Tips for Your Fall Garden
- Remove all rotten fruit from the ground around trees—infestations last through winter.
- Clean out old annuals and weeds before seeds drop.
- Cut back spent perennials that create hiding places for slugs, snails, and other pests. Prevent problem seeds from spreading.
- Leave dried flowers, ornamental grasses, and seed heads that look good and provide food for birds.
- Build a simple compost bin for fall leaves. Add fresh leaves and grass cuttings to your compost and cover until spring.
- Rake up and dispose of leaves around roses, apple trees, and plants susceptible to powdery mildew and other pests and diseases that overwinter on debris.
- Remove diseased tomato, potato, and squash foliage to prevent disease. Do not toss these plants in the compost. Bag and discard.
- Remove dead branches from roses and fruit trees (no pruning yet).
- Mulch the garden with chopped-up leaves and grass clippings.
- Confuse pathogens by mapping out a garden plan for crop rotation.
- Plant spring bulbs.
- Clean tool blades with vegetable oil and handles with sandpaper.
