Garden Center at Port Charlotte #201

On a fresh fall day, take advantage of the weather and do a second round of planting and outdoor maintenance. Now is a great time to get flower bulbs and fall flowers in the ground. Read on for more on fall gardening, and how to transition to your fall lawn and garden.

Patch or Fertilize Your Lawn
Patch bald spots on your lawn by overseeding them. Cooler weather is a great time to fill in dead, brown, or bare places in your yard. However, you should try to keep leaves off freshly seeded areas. New grass seed needs air, water, and sun 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. Rent an aerator to aerate your lawn before fertilizing to get those nutrients down near the roots quickly. 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
Fall planting is often overlooked, but autumn is the perfect time to get additional flowers in your garden. Chrysanthemums, often just called "mums," provide a beautiful burst of fall color. Find them in shades of white, pink, purple, orange, red, and yellow. Pansies, surprisingly, can overwinter as far north as parts of The Great Plains, so consider adding them, too. They're quite hardy, but mums are even tougher. Remember to explore the wide variety of fall plant and flower options.

Shrubs and succulents often flower in the fall, especially if they're kept in planter pots or strongly rooted in the ground. Succulent planters allow for easier upkeep of sensitive succulents. 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 and then 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 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 early on, until you're fully into the colder parts of the season. Uncover the plants when the thermometer goes up again and let them enjoy that autumn sunshine. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, say goodbye to the garden for now.

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 might be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November. After your vegetables and annuals are done for the year, dig them up 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 blight or if you had a snail problem.

If your garden is prone to snails, you'll want to let the old plant matter decay elsewhere. Snails and slugs dine on decaying plants. Moving those plants to another location will help prevent your garden from being overrun by these creatures in the spring. Although snails and slugs are often considered pests by gardeners, they're still part of the ecosystem, so relocate them elsewhere on your property if you can. As for the exception of your plants struggling with blight or disease, simply pack up those dead plants in the lawn bag to avoid passing any issues on to next year's crop.

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 bring the deeper soil to the surface, send the topsoil lower down, and generally break up the ground. 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 need to restore certain nutrients that have been depleted.

Bring Potted 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 house plants to bring joy into your home. Just rotate them regularly to give all leaves equal sunlight, and make sure they get enough water. Remember to place decorative dishes beneath them if the pots don't have built-in overflow dishes to catch any extra water.

Warm the Outdoors with an Outdoor Fireplace
Stretch out your fall evenings with a patio heater, outdoor fireplace, or fire pit to take off the chill. No matter if you're looking for outdoor heaters for decks, small patios, or cozy porches, we've got options. All you have to do is discover the one that matches your decor style.

When you're curious about how to build or choose 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, prepare your plants and flowers for the change of season with us. We've got everything you need for putting the garden to bed, leaf cleanup, and replenishing nutrients in your soil so it's ready for next spring. Shop our wide variety of fall garden care and outdoor living products online, in your local store, or in our mobile app.