Garden Center at Cottleville #3022

When a crisp day breezes in, take advantage of it to do outdoor maintenance. Bushes and trees need a trim with a chainsaw or pole saw as they're slowing growth for the season. Leaf maintenance is likely a concern, so check out leaf blowers, yard waste bags, and rakes. Be sure to get buckets and a wheelbarrow to contain a bountiful fall harvest. You may even be able to garden throughout fall and into winter. Read on to learn how to ease into your fall lawn and garden.

Fertilize or Patch Your Lawn
Patch bald spots on your lawn by learning how to seed a lawn in the fall. Cooler weather is a great time to fill in brown, dead, or bare places in your yard. However, you should try to keep leaves off freshly seeded areas. New grass seed needs water, sun, and air to grow, and leaf litter can block out the air and sunlight it needs to germinate.

If you're in a northern climate, prepare your cool-season grass for the fall with lawn fertilizer. Aerate your lawn before adding fertilizer to get the most bang for your buck. Water your cool-season lawn regularly and tend to any weeds that show up. It'll need different maintenance than warm-season grass, which goes dormant as the weather cools. Taper down watering on warm-season lawns.

Fall Gardening
Many colorful fall flowers are annuals, like marigolds, so they last until the end of the year. Hardier plants, like pansies and chrysanthemums, should return in the spring. Always check the plant tag for info. If you want your mums to grow back next year, the label should call them chrysanthemum morifolium, garden mums, or hardy mums. If it says they're an annual or florist mum, you'll need to replant next year.

Shrubs and succulents put on a show of flowers in the fall, especially if they're already established in the ground or kept in flower pots. Succulent planters allow for easier upkeep of sensitive succulents. You can customize the soil to fit these desert plants, as they need a sandy succulent soil mixture. For shrubs, look after the ones you've got or plant new ones, weather permitting. Get in new plants now, especially if you're in a warmer climate and have time before the frost and cold sets in.

Cut and Cover Perennials
In climates where you might have a cold snap here and there, but then it'll warm up above freezing, cover your plants. Protect your garden from freeze and frost damage to extend their season. You can get extra life out of your garden by covering your plants with tarps, 5-gallon buckets, or even painting drop cloths. It'll warm your plants like a greenhouse, and they'll survive a frost. Read other fall-planted perennial tips, too.

This works well when the weather is still transitional, until you're fully into the colder parts of the season. Uncover the plants when it warms up again and let them enjoy that autumn sunshine. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, say goodbye to the garden for the rest of the year.

Put the Garden to Bed
When the sun angle changes and your annuals start looking rougher, dig up the plants. Northern climates that get cold earlier in the fall may be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November, while warmer climates might wait until November or December. After your vegetable plants have yielded a final harvest, dig them up, then chop and dispose of the detritus, or dead plant debris. Feel free to let them decompose to enrich the soil unless you had one of two exceptions: if your plants dealt with disease or if you had a slug problem.

For gardens overrun with snails and slugs or if your plants struggled with disease, put the old plants in a lawn and leaf bag and dispose of them. You don't want to bring the disease or snails to next year's garden. However, if you have a compost bin, feel free to add the snail-riddled plant parts there.

After you've removed the old plants, you've got a clean slate. Prepare your garden bed for the spring by rotating the soil with a rototiller or shovel. You want to send the topsoil down, bring up the deeper soil, and loosen the earth. It lets the soil rest and helps nutrients penetrate. It's also an excellent opportunity to test the soil and see what, if any, soil amendments you need. Different crops and plants use different nutrients. Test your soil to see if it's balanced or if you ought to replenish certain nutrients that have been depleted.

Bring Delicate Plants Indoors
Gardeners with potted plants can extend their growing season by bringing the plants indoors to a sunny window. Indoor gardening allows both outdoor plants to live longer and indoor plants to bring joy into your home. Just turn them regularly to give all leaves equal sunlight, and make sure they get enough water now that they won't benefit from rainfall. If the pots don't have built-in overflow dishes, be sure to add shallow bowls beneath them to catch any extra water.

Warm the Outdoors with a Fire Pit
Stretch out your fall evenings with an outdoor fireplace, fire pit, or patio heater to take off the chill. No matter if you're looking to heat a small patio, a cozy back porch, or a spacious deck, we've got options. All you have to do is pick the one that matches your decor style.

We've got fire bowls and fire pit tables ready to warm your outdoor space. Check out stylish propane fire pits and natural gas fire pits in a variety of shapes. We've also got woodburning fire pits and the firewood to stoke them. You can even build your own with fire pit kits or make it completely custom and learn how to build an in-ground fire pit to your exact specifications. Find the best fire pits for your backyard or stop by your closest garden center to see what's in stock.

Ease Into Autumn
This fall, tidy up your yard with us. We've got everything you need for leaf cleanup, putting the garden to bed, and restoring nutrients to your soil so it's ready for next spring. Shop our wide variety of fall garden care in our mobile app, online, or in the aisles of your local store.