Preparing your fall garden for winter can help your spring vegetable and flower garden be more successful. This post will cover simple garden tasks you can do to improve your vegetable garden in the fall and winter for the next garden season.
A good gardener is always thinking ahead to the next season.
Planning ahead and preparing our gardens for spring really begins in the fall.
There are so many things we can do now to improve our soil quality, reduce disease, and get plants started for the next season.
10 Garden Tasks to Do This Fall
These are the fall gardening tasks that I typically do in my own garden:
- Remove diseased plants
- Save seeds
- Sow a cover crop
- Sow seeds for spring
- Plant garlic
- Plant flower bulbs
- Divide perennials
- Set up season extension
- Mulch empty beds
- Compost leaves
I try to get these all done over the months of September and October as the garden winds down.
These are tasks I complete in addition to planting my fall vegetable garden and harvesting sweet potatoes.
Prioritize Your Top Two Garden Tasks
If you’re a new gardener and this sounds like too much and is too overwhelming, pick one or two items to focus on.
What two things could you do now that will yield the most reward next year?
For example, if you have easy access to fall leaves (like a big tree in your yard or neighbors who bag their leaves and leave them on the curb) composting leaves and mulching empty beds with leaves may be the two best things for you to do.
Or maybe you neglected your garden in late summer and now you have a ton of plants going to seed. Saving seeds to sow next year and removing diseased plants may be your top two to-do’s.
My top picks would be planting garlic and setting up season extension for my fall vegetables. Most of the other tasks can be still be done in the winter on a random warm day. And if I can’t get it all done, it’s not something I stress over.
Gardening isn’t all or nothing. Just because I missed one window of opportunity doesn’t mean I’m done forever. Another window will open up soon!
With that being said, let’s dive into my top 10 garden tasks to do this fall.
1. Remove Diseased Plants
Remember those zinnias that got powdery mildew? Or the zucchini that got pulverized by squash vine borers? The cabbage worm infestation on the kale?
Stop pretending you don’t see those plants anymore and rip them out!
Diseased and pest-ridden plants do not deserve a spot in your garden and definitely should not be allowed to compost.
Place these plants in a trash bag and throw them out, or burn them in your fire pit and revel in the dying screams of those horrible squash bugs.
Leaving diseased plants will perpetuate the disease in your soil next year. Leaving pests in your garden will allow them to make more babies that will come after your plants in the spring.
It’s best to remove them as quickly as possible.
2. Save Seeds
As you’re going through your garden and ripping out diseased plants, inspect any healthy plants for flowers or fruit that have gone to seed.
Saving your own seed will yield a new generation of plants that are more acclimated to your garden.
If you intentionally allow your biggest, best flowers or vegetables to go to seed, you can perpetuate the genetics of these wonderful plants that also will grow well in your own garden.
Some of the easiest plants to save seed from include snap beans, snap peas, sunflowers, zinnias, winter squash, pumpkins, dill, and peppers.
Consider leaving these plants alone until your first frost and harvesting seed from them when they are mature.
And make sure you follow the best practices for storing seeds as outlined in this post.
3. Sow a Cover Crop
It may be too late to grow certain vegetables to maturity, but you can always plant a winter cover crop.
A cover crop is simply plants that you grow to cover empty garden beds, usually with the intention of terminating them for mulch or to compost in place.
Cover cropping is a simple way to get more fertility in your soil, suppress weeds, and feed beneficial microorganisms living in your soil when you are not using the garden bed.
Remember, soil is alive and the roots of a cover crop will help feed the soil, and the dying foliage will add organic matter to your soil and encourage earthworm activity.
I bought a huge pack of winter rye seeds that I’ve been using as a cover crop some years. I’ve also used extra radish and pea seeds as a cover crop.
Winter cover crops include:
- crimson clover
- winter wheat
- hairy vetch
- winter peas
- oats
- winter rye
Be sure to terminate cover crops before they go to seed.
4. Sow Seeds for Spring
Some cold-hardy plants can be sown in your garden now to overwinter and grow again in the spring. This largely depends on your hardiness zone and your microclimate.
In my Indiana zone 6a garden, I have successfully overwintered these flowers and vegetables:
- spinach
- kale (specifically White Russian)
- carrots
- snapdragons
- bachelor’s buttons
- poppies
There are more types of vegetables and flowers you could plant in the fall or late winter for a spring harvest. Do a little research and ask local gardeners for advice.
5. Plant Garlic
I believe every gardener can grow all the garlic they need for the year in their own backyard garden. It really doesn’t take up much space unless you are consuming more than one full head of garlic a week!
It’s also such an easy and hands-off crop to grow. I wrote a post all about growing garlic here.
This is definitely one of my top fall gardening tasks.
6. Plant Flower Bulbs
While you’re at it, plant flower bulbs for spring, too! I have a post with my 10 best tips for planting spring bulbs here.
I used to feel so sad about my garden in late winter and early spring because everything was dead and brown.
I had tulips and fancy daffodils, but they didn’t bloom until late spring.
Then I discovered early flowering bulbs. I’m talking about having flowers as early as March, which in my zone is very early!
Bulbs do not need a ton of space to grow. Tuck them into an existing perennial garden and enjoy their beautiful blooms in the spring.
These are my favorite early flowering bulbs:
- Anemone blanda (Balkan anemone, Grecian windflower)
- Crocus
- Snowdrops
- Scilla siberica
- Muscari
- Early Daffodils (check bloom time says “early” on the package to be sure)
- Early Tulips (check bloom time says “early” on the package to be sure)
7. Divide (and Plant) Perennials
Fall is a good time to multiply your existing plants. This fall I divided several of my heuchera (coral bells) plants to fill out a new flowerbed.
In the vegetable garden, you may have oregano, thyme, or mint that’s grown bigger than you want.
Divide these spreading perennial herbs and replant or share the plant starts with friends.
Keep in mind that you can plant nearly any perennial herbaceous plant, tree, or shrub in the fall as long as the ground is not frozen.
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8. Set Up Season Extension
Many fall-grown hardy vegetables will overwinter easily with a little bit of frost protection.
Set up a grow tunnel or cover vegetables with frost fabric now so you can continue harvesting throughout late fall and early winter.
9. Mulch Empty Beds
If you have any empty beds and don’t plant to cover crop or sow for spring, then cover the soil with a biodegradable mulch.
Shredded leaves are my favorite mulch for empty raised garden beds.
Leaves are abundant in the fall; everyone is trying to get rid of theirs.
Ask neighbors for leaves or collect your own. Use a mulching mower to shred the leaves or have your kids crush them up by jumping on them.
Then spread a thick layer of leaves on your raised garden beds. These will protect your soil and decompose over winter leaving you with healthy, fluffy soil in the spring.
10. Compost Leaves
Composting leaves in the fall is one of my favorite garden tasks because I know I’ll have the most beautiful, rich compost in the summer.
We have three large compost bins that I fill up with leaves every fall.
If we have any healthy green leaves or plants left, I try to layer those in as well.
Your Best Spring Garden Starts in the Fall
Just to recap, here are 10 tasks you can do to prepare your garden this fall:
- Remove diseased plants
- Save seeds
- Sow a cover crop
- Sow seeds for spring
- Plant garlic
- Plant flower bulbs
- Divide perennials
- Set up season extension
- Mulch empty beds
- Compost leaves
Remember, even if you can only tackle one of these tasks this fall, you will be one step closer to a better garden in the spring!