Get Started On Next Year’s Garden By Planting In The Fall

Much of the gardening you do in spring is not really necessary, and might, in fact, hinder the success of the garden itself. You might think of the autumn simply as the time to clean up, removing the previous summer’s growth. There might still be some specialized flowers and vegetables growing through the fall, but the emphasis at this time of year is to wind things down, and wait for the spring to do all the new planting. Yet, for some plants, the best time to be put in the garden turns out not to be the spring at all.

Some plants actually do much better if they are planted in the autumn rather than in the following spring. That doesn’t mean they bloom and grow all winter; they’ll lie dormant like many other plants through this period. However, planting in the fall and letting them start their growing season gradually as things warm up in spring works better for some plants.

There are also a number of shrubs and trees that establish themselves better if you plant them in the autumn. Your garden center or some research on gardening websites can help you discover which other plants thrive best if put into your garden at this time of year. However, some that you might consider could be Siberian or bearded irises, lilies, peonies, hostas, pinks, hens and chicks, or phlox. Trees or bushes like hawthorn, maple, crab apple, pine, linden, and elm should also be planted in the fall rather than the spring.

Bulbs should be planted about six weeks before the ground gets frozen. Make sure the soil is well drained. Take the bulbs and plant them three times as deep as they are high, so a two inch bulb would go six inches deep, for example. Be sure the pointed end points upward or, if you can’t be sure which would be considered the pointed end, plant the bulb sideways instead. When the bulb actually starts growing, it will pull the right end upward as it does.

Another thing people don’t always think of in the autumn is planting seeds rather than the plants themselves. When you think of it, nature’s way generally tends to be for seeds to drop and be spread in the fall, and get covered over and lie dormant through the winter, in preparation for germinating the following spring. Some actually require a spell in cold temperatures before they’ll sprout. So in your own garden, too, you can plant certain seeds that will then wait through the winter and begin to grow the following spring. Try this with some of your perennials, and you can even give it a go with annuals that are described as “hardy annuals.”

It’s kind of encouraging to think that a great many of your plants might already be planted and ready to grow when the spring comes. You’ll have enough work still to do when the weather gets warm, so it’s good to know you can get some of this done before winter. If you plant properly and keep your plants or seeds secure through the winter, your garden could be half ready in the spring before you even do anything.

Sarah is a contributor to the Vegetable Garden site. You might be interested in her latest articles on Preparing a Container Garden for Winter and Starting a Windowsill Herb Garden.