How to Prepare your Landscape for Fall

Hi everybody, I'm Joe Lamp'l from Growing a Greener World. You know this time of year in early fall, I'm so re-energized because I know it's a chance for a fresh start around my landscape and garden and I also know a lot of that has to do with the fact that the work that I do right now will have a lot to do with how my garden looks over the next few months and beyond. Now there are a lot of important activities but there's four things that I always do, and you should too this time of year to have that great-looking landscape and garden. First, get rid of the plants that are past their prime so clean up and clear out seasonal or annual plants won't have much time even if you do try to keep them going. For me, I'd rather use this time to improve the soil and get my new plants in the ground and off to the best start possible so out with the old and in with the new. Removing spent plants from your raised beds and landscaped area certainly has its own advantages but there's another very important one because now you have a blank slate in which to amend the soil and that's very important because as your plants are growing throughout the season you know you only have so much soil here and those plants are taking up all those nutrients. So you've got to find a way to improve the soil and add back those nutrients and for me as an organic gardener, there's a few things that I always use and the first is compost. Now it's a good thing a little bit goes a long way because you can never seem to make enough of this but about an inch or two across the surface is good. I'll mix it all in and it has good nutrients and micronutrients that my plants need and it's really going to improve the soil. And then there's another organic amendment that I like to use and the price is certainly right and that is arborist woodchips. Now about a year ago, I had some trees taken down on this property and I asked the arborist to deposit the chips on the back pasture now at that point it was a bunch of pieces of wood but over the course of the last year that's all broken down, it's almost soil. So I'll put this into the bed as a good carbon source and more organic matter and that'll continue to break down and then one more thing I do, I add some organic nitrogen. Now this is a granular form but they come in a lot of different forms but this is just easy to spread and about a cup is all I need for this area but the nitrogen will help the carbon break down and nitrogen in general is good for the soil and your plants so collectively I'll mix all this together over the next few minutes and then I'll have a bed that's totally restored and ready for planting. Third, add more plants and trees. You couldn't pick a better time than fall with warm soil temperatures and cool air, it's the perfect combination for plants to establish quickly with minimal stress and fertilizing now is another important step to help your plants start off well and draw on nutrients when growth picks back up again in Spring. Even better, plants store nutrients found in soil to help them overwinter so by adding those nutrients now you're helping them weather this season. In the lawn, aerating the soil and adding compost and Milorganite is just what cool season grass needs to establish a strong stand during prime growing season and come back strong next spring, and finally always add mulch just as important as any other step in prepping your garden and landscape for fall is to add mulch around all your plants and beyond mulch is like that protective blanket that does so much for plants and soil. In fall, it helps to keep the soil intact, protect tender roots from heat and cold, and breaks down slowly to add more organic matter as a way of continually improving your soil. Best of all it really looks great wherever you place it. So there you have it. Four simple but very important steps to give your garden and landscape a fresh start and keep it growing strong for months to come.