Garden Center at N Reno #3304

On a fresh fall day, take advantage of the weather to do outdoor maintenance and a second round of planting. Now is a great time to get fall flowers and flower bulbs in the ground. Read on for more on fall gardening, and how to transition to your fall lawn and garden.

Patch or Fertilize Your Lawn
Patch up bald spots on your lawn by overseeding them. Cooler weather is a great time to fill in dead, brown, or bare places in your yard. However, make sure leaves don't land on freshly seeded areas. New grass seed needs water, sun, and air to grow, and leaf litter can block out the air and sunlight it needs to germinate.

If your lawn is in good shape, make sure it stays that way by applying lawn fertilizer if you have cool-season grass. Aerate your lawn before adding fertilizer to get the most bang for your buck. Water your cool-season lawn regularly and tend to any pesky weeds that show up. It'll need different maintenance than warm-season grass, which goes dormant as the weather cools. Taper down watering on warm-season lawns.

Plant Flower Bulbs
If you've got your eye on bulb plants that greet the springtime sun, plant them soon. They need time to grow downward. Check your plant hardiness zone before planting. In colder climates, certain bulb plants should be planted in spring instead. Find ideas for spring flowering bulbs and plan your tulip, daffodil, and iris displays now. Garlic and onions can go in, too, for a harvest next spring or summer, but they won't need soil additives.

Skip the soil amendments when planting onion or garlic bulbs instead of flower bulbs. Simply plant them now, pointy-side up like a teardrop shape, and you'll have a fresh harvest by next summer. These plants will spread though, so be careful not to let them flower, dry out, and go to seed when they mature. Snip off the dried flowers to avoid planting a patch of volunteer garlic and onion plants.

Cut and Cover Perennials
In climates where you might have a cold snap here and there, but then it'll warm up above freezing, cover your plants. Protect your garden from frost and freeze damage to extend their season. You can get extra life out of your garden by covering your plants with tarps, buckets, or even painting drop cloths. It'll warm your plants like a greenhouse, and they'll survive a frost. Read other fall-planted perennial tips, too.

This works well early on, until you're fully into the colder parts of the season. Uncover the plants in the morning when the thermometer goes up again and let them enjoy that autumn sunshine. Once the temperatures regularly dip below freezing, bid a fond farewell to the garden for the winter.

Put the Garden to Bed
When your annuals start looking rougher, it's time to dig up the plants. Northern climates may be putting the garden to bed for the season in October or November, while warmer climates might wait until November or December. After your annuals are done blooming for the year, dig them up and dispose of the dead plant debris. Feel free to let them decompose to enrich the soil unless you had one of two exceptions: if your plants dealt with blight or if you had a snail problem.

After you've removed the old plants, you have a clean slate. Prepare your garden bed for the spring by rotating the soil with a rototiller or shovel. You want to send the topsoil down, bring up the deeper soil, and loosen the earth. It helps nutrients penetrate and lets the soil rest. It's also an excellent opportunity to test the soil and see what, if any, soil amendments you need. Different crops and plants use different nutrients. Test your soil to see if it's balanced or if you ought to add certain nutrients that have been depleted.

Bring Delicate Plants Indoors
Gardeners with potted plants can extend their growing season by bringing the plants indoors to a sunny window. Indoor gardening allows both outdoor plants to live longer and house plants to bring joy into your home. Just turn them regularly to give all those leaves equal sunlight for photosynthesis, and make sure they get enough water now that they won't benefit from rainfall. If the pots don't have built-in overflow dishes, be sure to add shallow bowls beneath them to catch any extra water.

Warm the Outdoors with a Patio Heater
Stretch out your fall evenings with a fire pit, patio heater, or outdoor fireplace to take off the chill. No matter if you're looking to heat a small patio, a cozy back porch, or a spacious deck, we've got options. All you have to do is find the one that matches your decor style.

When you're curious about how to build or choose an outdoor fireplace, we have the supplies you need. Bricks, mortar, a wheelbarrow, trowels, and more — let us help you get this fall project done. If you'd love some extra heat but rather not install a fire pit or fireplace, we also have patio heaters, including gas, propane, and electric models.

Ease Into Fall
This fall, prepare your plants and flowers for the seasonal change with us. We have the supplies you need for leaf cleanup, putting the garden to bed, and restoring nutrients to your soil so it's ready for next spring. Shop our wide variety of outdoor living products online, in your local store, or in our mobile app.