The cooler Fall weather creates a less stressful environment for your perennials and you. If you are just getting started you can begin creating wonderful soil now for Spring planting. Or even if you have an existing garden you can amend your garden beds to keep on improving your soil.
Layer fallen, shredded tree leaves, compost and fertilizer in the garden bed and turn under the soil. You could also dig trenches in the garden, pile in the leaves and compost and cover with soil. These organic soil amendments will decompose over winter and leave the soil more fertile when spring rolls around.
Time of Year. Generally speaking, the ideal planting season falls between spring and autumn. In the spring, weather is usually mild, and there's plenty of clean-up work to be done; it's around this time when nurseries start filling up with color. You also have the whole summer ahead of you to create a thriving garden.
Gardening in the fall provides a longer period with more 'good' days, as compared to the often tumultuous spring season. Plus, if you plant in fall you'll end up ahead of the game and won't have to rush to get everything done after winter. In fact, a good strategy is to plant perennials when you plant your fall bulbs.
Plants like chrysanthemums, nasturtiums and asters are wonderful choices for seasonal planting arrangements. While perennials that will survive the winter are great choices, autumn is also a great time to explore new ideas will short-season annuals too.
October is the season to plant spring-blooming bulbs, wildflowers, and many standard gardening favorites. The flowers that don't blossom this winter can spend the cold season in the ground, strengthening their root systems in preparation for a springtime bloom.
Late summer or early fall is an excellent time to plant mums, one of the symbolic flowers of the season. Practically any time in September that strikes your fancy is a good bet, so long as it's at least six weeks before the year's first frost.
Violas and Pansies
These hardy little flowers not only have gorgeous blooms but can survive almost anything winter has to dish out. Violas and pansies grow best in partial shade but need a minimum of four hours of sunlight a day.
Planning a Perennial Flower Bed or Border
Flower borders are often designed with taller plants at the back, small edging plants at the front and mid-sized flowers filling out the area in between. It's worth considering when each plant will bloom to produce color throughout the season.
Micro-organisms are the life of soil, and they need food and nutrients all the time. The more leaves left on your garden, the more feed for these micro-organisms that make soil healthier and plants grow stronger. As the leaves decay, they add organic matter back into the soil, which lessens the need for fertilizer.
Grow an Edible Garden With Fall Vegetables
For a cool-weather vegetable harvest, plant lettuce, collards, carrots, Brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli, radish, and more. The general rule of thumb is to plant fall vegetables from seed 90 days before the first frost.
Winter pansies are cold weather all-stars. These cheery winter blooming flowers can freeze solid and emerge from that state ready to grow and flower. Other bedding plant flowers that grow in winter include nemesia, snapdragon, sweet alyssum and flowering stock.
Autumn is a great season for annuals, perennials and evergreen shrubs to shine. In fact, some of the most popular flowers, like colorful mums, roses, dahlias, purple pansies and yes, even bright yellow sunflowers all bloom around September and October.
Plant Flowers and Vegetables
If you live in a frost-free region, October is a great time to plant cool-weather flowers and vegetables in your garden. Crops such as kale, cabbage, collards, lettuce, carrots, mustard, onions, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, and garlic can all be planted in early to late October.
Tip. Mid- to late-August is often an excellent time to plant fall flowers, as long as the weather isn't still so hot that the plants will suffer heat stress. But don't wait too late to plant, or you'll have a very short window to enjoy your flowers. Check the growing requirements for each plant.