of colour. If you have any flowers of which you wish to save seed, you should select the finest blooms, and mark them by tying on a piece of cotton. Snip off the other flowers and buds so that all the nourishment goes to the seed of the flowers
left.

Now is the time to put bulbs of Daffodils, Hyacinths, Crocuses, etc., into bowls for blooming at Christmas, Put them into bowls nearly filled with damp fiber, and then place them in a dark cupboard for six or eight weeks.

In the open, plant bulbs for spring blooming.

If you have a particularly good Chrysanthemum plant in your garden, you can pot it up, and remove all the buds except one. Take it indoors and place it in the window, and you will have a decorative bloom.

Fall Projects

A little job you can do before the Autumn rains come in is to make a boot-scraper. If you have an almost worn-out spade, file the blade down, and cut off part of the handle. Bury the handle part in the soil, and ram down the earth well around it. Leave two or three inches above the ground.

The season when flowers fade and bulbs are planted

Autumn brings falling leaves, but in the garden planting of roots and bulbs for next year’s flowers continues. The past summer’s plants have mostly finished flowering by now, and a sharp frost may cripple many of those yet remaining.

If seeds of the pretty Forget-me-not, and of Wallflowers were planted in Spring, the young plants can now be transplanted into the rock garden, or into your plot.

Now is the time to plant Tulip bulbs. There are many colored varieties of this attractive flower, and they will make a vivid show in the garden in Spring and early Summer. More Hyacinth bulbs can now go into the ground. This very pretty plant will flower in late Spring.

Lupins make a lovely display of many colored flowers in Summer, if the roots are planted in Autumn. Pieces broken from the outside of old plants will make fine new ones.
Lily of the Valley crowns may now be planted in a sheltered spot, with some leaf-mold worked into the soil.

If you haven’t got one already now is the time to get yourself a decent rake. This handy tool is very useful in collecting old leaves, and gathering garden rubbish.

A tall plant, bearing golden flowers in Autumn, can be planted now. It is called Helenium, and can be obtained by separating a root from an old plant.
If Michaelmas Daisy roots were not planted last Spring, they can be set in the ground this time of year. They spread quickly, and bear throughout the Autumnal season, making a very good display for your garden.

The roots of old Delphinium plants can be divided, and each part replanted separately, using the outside pieces. This plant has splendid flowers, and you will be delighted to have at least one of these in your garden.

Now that there is not too much to do in the garden, you should take the opportunity of making some “gadgets” ready for next year. If you can get hold of a small wooden tub you should cover it with Virginian cork, add two wire handles, and stand it, when the time comes, on an old tree-trunk in it next year you can plant trailing Lobelia, Canary Creepers, and, say, one fine Geranium. Some of the creepers can be trained over the handles. This, when the flowers are in bloom, makes a stunning garden ornament.

Garden Jobs in Autumn

1. Plant fall-blooming flowers. Chrysanthemums, asters, and ornamental kale are just a few of the many beautiful flowers that bloom in autumn. Adding these to your garden will give it a splash of color during a time when many other plants are beginning to fade.
2. If you didn’t get around to it in spring, now is the time to divide perennials. Dividing perennials every few years helps to keep them healthy and prevents them from becoming overcrowded. Be sure to water well after dividing.
3. Fall is also a good time to plant trees and shrubs. The cooler temperatures make it easier for newly-planted specimens to get established before they have to face the heat of summer. Just be sure to water them well until they become established.
4. An annual task that should be done in autumn is cleaning up debris from the summer months. This includes deadheading annuals, raking leaves, and removing any dead or dying plants. Cleaning up debris helps to keep your garden tidy and free of disease-carrying pests.

Late Autumn is generally considered a dull time of the season. The leaves have all fallen from the trees by the end of it. We know, however, that Nature is only sleeping, and that in a few months’ time it will awake again, and our work in the garden during the Autumn months will indeed be well repaid.

Autumn may be the end of the growing season for many plants, but there is still plenty that can be done in the garden at this time of year! By following these tips, you can keep your garden looking its best all autumn long.