September may look like the vegetable garden’s closing time, but somebody forgot to lock the door. As summer crops fade, cool-season vegetables are just getting interested, and several can still go into the garden in September for a fall harvest. The trick involves choosing vegetables that tolerate cooler weather and matching planting time to the…
garden tips
Don’t Rip Out Your Summer Garden Yet: 8 Plants That May Keep Producing Into Fall
Summer may be packing its bags, but the garden does not always get the memo. Tomatoes can keep setting fruit, peppers can continue coloring up, and a well-established bean plant may still have plenty of pods hiding beneath its leaves when cooler mornings arrive. That makes late August and early fall a terrible time for…
How to Prepare Raised Beds for Fall on a Small Budget
A raised bed does not need a glamorous autumn makeover. In fact, the most useful fall preparation often involves things already sitting around the yard, a few inexpensive materials, and resisting the urge to buy every shiny garden product within arm’s reach. Fall prep matters because what happens in the bed after summer can affect…
A Practical Guide to August Pruning Mistakes That May Cost You Next Year’s Flowers
August pruning can feel like harmless garden housekeeping, but the wrong cut at the wrong time can remove the flower buds that should open next spring. A shrub can look perfectly healthy after a summer haircut while quietly carrying far fewer blooms for the following season. That makes late-summer pruning one of those gardening jobs…
7 Garden Plants You Should Stop Spending Money On Every Year
Garden centers make it dangerously easy to buy the same plants every spring, even when several reliable garden favorites can keep coming back without another trip to the checkout counter. A handful of herbs and ornamentals can return for years, spread naturally, or produce enough new plants to make that annual shopping habit look a…
Best Cover Crops for Small Gardens After Summer Harvest
A harvested garden bed can look strangely unfinished. The tomatoes have packed their bags, the beans have disappeared, and suddenly there is a whole patch of perfectly good soil sitting around with nothing to do. That empty space offers a great opportunity to plant a cover crop, even when the garden consists of a few…
What to Know About Crops That May Recover After a Heat-Stress Slump
A heat wave can make a vegetable garden look like it has filed for early retirement. Leaves curl, blossoms disappear, fruit production slows, and perfectly healthy plants can suddenly look rather unimpressed with the whole gardening arrangement. The good news: heat stress does not automatically mean a crop has reached the end of its story….
6 Soil Tests Worth Doing Before You Buy Fall Fertilizer
Fall fertilizer season can turn a garden center into a strange little game of nutritional roulette. Bags promise greener lawns, stronger roots, bigger blooms and all sorts of botanical miracles, but none of those promises tell you what your particular soil actually needs. A soil test can give you that missing piece of information before…
6 August Garden Jobs That Make September Easier
August has a sneaky way of turning the garden into a to-do list with leaves. One minute the beds look wonderfully productive, and the next, spent flowers, sprawling vines, ripe vegetables, weeds, and thirsty containers seem to demand attention all at once. A few well-timed jobs in August can prevent that September pileup and make…
A Practical Guide to Garden Purchases That Are Usually Cheaper After Peak Season
Garden shopping has a funny habit of making the most expensive items look irresistible right when they are least urgent. Once spring and early summer demand fades, however, many garden centers and retailers need to move seasonal inventory, which can create much better opportunities for careful shoppers. That shift makes late summer and early fall…