Fall Garden Tasks to Keep Your Garden Healthy and Beautiful

source: Annie’s Annuals

A garden is a work-in-progress and each season there are chores that need to be done. The fall season is no exception. Doing a little fall clean-up helps keep your garden free of pests and other critters that can promote rot and disease during the winter months.

As an added bonus – all the seasonal rubbish that you remove from your garden can be turned into a bountiful compost pile. And of course, your clean-up efforts now will be duly rewarded come spring!

Exactly what your fall clean-up chores should be partly depends on where you live but here are some basic tasks you should be doing in your garden this fall:

• Divide and thin out overgrown perennials. Cut back to the height of 3- 6 inches.

• Compost contents of finished flower pots; clean and sanitize containers before storing for winter.

• Prepare rose bushes for winter by pruning dead flowers and damaged branches. Cut canes back to six to twelve inches.

• Aerate lawns for better water and oxygen absorption. Re-seed bare areas.

• Plant fall vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, broccoli and peas.

• Plant spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips.

• Plant cool season annuals such as pansies, sweet peas, and Iceland poppies.

• Spread a layer of mulch which helps stabilize the soil temperature and provides protection for vulnerable plants.

• Clean and sharpen garden tools

To learn more about which garden chores to do in your region and when, check out Gardening123.com’s Garden Calendar. Simply plug in the month and your zone and get a complete list of garden tasks that will help keep your garden healthy and beautiful throughout the seasons!