Fall

From Antivist

Fall Garden Planting Schedule

Having a fall garden planting schedule is a great way to extend your growing season as well as make necessary improvements to your landscape. Fall is the best time for many of these chores because the plants grow better in the warm soil and cool breezes. There is also less worry of bugs and weeds, making your job much simpler.

Trees and Shrubs

Fall is an ideal time to add trees or shrubs to your yard. The planting of trees and shrubs is best done during the cool fall temperatures. Even though the air is cool, the soil is still warm and nurturing for new plants.

Choose a tree that is balled-and-burlapped or in a pot as opposed to bare-root selections. Planting in early fall gives the root system time to get established before going dormant in the winter. As the tree or shrub prepares itself for dormancy, its energy is focused on the roots. This is ideal place to concentrate growth in new plantings.

The planting hole should be two to three times wider than the root ball but only as deep as the soil line on the trunk. Do not add soil amendments to the hole. This will discourage the roots from spreading out and cause a weak plant that is easily uprooted.

Grasses

Grasses benefit from being planted in the fall as well. In fact, this is the perfect time to start a new lawn or over-seed a thin lawn. The grass will grow faster and have less competition from weeds.

Speaking of weeds, fall is the also time to combat them. As weeds prepare for winter by pulling nutrients into the roots, herbicides are better absorbed as well. Better absorption means better results in killing weeds.

Fall is also the time to aerate if you have a half inch or more of thatch built up. Don’t forget to fertilize using a fertilizer that has slow- or controlled-release nitrogen. The N-P-K should be a ratio of 3:1:2 or 4:1:2. Fertilizer is best absorbed after you have aerated your lawn.

Fall Vegetable Gardens

If you are planning a fall vegetable garden, you need to consider several things. One is the type of vegetables you will be growing. Another item is to determine the first average frost date where you live.

Average frost dates are easy to find out. Simply call your county Extension Office or look on a garden zone chart. A great resource to look up average first and last frost dates is Victory Seeds’ frost date selector.

Vegetable selection is a bit trickier. You want to be sure that you are selecting vegetables that are frost tolerant. You can choose plants that are not frost tolerant if you look at the maturity rates of each one and do a bit of figuring before planting.

Seeds vs. Seedlings

If you are starting from seed you will want to start them early to allow for slower maturity as the days get shorter in the fall. If you are planting cold hardy vegetables this isn’t as critical.

For plants that die back when the first frost hits, you will need to calculate the days until harvest. You may want to add a few extra days to allow for slower growth. This way you are able to harvest your crop before the plant dies off.

As an example, a packet of cucumber seeds says it takes 50 days to harvest. If your average first frost date is September 20, you will want to plant your seeds by June first to allow for harvest before the frost.

If you are able to find plant starts at your local garden center, you will be able to plant a bit later. Using the same example of cucumbers, the seeds take eight days to germinate. If you have purchased plants you can plant about two weeks later and still be able to harvest before the frost.

Selections for a Fall Garden

Some vegetables you can consider adding to your fall garden planting schedule include:

• Beans
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Sweet corn
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Peas
• Peppers
• Melons
• Squash
• Turnips
• Tomatoes

If you have a very early first frost some of these may not be an option for you. Calculate to be sure the plant will be ready for harvest in time. Some vegetables, like kale, actually taste better after a light frost. Others can be protected with row covers or a cold frame to extend the season further.

Dates for a Fall Garden Planting Schedule

Here is a sample of planting dates depending on your first average frost. In this sample schedule, the earliest planting would be for eggplant. The latest date is for radishes. Other vegetables would be planted sometime between the two.

First Average Frost	Planting Dates	First Average Frost	Planting Dates
August 30	June 1 through July 15	October 30	July 5 through September 30
September 10	May 15 through August 1	November 10	July 15 through October 10
September 20	June 1 through August 15	November 20	July 25 through October 20
September 30	June 1 through September 1	November 30	August 5 through October 30
October 10	June 10 through August 20	December 10	August 15 through November 10
October 20	July 5 through September 20	December 20	August 25 through November 20

If you are in doubt, check with your county Extension Office. Often they will have a chart detailing what can be planted each month. By following the guidelines in this article you can have a nearly year round garden and enjoy fresh produce on your table.

Fall Chores

There are many fall tasks in the garden that will make your plants healthier and more beautiful next spring.

Prune

Late winter is the best time for heavy pruning, but trees and shrubs benefit from having any diseased material pruned out in the fall. Insect infestations, like Webworms, can be pruned out at any time.

Once leaves have dropped, dead, damaged, and diseased material is easier to see. Prune six to twelve inches beyond the diseased area. Dip the pruners in a ten percent bleach solution between cuts to prevent spreading disease any further. You can make the solution by adding one part bleach to nine parts water.

Bulbs

You will need to lift and store the bulbs or tubers of tender plants like gladioli, dahlias, and tuberous begonias if you live in an area with cold winters. If you want to enjoy the bright colors of daffodils, tulips, and other spring-flowering bulbs next year, now is the time to plant them.

Mark Plants

Mark the location of perennials that are slow to start in the spring and of young plants that have self-seeded over the summer. This will keep you from digging them up accidentally next spring!

Drawing a plan of the garden, with locations of all plant locations marked, will make it easier to plan for next year's gardening.

Cut Back Perennials

You will remove any diseased foliage when you clean up your garden, but which perennials you cut back is a matter of choice. Some gardeners admire the look of perennials dusted with snow or frost and leave them intact for their aesthetic appeal. Don't cut back any perennial that you find beautiful!

Cut back plants that are ugly after frost. Some plants, like veronicas or geraniums, turn to mush in the cold. They are unsightly in the garden, and they also encourage disease.

Don't cut back perennials that are marginally hardy in your area. The dead foliage will help protect the plant crowns during the winter.

Leave a large part of the stem in place on any perennials that are slow to start growing in the spring, like plumbago or blue wild indigo. The stems will mark their location next spring, so you don't dig them up by accident.

Many perennials should be divided or transplanted in the fall.

Plant Trees and Shrubs

Fall is an ideal time to plant]] trees and shrubs. If you are choosing them for their fall color, this is the only time to evaluate the color of each individual plant.

Indoor Plants

Tropical houseplants often benefit from a summer spent outdoors, but they should be brought indoors well before the first frost. Inspect them for insects, cut them back if necessary, and repot any that have outgrown their pots. Some leaves may brown or drop as the plants adjust to lower indoor light and humidity levels.

Cuttings

Fall is the best time to increase your stock of plants by taking cuttings and rooting them. Tender perennials like geraniums (perlargoniums) and impatiens can easily be grown indoors from cuttings taken in the fall, and they will be ready to set out next spring. Hardwood cuttings taken from shrubs and hardy perennials are started from cuttings taken in fall as well.

Essential Fall Garden Cleanup

Diseased Plants

Cleaning away diseased and damaged plant material at the end of the growing season is an essential fall chore. The fungi and bacteria that cause so many problems can overwinter on contaminated stems and roots. Removing these havens for disease will reduce the chance of seeing blight, mildew, gray mold fungus, root rot, and wilt in next year’s garden.

How much plant material should you remove? That depends on conditions in your particular garden. Obviously, any diseased material has to be cleared away. If a particular kind of disease has been a problem, it’s also a good idea to remove the remains of any plant that is ordinarily susceptible to that problem, even if it looked healthy all season. Some gardeners like to remove all plant material that has died back after a frost as a further precaution. garden debris

All healthy plant material can be composted, including twigs. Unhealthy material should only be composted if you manage your compost pile with strict controls and can be sure that the compost pile will reach a temperature of at least 120 F and remain at that temperature for two to three weeks. A “hot” compost pile will kill disease organisms and insect larvae.

If your composting practices are more casual, don’t put unhealthy material in the pile. Burn it, if burning is allowed in your neighborhood, or send it to a landfill.

Fallen Leaves

Left undisturbed, fallen leaves will gradually decompose and enrich the soil beneath. This is a natural cycle in a forest, and parts of your garden may benefit from a little benign neglect. Doing nothing can sometimes be the best practice for a healthy garden.

However, most gardens are not a natural forest environment. When a thick layer of leaves carpets the soil, they break down and form a crust, called a leaf pack. Sometimes, the surface of the leaf pack becomes so hard and dense that water can’t get through it. Anything growing beneath a heavy leaf pack is in danger of being smothered. Grass is particularly vulnerable; you really must remove fallen leaves from your lawn.

Community standards also dictate how you will manage fallen leaves. There may be local ordinances that require you to rake all leaves off your garden beds. You may have to remove them to make your neighbors happy.

Don’t trash those leaves! Put them on your compost pile, and look forward to next year’s healthful compost.

Perennial Garden

Perennial plants are left in the ground all winter, so good care in the fall will improve your chances for healthy growth in the spring. Some gardeners cut back all their perennial plants in the fall to a height of three to six inches. Others only remove the stems and foliage of damaged plants. Most gardeners choose an approach somewhere between these extremes.

It’s essential to remove any plant growth that showed a serious problem in the previous year. It’s a good idea to remove foliage and stems of any plant that often has problems in your general area. Peonies and roses, for example, are vulnerable to black spot, somust gardeners remove the foliage even if it was healthy all summer. Iris should also be cut back, because the eggs of iris borers overwinter on iris leaves and attack the rhizomes in the spring. Phlox is often troubled by powdery mildew, and if that is a problem in your area, cut back phlox stems also.

When you cut back perennials, it is a good idea to mark their location with a stake. That way, you’ll know where they are in the spring! This is also a good time to make a sketch or map of your garden, indicating which perennials you have and where each one is located. That will make garden planning more fun all winter as well as reminding you of plant locations in early spring.

Cutting back other perennials is optional. Many gardeners admire the look of plant stalks covered with snow or ice. Others like to watch the birds that gather to eat dried seeds from perennials like Echinacea.

In areas with cold winters and little snow cover, perennials will benefit from a protective winter mulch.

Vegetable Garden

Many experts recommend removing all plant material – roots, leaves, and stems – from the vegetable garden every fall, because vegetables are vulnerable to so many diseases and pests. Others feel that removing diseased or particularly vulnerable plants is enough.

Cleaning up vines after pumpkins, squash, and fall beans have been harvested helps eliminate squash bugs and cucumber beetles, two very common pests. When these insects have no late fall food source, they are more likely to be killed by cold weather.

Removing the entire tomato plant after harvest, including the roots, helps control foliar diseases such as early blight.

Removing dead foliage also removes a warm, comfortable home for small animals like mice. Rodents are not welcome in your vegetable garden if you want to eat the crop yourself!

After you have removed all diseased plants, till the garden. If you wish to add soil amendments, you can till them into the soil at the same time. Tilling is especially important because most disease microorganisms are destroyed once the plant material is mixed into the soil and begins to rot.

It’s not necessary to smooth the surface of the garden after fall tilling. In fact, the freeze-and-thaw cycle will help improve the texture of the soil.

Remember to make a chart of the layout of your vegetable garden, so that you can rotate crops next spring. This is one of the best ways to keep diseases and pests under control.

Disease microorganisms can also overwinter on the surface of stakes, tomato cages, trellises, and other garden items. Storing these items outdoors, where freezing nd thawing can kill the spores, is helpful. In the spring, clean them with a 10 percent bleach solution or other disinfectant before using them in the garden.