Garden Center at N Carson City #3309

Fall is a different time for your lawn and garden, so get out your work gloves. The focus shifts from growing to harvesting, from upkeep to cleanup. We've got fall yard prep and fall lawn tips to help you make the most of your garden and landscaping as the season ends. We'll also guide you through planting and harvest. Depending on your climate, you might be able to garden throughout the chillier months, too, if you'd like. Read on for more on fall lawn and garden maintenance.

Patch or Fertilize Your Lawn
Patch up bald spots on your lawn by overseeding them. Autumn is a great time to fill in brown or bare places in your yard. However, make sure leaves don't land on 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 your lawn is in good shape, make sure it stays that way by applying lawn fertilizer if you have cool-season grass. Aerate your lawn before fertilizing to get those nutrients down near the roots right away. Water your cool-season lawn regularly and tend to any pesky 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 Planting
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 a florist or annual mum, you'll have flowers this year only.

Bushes and succulents also blossom 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 cold and frost 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 again, 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 5-gallon buckets, tarps, or even painting drop cloths. It'll warm your plants like a blanket or 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 in the morning when it warms up again and let them enjoy that fall sun. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, it's time to bid a fond farewell to the garden for the winter.

Put the Garden to Bed
When your annuals start looking rougher, dig up the plants. Northern climates that get cold earlier in the fall might be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November. After your vegetable plants have given their final harvest, dig them up, then chop and dispose of the detritus, or dead plant debris. Feel free to let them decay 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 blight, put the old plants in a leaf bag for disposal. You don't want to bring the disease or snails to next year's garden. However, if you have a compost heap in the corner of the yard, feel free to add the slug-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 shovel or renting a rototiller. You want to loosen the earth so the topsoil goes down and the deeper soil comes up. It helps nutrients penetrate and lets the soil rest. 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 need to restore certain nutrients that have been depleted.

Indoor Gardening
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 house plants to bring joy into your home. Just make sure they get enough water now that they won't benefit from rainfall, and rotate them regularly to give all leaves equal sunlight for photosynthesis. 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 Patio Heater
Stretch out your fall evenings with a patio heater, fire pit, or outdoor fireplace 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.

When you're curious about how to choose or build an outdoor fireplace, we have the supplies you need. Bricks, mortar, a wheelbarrow, trowels, and more — let us help you get this fall project from doing to done. If you'd love some extra heat but rather not install a fire pit or fireplace, we also have patio heaters, including gas, propane, and electric models.

Ease Into Autumn
This fall, shore up your flowers and plants for the season with us. We have the tools and supplies you need for putting the garden to bed, leaf cleanup, and restoring nutrients to your soil so it's ready for next spring. Shop our wide variety of outdoor living products and fall garden care in our mobile app, online, or in the aisles of your local store.