Amending your garden's soil is like laying a strong foundation, and the fall months are the perfect time to get started. So, why prepare your garden in the fall after you've harvested its crops? While both autumn and spring are great, there are a few reasons to do so during the fall months.
Fall is a good time to take notes about what did or didn't work in your summer garden. It's also the best time to start preparing your soil for next year's summer garden and amending your garden soil. Soil is arguably the most important factor in plant growth and health.
Although it seems too soon to start thinking about next spring during fall, it's an ideal time to prepare soil for next season's garden now. Amending soil in the fall is one of the best ways to reinvigorate your soil and make sure it is in prime condition next spring.
The best time to amend garden soil is when you're first establishing a garden bed. In an existing garden, soil amendments typically are an ongoing task, even if it's as simple as digging in some compost prior to each year's plantings. 1 If your plants are growing well, there's usually no need to touch the soil.
Fall is the best time to start a new garden.
Consider adding some lyme or fertilizer based on a soil test of your new spot to make sure spring starts off on the right foot.
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.
Add a thick layer of compost (2-3 inches, ideally) right on top of your soil. You don't need to till it or even turn it in. As you water and/or the rains come over the winter, the nutrients in the compost will get watered into the soil and will replenish it for planting next spring.
No, you do not have to change the soil in raised garden beds. You should, however, amend the soil with compost and other nutrients before the beginning of each new season. And also when you have identified any plants that need more nutrients.
It's best to use it wherever you're lacking soil, for example, to fill in a low spot in your lawn, or as a base layer in a new garden that's missing a foundation of soil. If you use topsoil in a garden, you'd still have to add additional compost or manure to help your plants thrive.
A constant, fresh supply of organic matter is necessary to keep it growing healthy. While routinely adding an extra layer of topsoil to your lawn can be helpful, fall is the most opportune time to do so. This is because the winter can be a particularly difficult time for the plant life on your property.
Plants that are fertilized in the fall have an earlier green up, and regular fertilizing throughout the year makes for healthier plants in general. The same logic applies to your shrubs, trees and perennials: give them a nutritional boost before winter to help them bounce back vigorously in the spring.
If you're looking to improve your soil quickly, like in a vegetable garden, choose an amendment like cow manure which breaks down fast. For a steady feed all season long (in a perennial border or with long-term vegetables like tomatoes), opt for a material like compost which takes several months to decompose.
Fall Fertilization of Garden Plants
Perennials appreciate having a high phosphate fertilizer with low nitrogen content. Applied in the fall, you will be assured of stronger plants in the spring producing more flowers than you ever thought they could.
Adding nutrient-rich compost in the fall will greatly improve your soil next spring. Healthy soil is teeming with life — from macro-organisms like earthworms and pill bugs down to the microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, and microbes.
Gardening soils, especially larger quantities, can be very expensive depending on how specialized a variety you need. Topsoil is considered better “bulk” option and is probably better suited for larger scale projects.
For vegetable gardens, most gardeners like adding 1 or 2 inches of fresh topsoil yearly. The practice of crop rotation is intended to benefit topsoil retention and prevent soil erosion or depletion of nutrients by changing the types of plants or crops grown every season.
You can also make your own raised bed mix by mixing all the individual parts of garden soil and potting soil, so topsoil, bark or peat, compost, and perlite or vermiculite. The best approach, like anything with gardening, depends on your own location, time and budget.
A: Yes, you can reuse potting soil, but only if you can guarantee it is pest- and disease-free—or if you have sterilized and amended it.
Reuse your clean potting soil in containers for vegetables, flowers, houseplants, or whatever you'd like to grow. If you're not up for sterilizing and refreshing old potting soil, you can still put it to use instead of throwing it out.
As fall weather takes hold, you need to change your gardening practices to get your landscape ready for the season ahead. Start your work about six weeks before the first hard freeze.
Remove Summer Edibles, Diseased Plants and Weeds
Strip plants of any remaining fruits and seeds and remove them from garden beds. You can add the plants to a compost pile, if you have one, or toss them in the green wastebin. (Fall is a great time to start composting.)