Fall may look like the grand finale of the gardening season, but the soil still has one more trick up its sleeve. Direct-sowing certain flower seeds now can give them a head start through winter and bring surprisingly early color to the garden next year, often without grow lights, seed trays, or a windowsill crowded…
fall gardening
6 Ways to Stretch a Small Garden Budget Into Fall
A garden budget can disappear surprisingly fast. A few seed packets here, a bag of potting mix there, then suddenly a perfectly innocent trip to the garden center has turned into a receipt that deserves its own zip code. Fall gardening does not have to work that way, though, because the garden already contains plenty…
7 Budget-Friendly Tasks That Prepare Raised Beds for Fall
Raised beds do not need an expensive autumn makeover. A little cleanup, some strategic soil care, and a few inexpensive materials can leave those beds in much better shape when spring rolls around. The trick involves doing the jobs that actually matter instead of buying a cartload of products with pictures of suspiciously perfect tomatoes…
Understanding Low-Cost Ways to Protect Fall Seedlings From Wildlife
Fall offers a wonderful window for planting seedlings, but the garden buffet can look even more appealing to wildlife once summer food sources disappear. Young vegetables, herbs, flowers, and newly planted trees often present tender stems and leaves that rabbits, deer, squirrels, voles, and other hungry visitors can find remarkably convenient. Thankfully, protecting those plants…
7 Herbs That Keep Producing After Summer Vegetables Slow Down
The tomatoes are slowing down, the pepper plants look increasingly tired, and the zucchini has finally stopped behaving like it owns the neighborhood. Herbs, meanwhile, often keep sending out fresh leaves long after the summer vegetable garden starts calling it a season. That makes herbs some of the most useful plants to keep around when…
8 Garden Tasks That Become Easier in the Final Week of August
The final week of August gives the garden a funny little shift in personality. Summer still has plenty of heat left, but the calendar has started whispering about fall, which makes this an excellent time to tackle jobs that feel much harder when September arrives in a rush. Some tasks simply become easier because plants…
Is It Too Early to Prepare Amaryllis for Winter Bloom?
Believe it or not, it is not necessarily too early to prepare amaryllis for a winter bloom, but rushing the process can create more problems than flowers. The trick involves giving the bulb enough time to finish its summer growth before asking it to put on its winter floral spectacular. That timing matters because amaryllis…
8 Garden Materials to Stock Up on When Stores Clear Summer Shelves
Summer garden displays have a funny way of disappearing just when gardeners start thinking about next season. As stores make room for fall and holiday merchandise, garden centers often mark down supplies that still have plenty of useful life left in them. That creates a tempting opportunity, but the trick involves knowing what deserves precious…
7 Ways to Prepare a Garden Shed for Fall Without Buying Organizers
Fall has a funny way of exposing every bad decision made in a garden shed since spring. A shovel ends up behind three bags of potting mix, twine develops an impressive relationship with the pruning shears, and somebody puts the hose nozzle somewhere so mysterious that it may require an archaeological dig. Preparing the shed…
What Should You Do With Cornstalks Before They Turn Brittle?
Cornstalks look impressive for about five minutes after the last ears come off. Then they start turning into a towering collection of dry leaves, tough stems, and garden debris that somehow seems determined to make cleanup harder. The smartest time to deal with corn plants comes before those stalks become completely dry and brittle, because…