15 Fall Garden Tasks to Do Before Winter Hits
on Aug 31, 2024
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I’m still not finished with my fall garden tasks! Are YOU? My garden is a mess right now. I ignored it for a bit after our summer adventures. I need to get started on my fall garden tasks.
Over the years, I’ve developed a checklist with 15 tasks to transition my garden from fall to winter.
Garden Tasks to Do this Fall
Before you really start on this fall garden checklist, harvest everything you can. Green tomatoes can be brought inside for ripening. Make sure you have everything harvested that you can.
The kids and I pick the last of the tomatoes (green & semi red) and all the peppers we can before our first freeze. We also dig the potatoes and prepare them for storage.
Remove Dead Plants
Go through your garden and remove any dead plants as you go. Put them in the compost pile if they are healthy or burn or throw out diseased plants. In our garden these plants include tomatoes, peas, beans, and squash.
Leave Pest Deterrents in the Ground
Don’t remove brassicas in the fall. Leave them in the garden beds through the winter. Cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower and radishes release cyanide compounds that actually deter some pests in the early spring.
Till the Soil
Gently till garden soil to loosen it up for spring planting. Some people think tilling the garden in the fall is unnecessary, but I think it helps my garden to be ready earlier in the spring.
Understand Fall Garden’s Soil
Test garden soil. You can buy a DIY soil testing kit online and do it yourself – OR send samples to most university cooperative extension offices. You’ll have a better growing season if your soil is healthy and the correct pH for what you are planting.
Add Compost and Manure
Amend garden soil with organic matter like compost and/or animal manure to make it healthy and happy for the next year. Definitely avoid synthetic fertilizers!!!
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Make Your Garden Larger
Fall is the perfect time to till up the extra land, and I NEED some extra space for next year. Especially if my cucurbits go gang bustas like they did this past year!
Prune Fruits and Berries
Pruning is best done in winter when they are 100% dormant. Otherwise, you risk disease and bug infestations. However, fall is a great time to get your fruits and berries ready for that pruning. Make sure your pruning shears are sharp. Identify which branches you’ll need to prune.
Divide Perennial Bulbs
Divide hardy bulbs and flowering plants like tulips, daffodils, iris, hostas, black-eyed susan, daylilies, and coneflowers.
Dig Up Flower Bulbs
Dig up delicate flower bulbs like dahlia, canna, and gladiolus. Store in a dry, cool (60-65 degrees) place over winter.
Mulch Strawberries and Spring Bulbs
Put a layer of mulch on strawberries and spring flowering bulb plants with 2-4 inches of organic material. Choose material that won’t blow away and remove mulch in early spring when the weather starts to warm up.
Plant Garlic and Spring Bulbs
Plant garlic and flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils. Check out my Fall Bulbs Planting Guide here!! And YES — I STILL need to get this done!
Winterproof the Pots
Empty ornamental pots and store inside to avoid cracking. I remove any dead materials and just leave the soil in the pots.
Maintain and Repair Gardening Materials
Remove, clean, and repair any cages, baskets, or fencing used in summer garden. This includes lattice, tomato cages, and trellises.
Put Away Your Tools
Sharpen and clean shovels, hoes, and other gardening tools so they’re ready to go in the spring. Remove any dirt or areas of rust. I like to go ahead and sharpen everything as a fall garden chore so I don’t have as much to do in the spring.
Plan for Next Year
Did you keep a garden journal and document what worked and what didn’t? I also like to write down any new ideas I’d like to try or improvements to make. This way I don’t forget! Use your garden journal to put a plan in place for next year.
Identify which seeds you need to order or if you want to change locations of certain beds. Finally, I spend the winter browsing seed catalogs for even more inspiration.
What do you still have to do in your garden?
Great list Michelle! Question on strawberries – we planted just a few plants this year, is covering them with hay good enough for the winter months?
Yup! Hay or straw is perfect, Allie. As long as it doesn’t blow away!
With my tiny urban garden I don’t have to complete quite the list you do but I haven’t completed all my tasks yet. Need to get on that before we’re seeing those -15 degree temps! ๐
We’re going to see those temps soon, aren’t we Mollie?? UGH!
I always have divided my hostas in the spring. Now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t do it now. Some of them are getting huge.
I would also like to get some more bulbs in but I’m thinking it’s not going to happen this year. But I need to plant my garlic.
Hey, Michelle,
I just moved back to TX from Apple Valley (Wenatchee) Washington. I only had a 7800 sq foot lot and that included my house. I pulled out all my flower beds in the back yard and had a vegetable garden in the beds..everything I could plant. On the last day before the freeze, I picked 140# of green tomatoes, kept 30, canning, and fried green tomatoes and took the other 110# to the homeless shelter. I probably left another 20-30# on the vine due to size. I wanted to tell you. I know why my garden was so productive was because of the chicken manure from the backyard chicken coop. We were in high desert, so for people down here in TX to say it cannot be done, it not true. I presently live in a 1000 sq foot house (by myself) and have minimal space for a garden, so I will be working on vertical espalier fruit trees along the fence line, and grapes, raspberries and blackberries (maybe). I plan on having a vegetable garden as well. My lot is only around 30-40 feet wide and about 100 feet deep. It will be a challenge, but I have already planted 2 pecan trees and purchased my Niagara grape vine that is doing great already. Wish me luck. It will be interesting to see what I can accomplish. I want 4 backyard chickens, but due to covenants..I don’t know if I’ll be able to swing that. Take care.
Lovely post! It’s our first year (of my husband and me) in gardening, first time we planted vegetables and fruit in the backyard garden of our new house and it’s a first fall season for us in the garden. We have only a basic idea of what should be removed form the garden, and what should stay for the winter season. Your article is very helpful for us, we found the answers we were searching for. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Carla. Good luck with your garden! ๐