October often looks like the end of the gardening season, but the calendar still has room for a productive fall garden. Fast-maturing cool-season crops can go into the ground now and mature before the ground freezes, while hardy plants like garlic and kale go dormant and regrow in spring. Success depends on three things: your […]
Late summer through autumn is one of the best windows for planting perennials. Nurseries still sell flowering perennials in containers, the soil stays warm even as the air cools, and end-of-season markdowns can make the plants you have been eyeing all year affordable. Gardeners who are dividing existing perennials can add new plants in the
Every fall, homeowners across the country spend hours pushing leaves into piles, stuffing them into bags, and carting them to the curb. Few people stop to ask whether it is necessary. Garden experts increasingly say the healthiest move is to leave the leaves on your lawn and let them break down where they fall. The
A geranium in the perfect color for the landscape does not have to die with the first frost. Geraniums are tender perennials, which means they survive mild winters but freeze out in most garden zones. Three proven methods keep them alive indoors until spring: taking cuttings, bringing potted plants inside, and storing bare root plants
Autumn is the pivot point for every plant on the property. Outdoor beds wind down, and houseplants that spent summer on a patio, balcony, or porch have to move back inside before the first hard frost. The weeks before that move decide how much stress a plant carries into winter. Done right, the shift is
Dahlias are subtropical plants native to Central America, and frost is their hard limit. They are winter hardy only in USDA Zones 8 to 11, so gardeners in cooler climates grow them as annuals and dig the roots up every fall. The roots are actually tubers, swollen storage organs that carry the plant through winter
October is one of the best months to plant shrubs across much of the United States. Cooler air reduces transplant stress, and the soil, still warm from summer, sits in the 55 to 75 degree range that pushes roots to grow before the ground freezes. A shrub planted now spends the winter building a root
Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and one of the easiest to get wrong on the calendar. A single clove needs 250 to 270 days, roughly eight to nine months, to turn into a large bulb, and that timeline determines everything else: when to plant, when to stop watering, and when to
Chrysanthemums are the workhorse of fall color, yet the advice written about them is full of folk remedies that sound scientific. Epsom salt, plain magnesium sulfate, is one of the most popular: a tablespoon dissolved in a watering can, poured around the base of every mum, with the promise of taller stems and fuller blooms.
The planting season for flowering bulbs splits into two windows, and the variety decides which one applies. Hardy bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths go into the ground in fall, develop roots before the first frost, and need a period of winter chill to trigger spring bloom. Tender bulbs such as dahlias, gladiolus, and
