Is it just me, or does it feel like fall chores vastly outnumber my spring garden checklist?
Maybe it’s because I live in a climate that actually freezes in winter, so there’s a lot more to do to “batten down the hatches” this time of year. We’re tidying the greenhouse, piling up the compost, and putting away the majority of our planters, trellises, and tools to give the garden a good rest.
It feels nice knowing that things are slowing down after several months of toiling outside, but before that happens, there’s one last push in the garden to get it ready for winter. By putting in the work now (especially while the weather is still pleasant and mild), you’re laying the foundation for a healthy garden next spring.
Here’s my recommended fall garden checklist for the next month!
Short on time?
Here’s the one-weekend version.
Clean up your vegetable garden and annual flower beds
1. Save seeds from your favorite varieties
Seeds from open-pollinated plants can be saved and stored for the following year. Not only is this a great way to keep growing your favorite crops, continue their “bloodline” in your garden, and save a little money, it improves those varieties as they become adapted to your specific climate and growing conditions.
Learn how to save seeds and how to save and ferment tomato seeds. (The extra step for tomato seeds is worth the effort!)
2. Harvest any remaining warm-weather vegetables before the first freeze
If frost is imminent and your tomatoes are still green, here are a few easy tricks for getting them to ripen faster on the vine. Or if there’s an early frost warning, you can pick your tomatoes early to ripen indoors.
Related: What to do in the garden when you get that first frost warning
Any excess harvests can be shared with friends or donated to local food banks, or you can initiate a food swap with other gardeners. You can also preserve your vegetables and continue to enjoy the bounty through the depths of winter when there’s not much going on in the garden.
This is my favorite way to make tomato sauce with skins on, but you can also freeze tomatoes, make sun-dried tomatoes in the oven, pickle green tomatoes, or make a batch of fermented salsa.
If you’ve got a bumper crop of hot peppers to go through, try my fermented hot sauce recipe (which is delicious when made with a blend of peppers).
3. Gather stakes, trellises, and tomato cages
Discard any support structures that can’t be repaired or reused the following season, and organize and store them in a shed or garage. Keeping them sheltered from the elements will help prolong their useful lifespan.
4. Clean up garden beds
Remove weeds and other unwanted plants before they go to seed and add them to your compost pile. Diseased plants should be bagged and discarded in the trash. (I always recommend doing this vs. putting them in your compost, as most home compost piles don’t get hot enough to destroy pathogens.)
Cut down old plants (that are otherwise healthy and free of pests and diseases) right at the soil level and spread them across your garden beds as mulch. Let the roots rot in place to feed the microbes and replenish the soil. This is especially important if you grew legumes (like beans and peas), which release all their stored nitrogen from the roots.
If you won’t be planting in the beds again, add a fresh, thick layer of mulch to prevent erosion over winter.
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Take care of perennial plants
5. Dig and store tender bulbs
Dig up frost-sensitive bulbs and tubers before the ground freezes, but timing depends on the plant. Dahlias should stay put until the first hard frost blackens the foliage. Then cut the stalks back to a few inches and dig them a week or two later, once the skins have toughened up.
Caladiums are more tender, so lift them when the foliage starts to yellow, before frost arrives. Shake the dirt loose and lay the bulbs out to dry in a shady, protected, well-ventilated area for a few weeks. Once they’re fully dry, store them in a cardboard box in a shed or garage.
If you planted cucamelons (Mexican sour gherkins), this is also a good time to dig up cucamelon tubers and store them in pots over winter.
6. Lift and divide perennials
Fall is a good time to split plants that bloom in spring to early summer, as they can focus their energy on growing new roots. Lift and divide any perennials that seem overcrowded or underperforming. This is especially important for chives, which need to be divided every one to three years (depending on how large the clumps are) to ensure good growth in spring.
With plants that haven’t seemed to work in their current locations, consider transplanting them elsewhere in the garden. Sometimes they just want more or less light, or prefer more room to spread without competition.
7. Cut back perennials (or leave them standing)
Cut back perennials once frost has knocked them down, or leave the stems standing until spring. Both work.
What I do: I leave a few inches of dead growth above ground as shelter for small wildlife. If a plant has seed heads, I leave them for a couple of weeks as a food source before cutting back. (And if you don’t want a plant to reseed freely, cut it before the flowers go to seed.)
8. Prune trees and shrubs only if you have to
Fall isn’t the best time to prune most trees and shrubs. Spring-blooming shrubs like lilacs and forsythia set next year’s flower buds on old wood, so a fall haircut means fewer blooms. Stick to dead, diseased, or damaged branches now and save the rest for late winter while plants are still dormant. Your local Cooperative Extension office can tell you the best timing for your region.
9. Weed the garden beds
Save time (and save your back) and wait for a good rain so the ground is nice and soft before you start weeding.
Read more: Easy ways to keep weeds out of your garden
If you won’t be planting in your beds until spring, cover empty beds with a good organic mulch or grow a cover crop to keep the soil healthy. (See #14 below for cover cropping options.)
Get garden beds ready for the next cycle
10. Amend the soil
Add a top dressing of 2 to 3 inches of compost to refresh your beds for new plantings. Do a soil test, if needed (your local Cooperative Extension office can assist with this), and add any nutrients that your soil falls short on.
If you don’t plan to grow a fall garden, leave the compost in place to replenish the soil over winter.
11. Plant trees, shrubs, evergreens, and other perennials
Did you know that fall is actually the best time to plant perennials like groundcovers, vining plants, trees, and shrubs?
Doing so in the fall will give their roots enough time to establish before winter sets in. The soil is still warm (much warmer than it is in early spring, when most planting usually takes place) but the weather is cooler, so in most areas, it’s easier for plants to acclimatize in fall conditions.
Read more: Why fall is the best time to plant trees (and how to do it)
12. Plant spring-flowering bulbs
Choose a mix of early, mid, and late-blooming bulbs like crocus, tulips, daffodils, and bearded irises to give your garden a dramatic burst of color in spring. (I share more on what I love to plant in fall to get blooms by March.)
If you’re planting a new flower bed, consider layering your flower bulbs for a continuous show of blooms all year. Most tutorials for this “lasagna style” of flower planting focus on layering bulbs in containers, but the same concept applies to in-ground garden beds as well. As a bonus, the new foliage hides the old foliage as it grows.
13. Plant fall vegetable crops
Garlic gets planted in October for most growing regions. If you haven’t purchased seed garlic yet, find out which garlic varieties will do best in your climate.
In cold winter areas, check your first frost date before you sow. Crops that mature in 40 days or less need about six weeks, and growth slows as days shorten, so pad that by a couple of weeks. If you’re cutting it close, a cold frame or row cover buys you time. (My post on Persephone days explains the daylength trick for timing a winter garden.)
14. Plant cover crops
Instead of leaving garden beds fallow, consider planting cover crops. Also called green manure, cover crops (which include legumes like hairy vetch, fava beans, and Austrian winter peas, as well as grasses like winter rye, barley, and oats) enhance soil fertility, reduce soil erosion, improve drainage as well as water-holding capacity, increase biodiversity, and smother weeds.
Most cover crops should be sown a month before the first frost, though cold-hardy varieties (like Dutch white clover and hairy vetch) can be sown right up to the first frost.
15. Prepare new garden beds
It might seem counterintuitive, but fall is actually the best time of year to prepare a new garden bed from scratch.
Rather than relying on bagged soil, which adds up quickly, you can make your own soil using freely available materials in fall: grass clippings, fallen leaves, tree trimmings, downed branches, pine cones and pine needles, and old plant foliage. Let these materials decompose naturally over winter, and by spring, you’ll have a bed full of rich humus to plant in.
I teach various methods for making your own soil in my online course, Lazy Gardening Academy, but you can also try one of my favorite no-dig gardening techniques inspired by Esther Deans.
Don’t make it so hard on yourself
Grow more food—with less work
I’ll teach you how to be the most productive Lazy Gardener ever with my time-tested, beginner-friendly techniques. You’ll get more out of your garden than you ever thought possible!
Transition tender container plants and houseplants back indoors
16. Trim faded foliage
Remove any dead or diseased leaves and spray the tops and undersides of leaves with water to dislodge any hitchhiking pests and their eggs. Use my homemade insecticidal soap to treat overwintering houseplants as needed.
Read more: How to move potted citrus trees indoors for winter
17. Break up hardened soil
Refresh the soil with soil amendments or new potting soil altogether. If you have a large number of pots to refill, you can easily (and economically) make your own potting soil at home with just a few common ingredients from the garden center.
18. Repot plants
If your plants have outgrown their containers, repot them into larger containers before moving them inside. No need to fertilize them though—that can wait until late winter when growth picks up again.
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Organize and winterize garden tools and equipment
19. Clean, sharpen, and store tools
I like to use 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil on my tools to remove surface rust as well as prevent rust. This household product is a must-have in my garden toolbox because it’s an effective cleaner, lubricant, and protectant.
A few drops on your steel blades and other metal tools will dissolve rust and keep the moving parts on your pruners and loppers clean and smooth. Just wipe it on and wipe off the excess.
On your shovels, spades, and blades, apply a thin coat of oil to the metal surfaces to create a barrier against oxidation so your tools stay protected in storage. If you’ve been a little negligent with your gardening tools, here’s a simple way to remove rust without scrubbing. (It works on all metal tools of all sizes.)
20. Empty and store unused pots and planters
You don’t even have to wash your pots (unless they housed diseased plants). This is also a good time to inspect your inventory and discard any pots that have seen better days. Personally, I’ve started replacing all my plastic pots (especially black nursery pots) with fabric and terra cotta pots for better breathability.
Read more: My top picks for the best grow bags for your garden
21. Drain and empty hoses and drip irrigation systems
Shut off the main water supply and remove the faucet assembly at the start of your irrigation system. Have underground watering systems winterized (blown out).
If you have drip irrigation lines in your raised beds, there’s no need to disassemble them for winter—just get them blown out, then spread a thick layer of mulch over the tubes and emitters.
Related: How to assemble and install a drip irrigation system in your garden
Prepare your yard for winter
22. Assess cold-weather structures
Pull your cold frames, hoops, and frost cloth out of storage and give them a good once-over. You’ll need them for your fall, winter, and early spring vegetable growing.
23. Protect frost-sensitive plants
Keep an eye on nightly lows and shield sensitive plants and their roots with burlap, frost covers, mulch, or other protective barriers.
Here’s how: These are the best (and easiest) ways to protect trees and shrubs in winter
24. Compost fallen leaves
Generally, it’s best to let fallen leaves lay where they are, since they provide natural (and free) mulch for your yard and habitat for overwintering insects and wildlife.
On the flip side, large leaves or thick layers of leaves can do more harm than good, as they create a dense mat that makes it hard for air and water to pass through. So if your lawn is covered in piles of leaves, shred them with a lawn mower and let them decompose in place over winter. Or, rake the leaves and heap them into a sheltered corner of the yard to make your own leaf compost (also known as leaf mold).
You can also keep a few bags of dried leaves around to add to your compost pile as needed to balance the greens (nitrogen) from your kitchen scraps.
If you have a leaf shredder, you can turn your fallen leaves into a nutrient-rich mulch for your garden beds. Just spread a couple inches of shredded leaves around your plants (no need to compost them first, they’ll do it on their own).
Read more: More ways to use fall leaves to recharge your garden soil
Frequently asked questions
This post updated from an article that originally appeared on October 10, 2021.
Lovely and accessible advice whether you’re a newbie gardener like myself or more experienced. So far my experiences are mixed, but I’ll definitely use this list as I prep for next year!