Garden Center at Salisbury #2561

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

Fertilize or Patch Your Lawn
Patch bald spots on your lawn by spreading fresh grass seed. Autumn is a great time to fill in dead, brown, or bare places in your yard. However, you should try to keep fallen leaves off freshly seeded areas. New grass seed needs water, sun, and air to grow, and leaf litter can block out the sunlight and air 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 quickly. 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 perennial mums, the label should call them chrysanthemum morifolium, hardy mums, or garden mums. If it says they're an annual or florist mum, you'll have flowers this year only.

Bushes and succulents also blossom in the fall, especially if they're kept in planter pots or already well-established 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 but 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 greenhouse or blanket, 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 autumn sunshine. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, it's time to bid a fond farewell to the garden for now.

Put the Garden to Bed
When your annuals start looking rougher, it's time to dig up the plants. Northern climates might be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November, while warmer climates might wait until November or December. After your annuals are done blooming for the year, dig them up and dispose of the dead plant debris. You can let them return their nutrients to the earth, but there are two exceptions: if your plants dealt with blight or if you had a snail problem.

For gardens overrun with slugs and snails or if your plants struggled with disease, put the deceased plants in a yard waste bag for disposal. You don't want to bring the disease or slugs 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 shovel or renting a rototiller. You want to loosen the earth so the topsoil goes down and the deeper soil comes up. 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 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 make sure they get enough water, and turn them regularly to give all leaves equal sunlight. 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 fire pit, patio heater, or outdoor fireplace 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 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 yard for the season with us. We've got everything 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 online, in your local store, or in our mobile app.