As the weather starts to cool and the daylight hours shorten, there are various things one can do to enjoy a cheerful autumn garden and help ensure a thriving and beautiful garden the following spring.
Deadhead Spent Flowers
Deadheading not only helps tidy up established flowerbeds, making them more visually pleasing, but can also encourage new flower blossoms. Be sure to leave some spent flowers on the stalks (ie, sunflowers and purple coneflowers) as a food source for the birds.
Divide or Thin Out Plants
It is easy to see during this time of year which plants have overgrown their allotted space or simply multiplied more than you anticipated. This is a good time to divide up these plants and thin out the overgrown areas. Be neighborly; set aside plants you have divided, and if you do not intend to plant them elsewhere in your garden, share them. Offer these plants to friends, family, and neighbors. Better yet, swap some of your plant divisions with those of your neighbor. That way, you both can thin out your flowerbeds, while adding exciting new plants to your gardens.
Cut Back Vegetation
Trim hedges and shrubs that are unruly and have become overgrown, and cut back any lanky vegetation which has been damaged by slugs, Japanese beetles, or powdery mildew. You can also trim back plants which are done flowering for the year.
Put Container-Started Plants Into the Ground
Plants, shrubs, and fruit trees which have been started in containers should be put into the ground early enough in the fall for the roots to get started and become established before the ground freezes. In general, the earlier in the fall this is done, the better rooted your plants will become.
Plant Spring Bulbs
Autumn is the time to plant the bulbs which produce the beautiful flowers you see each spring. Crocus, daffodils, hyacinth, scilla, snowdrops, starflower, and tulips are but a few of the lovely spring-flowering bulbs that should be planted this time of year.
Rake Up Leaves
Fallen leaves can be raked into piles for children to play in, or they can be bagged, or better yet, composted or put over flowerbeds which are being put to sleep for the winter. They can also be run over with a lawnmower first before raking them up, and then put on beds as mulch.
Collect Colorful Leaves
Beautiful leaves colored by nature can also be collected and enjoyed in many ways. They can be gathered in baskets or barrels for display, used in centerpieces, or used for rubbings, stampings, shadow boxes, pictures, and various other forms of artwork.
Harvest Fall Produce
Enjoy autumn’s bounty by harvesting pumpkins, gourds, and other winter squash, fall greens such as kale and spinach, and of course, apples. Enjoy both eating and displaying these wonderful and vibrant fall produce.
Enjoy Autumn Flowers Indoors and Out
Chrysanthemums, sedum, sunflowers, and even sprigs of burning bush can be gathered in bouquets and made into beautiful floral arrangements and displays. Hydrangeas are an excellent flower to dry prior to display for long-lasting beauty. The second flushing of phlox and the continuation of purple coneflower, dragonflower, and rose-of-sharon blooms also adds to the beauty of autumn.
The cooler temperature, gentle autumn breezes, sweet-scented fall flowers, colorful leaves which grace the landscape, and natural beauty all around gives everyone a wonderful canvas with which to work, and a pleasant time of year to enjoy the gardening tasks and triumphs of this beautiful and bountiful season.
