Be inspired to create a home that’s also a sanctuary with fall garden trends. This autumn, we’re engaging with our homes, indoors and out, in new ways.
More homeowners than ever before are planting vegetable gardens, inspired by victory gardens of the past. Growing your own food, like herbs that add flavor to your favorite dishes, offers a sense of security in changing times.
Inside, homeowners are creating tropical utopias with abundant indoor plants. You can start with easy sansevieria, add climbing pothos followed by statement plants like split-leaf philodendron. Houseplant enthusiasts are creating indoor gardens like never before.
Also on-trend for fall: making big impacts in small spaces with compact shrubs. Going back to the vegetable garden with organic techniques like intercropping (also called interplanting). Learning to compost and close the loop on recycling vegetable scraps. Finding connections in the natural world by gardening according to the phases of the moon.
Read on for our take on fall gardening trends.
Growing Your Own Food
Vegetable gardens planted in spring produced a bountiful harvest in summer. It's easy to transition to a fall vegetable garden.
Cool season leafy greens like kale and chard, and tender salad greens like spinach and lettuce, love the warm days, cool nights and wetter weather in fall. This is the time for root vegetables like beets and carrots. If you’re new to fall gardening, start by planting radish and sugar snap pea seeds. Radishes mature in a little over 30 days from seed to harvest. Learn more about planting a fall vegetable garden.
If your outdoor space is limited, you can still grow your own food with microgreen kits and pots of herbs that will grow on patios or in a bright window. Lightweight, portable grow bags are an eco-friendly option for containers. These handy bags are ideal for cool season greens and other annuals.
Indoor Gardens with Tropical Houseplants
Indoor plants are truly living up to the name "houseplants" this season with more people enjoying indoor plants at home.
This year, homeowners are filling their spaces with tropical houseplants like pothos, philodendron and monstera for all the best reasons. Indoor plants add decorative interest and some will even filter the air. Most of all, houseplant parents say the indoor gardens give them a sense of calm in their homes.
If you're new to houseplant parenting, begin by assessing the light in your home. There is a plant for every lighting scenario, whether natural sunlight or grow lights. Indoor plant experts recommend:
- Most houseplants do not like direct sunlight. Keep them away from the harshest light.
- Low light doesn't mean complete darkness. All plants require a few hours of light.
- Bright, indirect light is best for most houseplants. If it's bright enough for you to read, then it's going to be okay for your plants.
Get inspiration for new houseplants for your home.
Compact Plants for Small Spaces
Whether your garden is in a small or large space, compact shrubs are popular. From fragrant roses and camellias to colorful spirea and viburnum, give these new varieties a turn on your patio.
Fall is the best time to plant shrubs in the ground. Shrubs with flowers offer so much beauty with their blooms, foliage and winter interest. Some are even fragrant, such as viburnum, sweetspire, honeysuckle and lilac.
Shrubs appreciate the warm soil temperatures of late summer and fall to establish root systems, even as air temperatures grow cooler.
When planting shrubs in the ground, dig a wide, shallow hole, rather than a deep hole. Most shrubs grow roots through the top 12 to 18 inches of soil, and those roots will spread beyond the plant’s canopy. There’s no need to amend the soil in the planting hole. Instead, blanket with mulch and top dress with compost to nourish the plant through winter.
Closing the Loop with Compost
When growing your own vegetables, you can "close the loop" on recycling food scraps when you compost peelings from your vegetable harvest. The growing trend of living sustainably has created more awareness around composting at home. This has given rise to collection services for those who wish to do their part for the environment, but don’t have time to manage the process themselves.
At home, start with a compost bin on your countertop and in your yard. Get information about how to compost at home.
For pick-up programs, including some with monthly fees, providers pick-up food scraps each week and, in return, users get bags of nutrient-rich compost.
Composting helps reduce household waste streams by 60 percent and helps protect the environment by sending fewer food scraps to landfills. Do your part by composting at home or seeking out and connecting with one of these programs.
Organic Interplanting in the Vegetable Garden
Intercropping means bunching plants together as natural companions to provide a line of defense against pests, disease and weeds in your organic vegetable garden.
Adding herb plants to your vegetable garden, for example, can be a major line of defense against pests. Many herbs can mask the scent of delicious veggie counterparts, such as lavender planted with broccoli and cabbage.
Consider these natural companions:
- Squash with nasturtiums and radish.
- Beans with corn, potatoes, beets, carrots, cucumbers, summer savory, marigolds and strawberries.
- Chard with root crops, lettuce, radish, celery and mint.
- Broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and collards with thyme, potatoes, dill, chamomile, beets, onion, rosemary, sage, oregano and peppermint.
- Corn with beans, potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, squash, melons and marigolds.
- Cucumbers with radish, okra, beans, corn and peas.
- Lettuce with carrots, radish, strawberries and cucumber.
- Sweet peppers with basil and okra.
- Tomato with asparagus, marigold, nasturtium, chives, onion, parsley, garlic, roses and bee balm.
- Fruit trees with garlic, bulbs, chives, borage, nasturtiums, columbine and daylilies.
Gardening by Phases of the Moon
For centuries, many native cultures throughout the Americas have gardened according to lunar phases. As many modern gardeners explore traditional practices, they have begun to see the benefits of using the gravitational pull of the moon for planting.
In general, experts say that above-ground crops do best when planted during and between the new and full moon phases. That’s when the moisture in the soil is being pulled up. After the full moon, it’s best to do tasks in the garden instead of planting.
Here’s how lunar phase gardening works:
- New moon: Though the moon is not visible, it starts a new 30-day orbit cycle. During this phase is the best time to sow seeds or transplant leafy annuals such as lettuce, spinach, cabbage and celery.
- First quarter moon: As the moon grows in illumination, you’ll begin to see half of the moon. During this time, plant annual fruits and foods with external seeds, such as tomatoes, pumpkins, broccoli and beans.
- Full moon: Just when the moon’s gravitational pull is at its strongest, during this phase, moisture in the soil rises. It’s a perfect time to plant bulbs and root vegetables such as beets, turnips, potatoes and rhubarb because root development during this phase is at its strongest. It’s also a great time to plant fruit, such as apple trees.
- Last quarter moon: During this phase, avoid planting and instead add mulch to anything that includes improving the soil, such as adding compost, as well as pull weeds. It’s also a great time to prune and fertilize lawns and feed plants.
Whether you need the right tools, plants or garden soil, The Home Depot delivers online orders when and where you need them.