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Halloween decor with various pumpkins, autumn vegetables and flowers.

How to Fall Prep Your Garden

Oct 24, 2024

How to Fall Prep Your Garden

When it comes to preparing your garden for fall and winter, there are two main approaches. One involves cleaning it up and getting it ready for spring, while the other allows the garden to rest in its natural state, benefiting from self-reseeding and the decomposition process. Which path will you take, and which one best suits your garden’s needs?

Raking autumn leaves from the lawn in the autumn park.

The air is crisp, mornings call for a bit of bundling, and a hot drink is a must as you head to the garden—fall has officially arrived. For gardeners, it’s a bittersweet season. Soon, it will be time to say goodbye to the space where you’ve invested so much time, effort, and joy. But it’s also a relief, with the relentless heat, pests, and weeds finally behind us.

Orange fall leaves in park, autumn natural background.

Fall is the perfect time to decide whether to tidy up your garden space in preparation for the next growing season. With cooler weather, it's ideal for cleaning up garden beds, managing soil, and setting the stage for next year. A good place to begin is by removing gardening support structures like trellises, cages, and stakes. Be sure to clean them and store them away for spring.

Next, remove any remaining plants. For those showing signs of disease, dispose of them in the trash or burn them to prevent further spread. Healthy plants, on the other hand, can be added to your compost pile.

Flowers and scissors inside of a woven basket

Once the support devices and summer plants are removed, you can add a layer of compost or aged manure to your growing area. Adding a few inches to the top can result in richer garden soil for next spring and amend as needed at that time. Finally, you will clean and store your gardening tools. When spring arrives, you will be ready to go.  

pumpkin, hazelnuts and dead leaves among terracotta pots with little rake

The following method is what we refer to as 'nonpreparation preparation.' The biggest negative to this method is the aesthetic component. It will present as somewhat scraggly and unkept look throughout the winter as it continues to break down. However, the benefits are worth considering. 

In this manner, you leave it alone. You would remove, clean, and store all of the support structures as described above. Then remove any plants that are diseased and dispose of in the same manner as mentioned. You will keep all the healthy plants in place to winter in your garden beds.

Planting grass seed in soil.

A great benefit is natural seeding. Once your plants have dried and seeded and you have collected what you want, they will then drop and start the resowing process to emerge next spring. You may have such a prolific seedling crop that have to thin or share the seedings. This is especially beneficial if the plants you love are the ones that are allowed to drop and seed.  It takes a lot of work out of the process for you next year. It's always a fun process to see what is sprouting up after the dead of winter. 

Next, the natural decomposition of the plants, leaves, and roots enrich the soil. This will aid in a better soil composition for the next year and the years that follow if you continue this process. So, it is up to you, but now is the time to begin prepping your garden in one manner or the other for next year.  

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