Fall Planting
Tips And Techniques

Fall planting, you ask?

For many, Fall is the seen as the end of the gardening season. It would be more accurate to consider it as the beginning. The labor associated with fall landscaping is deeply entrenched in beginnings, far more than endings.

In autumn, the Fall planting begins. The good Fall gardener is preparing for bounty, whether cool vegetable crops or bulbs that will produce spring color. In much of the continental U.S., autumn and winter are seasons for both edible and decorative cabbages and other kale plantings.

Root vegetables like carrots and rutabaga that will winter well, are planted in early fall to reach maximum size and nutritional value before the hard cold of winter arrives. Planting early will seal the garden in temperatures just cold enough to maintain the precious crops in perfect condition below a blanket of snow and soil.

Tulips and daffodils, crocus and hyacinth, and the many other bulbs that usher in spring weather, are best planted before winter cold. Protect these bulbs, corms and tubers well, though: use hardware cloth, chicken wire, or other protective shields to keep chipmunks, squirrels, moles and gophers away from your plantings. Some gardeners swear by crushed pot shards or coarse gravel - planted around their bulbs to not only improve drainage, but also discourage tunneling creatures. Others plant their bulbs in small terra cotta pots, hoping the high walls of the pots will keep away the pests.

Fall Landscaping

If fall is the time for preparing for spring, it’s also a time for special autumnal pleasures. The time of chrysanthemums and asters, fall crocus and late blooming clematis completing their cycle of rebloom; the rich colors can blend with the reds, golds, browns and ambers of fall foliage.

The purple of Joe Pye weed planted near enough to pick up the rich royal tones of a purple Japanese maple, or the softer lavenders of blooming sedums, can provide a sense of grace and dignity to the fall landscaping of an entire yard. The spires of this hearty, easy plant create a strong element for autumn in a perennial border, or in gracing the side of a garage or shed. Late season butterflies and hummingbirds will flock to the plants, too, adding their own grace and charm to this season of the year.

Fall Clean-Up

The necessary clean up and pruning that go with fall landscaping must proceed, of course. Roses must be cut back and protected from hard winter freezes. Leaves must be swept and removed and the flower and vegetable beds should be given a final clean-out to ensure that parasites and plant diseases don’t winter over.

The days will shrink down and the temperatures will drop. But just like a child feeling the thrill before Christmas, you can feel the garden thrill of Fall. Whether performing the rites of fall planting and fall landscaping or merely enjoying the beauties of the work you’ve already put in, the certain truth is that Fall offers the first, faint promise of springtime, a hint that can last you all winter.

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