How to Prepare Your Garden for a Season Change

About Miles McGuinness

Miles McGuinness is a copywriter at Brookdale. Originally from Ohio, he graduated from The Ohio State University with a double major in English and marketing. Prior to Brookdale, he worked in digital marketing for a major cleanup and restoration company. When he’s not reading or writing, he enjoys watching movies, trying new restaurants, traveling, and cheering on Cleveland sports.

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When you hear the word garden, what comes to mind? You likely picture a well-cultivated patch under a sunny spring sky, chock full of brightly colored fruits and vegetables ripened and ready to come off the vine. But gardens are hardy things, and they can survive a cold winter with a little TLC. Follow these tips and tricks to help keep your garden healthy no matter the season.

Clean Up Your Garden Space

As summer winds down and chilly fall weather settles in, assess your garden’s current state, and clean up as needed. Write down what worked and what didn’t from the previous year, and how the layout or structure of the garden might need to change for better results.

This process could involve evaluating places where plants have overgrown their space. Branches and shrubs should be trimmed, while any stems, dead leaves and fallen flowers should be removed from the area. You can use a simple trash bag for this collection, and dispose of the bag away from the garden, so seeds and other germs can’t spread onto crops. This is also a good time to look for waste items such as old nylon netting or weed trimmer line, which can be picked up and tossed out. Remove and store any plant supports, trellises, cages and similar structures for the “off-season.”

At this stage, you may want to pick any fruits or vegetables. Vegetables and flowering plants can be fully pulled or cut at ground level, allowing their roots to enrich the soil during decomposition. After several frosts, you can also cut back herbaceous perennials, but don’t pull them — their roots will continue living beneath the soil during winter.

Ultimately, this step is a helpful way for you to take stock of how your garden “performed” in the spring and summer, and to take any necessary steps before the ground freezes.

Tip: If you have a rain barrel, consider emptying it before the first frost, making sure it is fully cleaned and stored.

Manage and Remove Weeds

Weeds are pesky, so it’s prudent to manage and remove them as you see them. Common wisdom recommends using weed killers twice a year. That means when applying weed killers in the fall, you’ll be helping remove weed seeds that settled in the summer. You may also want to put down a layer of bark mulch to help prevent weeds from arriving in the spring.

As you collect weeds, create a dedicated pile and place it on a tarp, gravel, cement or similar hard surface, to help ensure these troublesome growths don’t make their way back into the garden itself. Cover the pile with a plastic sheet or tarp, and on a sunny day, allow it to decompose and shrink in the warmth.

Tip: Having a dedicated weed and compost pile can help make the gardening process more efficient.

Assess the Soil

As the seasons change, consider conducting a soil test to evaluate nutrient and pH levels. You can do this using a testing kit, which you can purchase online or at your local garden center. Depending on the results of the soil test, you may want to add slow-release organic fertilizers or lime. It may also be necessary to add well-rotted manure, which can help keep the soil’s structure intact, keep it moist and at a steady temperature, and also improve its fertility.

Whether you should use a tiller or turn soil manually depends on many factors, such as time, location, types of plants in the area and personal preferences. (A tiller may disturb or disrupt worms and other action under the soil.)

Remember that compost pile we mentioned earlier? Now’s the time to dump it onto the soil, making sure to rake it cleanly.

Tip: The best time to prepare spring soil is in the fall, when the soil is still workable and there is less chance for mud and spring rains. (April showers, anyone?)

Protect Your Plants

Plants face many threats, including the increasingly unpredictable weather. Consider moving herbs indoors and ensuring your garden is properly mulched, which can help insulate the soil and protect roots from changes in temperature. Additionally, wrapping shrubs — such as roses and hydrangeas — in burlap can help protect them against heavy ice and snow. In excessive heat, cover plants with shade cloths or row covers.

Like humans, plants can also get sick. Make sure you routinely evaluate perennials, including native plants, for disease. Remove dead or dying parts before the disease spreads to other plants in the area.

Tip: Hoverflies and ground beetles can help keep pests under control, so consider encouraging these insects to visit your garden via nectar- or pollen-filled flowers.

Practice Ongoing Garden Maintenance

Finally, make sure you regularly watch and maintain your garden throughout the chillier seasons. That means following all the steps outlined here, in addition to looking for pests or nutrient concerns and addressing issues quickly.

In addition, be mindful of selecting the right plants for your garden depending on the season, and be considerate of your garden’s location. Make sure plants from previous seasons are removed to allow room for next season’s growth.

Tip: Consider practicing crop rotation, planting different crops in the same area each year. This can help with weed and pest control.

Gardening Is a Year-Round Activity

Cultivated correctly, you can make your garden the envy of your green-thumbed neighbors and friends year-round.

Did you know there are more kinds of gardens than ones found outside? Check out our blog to read about indoor herb gardens, windowsill gardens and miniature gardens.