Garden Center at West Colonial #261

On a fresh fall day, take advantage of the weather and do outdoor maintenance and a second round of planting. Now is a great time to get fall flowers and flower bulbs in the ground. Neaten up your bushes and trees, too, with chainsaws and pole saws. 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
Fix bald spots on your lawn by spreading fresh grass seed. Autumn is a great time to fill in dead or brown places in your yard. However, make sure leaves don't fall on 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 adding fertilizer to get the most bang for your buck. An edger gives extra polish to the perimeter of your yard. 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.

Get Bulb Plants in the Ground
If you've got your eye on springtime tulips and daffodils, plant them soon. Although their roots look different because they sprout from bulbs and not just below the stem, they still need time to grow downward. Check your plant hardiness zone before planting. In colder climates, certain bulb flowers, like freesias, should be planted in spring instead. Plan your iris, tulip, and daffodil displays now. Onions and garlic can go in, too, for a harvest next spring or summer, but they won't need soil additives.

Try using retaining wall blocks to surround or accent your garden. A beautiful garden wall or hardscaping gives a finished look, especially when you spread a layer of rubber mulch. It'll overwinter just fine and look new longer than bark chips or other mulches that fade with weathering.

Skip the soil amendments when planting onion or garlic bulbs instead of flower bulbs. Simply plant them now, pointy-side up like a teardrop shape, and you'll have a fresh harvest by next summer. These plants will spread though, so be careful not to let them flower, dry out, and go to seed when they mature. Snip off the dried flowers to avoid planting a field of volunteer garlic and onion plants.

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 frost and freeze damage to extend their season. You can get extra life out of your garden by covering your plants with tarps, buckets, or even painting drop cloths. It'll warm your plants like a greenhouse, and they'll survive a frost.

This works well early on, 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 sun. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, it's time to say goodbye to the garden for the winter.

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

For gardens overrun with slugs and snails or if your plants struggled with blight, put the deceased plants in a 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 in the corner of the yard, feel free to add the snail-riddled plant parts there.

After you've removed the old plants, you have 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 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 rotate them regularly to give all the 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 discover the one that matches your decor style.

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

Ease Into Fall
This fall, tidy up your flowers and plants with us. We have the tools 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 outdoor living products in our mobile app, online, or in the aisles of your W Colonial store.