Fall Garden Checklist by Hardiness Zone - Ep. 217
Just Grow Something | Evidence-Based Home GardeningSeptember 24, 2024x
217
00:26:4724.53 MB

Fall Garden Checklist by Hardiness Zone - Ep. 217

As the fall season is practically upon us and the pumpkin spice gods are already blessing us with their bounty, it’s time to get your garden ready for the changing weather. Fall gardening can look very different depending on your climate, but no matter where you live, the changing season means there are some important tasks to attend to for the success of your garden now and into the spring.

Today on Just Grow Something we’re tackling your fall garden checklist. Whether you’re buttoning up your garden for winter, transitioning into a cool-season planting cycle, or continuing to harvest year-round, today’s episode breaks down fall gardening tasks for three different groups of gardeners: Zones 3 and 4, Zones 5 through 9, and Zones 10 and 11. Let’s dig in!

Question of the Month: What was your biggest success in the garden this season?

References and Resources:

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Check out how you can become a patron on Patreon

Bonus content for supporters of the Just Grow Something Podcast! (buymeacoffee.com)

Heirloom Roses: Use code JUSTGROW for 20% off! Through Oct. 31st, 2024


Getting Started with Cover Crops - Ep. 166

2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map | USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Frost Dates: First and last frost dates by zipcode - Garden.org



00:00:00
As the fall season is practically upon us and the

00:00:03
pumpkin spice gods are already blessing us with their bounty,

00:00:06
it's time to get your garden ready for the changing weather.

00:00:09
Fall gardening can look very different depending on your

00:00:11
climate, but no matter where you live, the changing seasons means

00:00:14
there are some important tasks that we need to attend to for

00:00:18
the success of our garden now and into the spring.

00:00:21
Today on Just Grow Something, we're tackling your fall garden

00:00:25
checklist, whether you're buttoning up the garden for

00:00:27
winter, transitioning into a cool season planting cycle, or

00:00:31
continuing to harvest year round.

00:00:33
Today's episode breaks down fall gardening tasks for three

00:00:36
different groups of gardeners. Zones 3 and 4, Zones 5 through 9

00:00:41
and Zones 10:00 and 11:00. Let's dig in.

00:00:45
Hey, I'm Karen, I started gardening in a small corner of

00:00:47
my suburban backyard and now 18 years later, I've got a degree

00:00:50
in horticulture and operate a 40 acre market farm.

00:00:53
I believe there is power in food and that everyone should know

00:00:57
how to grow at least a little bit of their own.

00:00:59
On this podcast, I share evidence based techniques to

00:01:02
help you plant, grow, harvest and store all your family's

00:01:05
favorites. Consider me your friend in the

00:01:07
garden. So grab your garden journal and

00:01:09
a cup of coffee and get ready to just grow something.

00:01:21
If you have not taken a moment to go and vote for this podcast

00:01:25
in the Women in Podcasting Awards, this is your last week

00:01:29
to do so. This is a People's Choice type

00:01:31
of an award, and I am up against some really stiff competition,

00:01:34
so each and every vote counts. None of us nominees has any idea

00:01:40
how many votes we have or our standings until the competition

00:01:43
is over. So if you've already voted, I

00:01:46
truly, truly appreciate you. If you have not, I will leave a

00:01:49
link in the episode description. It's also in this morning's

00:01:52
e-mail. You can go to

00:01:53
womeninpodcasting.net/awards and find me in the list under the

00:02:00
Lifestyle category. We should get final results

00:02:03
after voting closes. I don't know whether or not it's

00:02:05
going to show us where our standings were or just show us

00:02:08
who the winners are, but fingers crossed that I'm on that winners

00:02:11
list. This is also your last week to

00:02:15
send me the answer to the Question of the Month.

00:02:18
What was your biggest success in the garden this year?

00:02:22
If you're watching on YouTube, just type your answer in the

00:02:25
comments below. If you're in Spotify, you can do

00:02:28
the same thing there in the discussion or reply to today's

00:02:31
e-mail from your inbox. You can send me Adm however you

00:02:34
want to reach me. I haven't had too many responses

00:02:37
to this one, so either you all had a really crappy gardening

00:02:40
season or you're all just really busy with your fall gardens.

00:02:43
But take a moment please and let me know and I will reveal your

00:02:47
answers and give you mine in October.

00:02:54
So here in West Central Missouri we are about 3 weeks away from

00:03:00
our average first frost state. I know many of you who are

00:03:04
further north of me have already experienced your first frost or

00:03:07
pretty darn close and I am so sorry.

00:03:10
I cannot imagine having such a short growing season.

00:03:13
But those of you who are further South of me and in more tropical

00:03:16
regions, you may not ever sea of frost.

00:03:19
Ever. So that's why I broke down this

00:03:22
task list by Hardiness Zone. What I experience here headed

00:03:26
into fall is way different from what someone in Minnesota is

00:03:30
facing or what someone in Hawaii is facing.

00:03:32
And I did this by Hardiness Zone just because it's a good

00:03:37
indicator of how cold it gets in your area.

00:03:41
And there are plenty of places where one part of the state or

00:03:44
the province has a drastically different climate than another

00:03:47
one. So this makes it easy to

00:03:49
reference. So we're going to start with my

00:03:51
gardeners in zones 3 and 4. So Minneapolis, MN, Helena, Mt

00:03:57
You people in these colder zones, fall is more a

00:04:02
preparation for winter than anything else.

00:04:05
Your first frost may have already hit or it may very well

00:04:08
be fast approaching. So First things first, if you

00:04:11
haven't already, pick any remaining frost sensitive crops

00:04:14
like your tomatoes, your Peppers, beans, curcubus,

00:04:17
anything. If you have green tomatoes that

00:04:20
are on the vine and they are fully mature, meaning they are

00:04:24
solidly green, they just haven't gotten red yet, you can

00:04:27
absolutely ripen those those indoors.

00:04:30
So harvest them, bring them inside and you can ripen those

00:04:32
up. Even if you have small green

00:04:34
ones that aren't fully mature yet, those can be used for

00:04:38
things like green tomato chutney or whatever.

00:04:40
They're never really going to ripen, they'll just kind of rot

00:04:42
before they get to that point because they're not fully

00:04:44
mature. But that doesn't mean you can't

00:04:46
use them for something. Now, your root crops like

00:04:49
carrots and beets and you know, parsnips, those types of things

00:04:53
can actually stay in the ground a little bit longer, but you

00:04:56
want to be sure to harvest them before the ground actually

00:05:00
freezes solid. Now, if you have cold Hardy

00:05:04
vegetables out there, so things that are frost tolerant like

00:05:08
kale or spinach or Brussels sprouts, or even those root

00:05:11
crops like the leeks and the parsnips and that sort of thing,

00:05:14
you can use cold frames or row covers to sort of extend the

00:05:19
harvest season for those types of things.

00:05:22
Because your daylight hours are going to start dropping.

00:05:24
They're not really going to continue actively growing too

00:05:26
much. But if they've gotten really

00:05:28
close to maturity, you can kind of leave them in this sort of

00:05:31
stasis and be able to continue harvesting them after your first

00:05:35
frost if you can protect them in some way.

00:05:39
So, you know, when you're things like carrots and leeks and

00:05:43
parsnips, they actually improve in flavor after a frost.

00:05:47
So it's a good idea to leave them out there.

00:05:50
Just make sure that they're not actually freezing completely

00:05:53
solid. So make sure that you have cold

00:05:55
frames, row covers, extra layers of mulch on hand.

00:05:59
So that's another thing that you want to do.

00:06:01
You want to mulch any bare soil to protect it from erosion and

00:06:05
you also it's going to protect it from becoming more compacted

00:06:09
over the winter months. This also helps retain moisture

00:06:12
in the soil. And if you're using an organic

00:06:16
mulch, so straw or pine needles, even wood chips, that is going

00:06:21
to begin to break down where it is in contact with the soil.

00:06:25
So that's just going to actually add more nutrients and it's

00:06:27
going to improve the soil texture for what happens in

00:06:32
spring. So your perennials too,

00:06:33
strawberries, those are especially important to get

00:06:38
mulched around the base because that's going to insulate those

00:06:40
crowns and keep them protected from those really harsh winter

00:06:43
temperatures. If you need to, you can also use

00:06:47
additional things like your row covers or your cold frames to

00:06:50
protect them even further depending on what your lowest

00:06:53
average temperature is during the winter time.

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Now the good thing is right now is the best time to be planting

00:07:00
your garlic and your spring flowering bulbs.

00:07:02
So late fall, perfect time to plant garlic.

00:07:05
You want to get this done before the ground freezes.

00:07:09
We want the cloves to be able to establish their roots a bit

00:07:12
before that happens. And this is going to give you a

00:07:14
head start in the spring because they're just going to naturally

00:07:17
come to life when it's time. So if you have not done that

00:07:20
yet, now is the best time to be doing that before the ground

00:07:23
becomes too cold. This is also the same time to be

00:07:25
doing like spring flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils,

00:07:28
which would be really nice once winters subsides.

00:07:31
They just naturally come up on their own and they're great.

00:07:34
If it is possible, now is also the time to be adding compost or

00:07:39
other organic matter into your garden beds before the ground

00:07:42
freezes, especially if you need to turn that in.

00:07:45
You don't necessarily have to turn it in.

00:07:47
I tend to just throw compost and my other amendments just on top

00:07:51
of the soil and naturally let it sit there over the winter and

00:07:55
start to breakdown. But if your soil is kind of

00:07:58
needing a little extra help or you've got a lot of clay in

00:08:01
there that you're trying to loosen up, you might want to

00:08:03
turn it in, which means you need to do that before the unfreezes.

00:08:06
So this will give the organic material some time to break down

00:08:09
and it will help improve that soil quality by spring.

00:08:13
This is also a really good time to be gathering up all of your

00:08:16
garden tools and getting them cleaned and sort of disinfected

00:08:21
and oiled if you need to, and getting them put away for winter

00:08:23
storage. Also, draining all of your hoses

00:08:25
and storing those in a dry place to keep them from being damaged

00:08:29
from freezing temperatures. And of course, once kind of all

00:08:33
that is done, now's a really good time to just sort of

00:08:37
reflect back on what worked in the garden this year, what

00:08:40
didn't work, what successes you had, what didn't go so well.

00:08:45
It's fresh in your memory. So even if you're not sitting

00:08:48
down to actually lay out your garden plan and do your crop

00:08:51
rotations and your seed orders just yet, at least taking some

00:08:54
notes in a journal of some sort will give you an idea when you

00:08:58
do go back of what actually happened this year.

00:09:01
Because it's fresh in your mind, right?

00:09:03
And so you can actually make some very accurate notes rather

00:09:05
than a month or two from now sitting down and going, OK, so

00:09:09
how did XY and Z work? Your memory is just not going to

00:09:13
be that fresh, right? So now is a really good time

00:09:16
because it also gives you a little bit more of a realistic

00:09:19
look at whether or not you want to consider expanding or

00:09:23
changing your garden layout for the next growing season.

00:09:26
So while it's still fresh in your mind, make sure that you're

00:09:29
sort of figuring out your plans for next year at least a little

00:09:32
bit or making some notes. And I'm going to pause here and

00:09:36
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00:09:41
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00:09:45
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00:09:50
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00:09:54
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00:09:58
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00:10:01
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00:10:05
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00:10:09
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00:10:12
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00:10:16
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00:10:20
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00:10:24
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00:10:27
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00:10:30
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00:10:34
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00:10:38
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00:10:41
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00:10:44
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00:10:47
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00:10:50
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00:10:53
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00:10:56
have flowering bulbs too, all kinds of things.

00:10:59
The 20% off works for everything.

00:11:01
The website isheirloomroses.com, the discount code is just grow

00:11:06
for 20% off and you have until the end of October to use that

00:11:09
code. So for my gardeners in USDA

00:11:14
hardiness zones 5 through 9. So these are people like in my

00:11:18
area, you've got Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, Austin, TX.

00:11:22
In these zones, fall is definitely bringing cooler

00:11:26
temperatures and often we're heading into a frost, but it

00:11:29
still offers plenty of gardening opportunities, right?

00:11:31
So First things first, those warm season crops, you are going

00:11:35
to want to start harvesting any of those remaining tomatoes,

00:11:38
Peppers, squash, cucumbers, anything else that is tender

00:11:41
before the 1st frost. This is the time to really be

00:11:44
paying attention to those weather forecasts, right?

00:11:48
This is also the time to be trimming the tops on our summer

00:11:53
fruiting plants to force energy into maturing the existing

00:11:59
fruit, not flowering and producing new fruit that won't

00:12:01
get to maturity prior to first frost.

00:12:03
So this can be done as far out as four weeks prior to your

00:12:08
usual first frost date in the fall.

00:12:11
Our nightshades are the best candidates for this.

00:12:14
So specifically tomatoes, Peppers and eggplant.

00:12:18
So if you go out and you look at your plants and you see that you

00:12:21
have existing fruits already on the plant that are not to

00:12:25
maturity yet, go to the next section above the last of those

00:12:30
fruits and go ahead and just top your plants.

00:12:33
OK, Cut those other ones off. You're going to see right now a

00:12:36
lot of them are likely trying to do this one last push to get a

00:12:40
bunch of flowers put on. None of those are going to make

00:12:42
it to maturity. Depending on where you are, if

00:12:45
you are four weeks out from your first anticipated frosted state,

00:12:48
those flowers are not going to produce mature fruit by them.

00:12:51
So by cutting off this young growth and eliminating those

00:12:56
those buds, you're now forcing the plant to put all of its

00:12:59
energy into growing out the existing fruits and getting them

00:13:03
to maturity before your frost hits.

00:13:04
OK, if you can, when you're looking at winter squashes and

00:13:08
pumpkins, leave them on the vine to cure until that skin

00:13:13
absolutely hardens. You don't want to be able to

00:13:15
press your fingernail through the skin.

00:13:16
You want it nice and firm, but you do want to make sure to

00:13:19
harvest them before that first frost because that skin and that

00:13:22
fruit can absolutely be damaged if it's left out there.

00:13:26
So again, this is a really good time to kind of be paying

00:13:28
attention to your weather forecast.

00:13:30
My rule of thumb is if I see a three in any way, shape or form

00:13:35
in the overnight lows, meaning it says 39 Fahrenheit or below,

00:13:41
If there's a three, I am making sure that I have my frost claws

00:13:45
and cloches or whatever it is that I'm using to protect my

00:13:50
crops from. Because I know that oftentimes

00:13:53
a, the weather is unpredictable and that forecast isn't, you

00:13:57
know, accurate right down to the individual degree.

00:14:00
So if it says it's 39, it could very well get to 3430 three and

00:14:04
that yes, you're going to start damaging those plants.

00:14:07
But I also know in my area that the temperatures bounce right

00:14:09
back up too. So if I can cover those plants

00:14:13
for that one or two nights where it's going to get cold and that

00:14:16
gives them another couple of weeks after that where the

00:14:19
temperatures are amenable for them to be able to continue to

00:14:22
ripen, then I'm going to do that.

00:14:24
If I see we're going to have a week straight where the

00:14:26
temperatures are going to be in the 30s, then you know what I'm

00:14:28
saying? I'm done.

00:14:29
And I'm just going to let those, those summer crops just succumb

00:14:33
to the weather, right? I will make sure that I am using

00:14:37
row covers and stuff though on the cold Hardy crops to just

00:14:40
kind of extend the season. But the summer ones, I'm just

00:14:42
going to let them go at that point.

00:14:44
But now is also the time where you can plant more of those

00:14:47
really quick maturing cool weather vegetables.

00:14:50
So any of your baby leafy greens, spinach and lettuce and

00:14:53
kale, fast maturing things like radishes.

00:14:56
Depending on where you are, you also could probably doing

00:14:59
carrots. So if you're on the warmer end

00:15:01
of these zones, you do have enough time to be able to get

00:15:04
some carrots in. And also if you're like in zone

00:15:07
8, you might be able to overwinter those pretty well

00:15:09
too. And at that point they actually

00:15:13
also get sweeter. So if you can get those in, now

00:15:15
is a really good time to do that.

00:15:17
This is also the time to be getting ready to do your garlic

00:15:20
and your onions. So these can be planted in the

00:15:23
late fall to overwinter, be harvested in early summer.

00:15:27
I'm putting together a video for YouTube specific to fall planted

00:15:33
onions. I I tracked the process from

00:15:37
last fall when I planted my onions all the way through until

00:15:40
this summer when I harvested them and got them cured.

00:15:44
I've got the videos all done, but of course haven't had any

00:15:46
time to do anything with it. But as soon as that drops I will

00:15:49
let you know. This will give you an idea of

00:15:51
how you can plant onions either from sets or from seed and be

00:15:56
able to overwinter them so that they come up immediately in the

00:15:59
spring. This is absolutely doable in

00:16:01
zones 5 through 8. Again, I'm in 6B so I'm kind of

00:16:05
smack dab in the middle of that. Just depends on what type of

00:16:07
onion you're going growing. Sorry.

00:16:10
Either way garlic. Now is the time to be getting

00:16:12
your garlic in too. So if you haven't ordered your,

00:16:15
your seed garlic, get that done and get them into the ground so

00:16:18
they get a chance to root and get settled in before the really

00:16:21
cold hits. Just like in our previous, you

00:16:24
know, discussion of, of zones 3 and 4, this is also a really

00:16:27
good time to be adding a layer of organic mulch.

00:16:30
So straw, shredded leaves, pine needles, whatever you've got

00:16:33
that's going to keep the soil insulated.

00:16:34
It's going to reduce the weed growth around your fall crops

00:16:37
and it's also going to help to feed that soil as it breaks down

00:16:41
over the winter time. This is also a really good time

00:16:43
to be doing cover crops if you want to plant winter or winter.

00:16:46
If you want to plant winter, no. If you want to plant Clover or

00:16:49
winter rye or hairy vetch, this is now the time to be planting

00:16:54
those because that is also going to protect and enrich the soil

00:16:58
over the winter. I will leave a link to a

00:17:01
previous episode that I did on cover crops to give you

00:17:05
something to reference in terms of that.

00:17:06
But now again, fall is a really good time to get that planted.

00:17:09
So it helps to hold that soil in place and also feeds and

00:17:12
protects the soil over the winter time.

00:17:15
Even if you are not planning on growing anything through the

00:17:18
fall, this is a really good time to get in and clean up the

00:17:22
garden. I generally do this right around

00:17:26
my first frost. I find that it makes it a little

00:17:28
bit easier to clean things out. I also feel like at that point

00:17:32
I've had enough of a break from the the chaos of the summer

00:17:36
garden to kind of get myself the energy to be able to get back

00:17:38
out there. Because honestly, I will tell

00:17:40
you, there are some places out here right now that are

00:17:43
completely overrun with weeds. And I couldn't care less at this

00:17:48
point because I just don't have the energy to deal with it.

00:17:50
But once a frost hits, it makes it a little bit easier to get in

00:17:54
there and remove the spent annuals.

00:17:56
Any diseased plant material, any of the weeds, We want to do this

00:18:00
because it's going to prevent pests and diseases from

00:18:02
overwintering in those spaces. And if it's, you know, healthy

00:18:05
plant material, if it's not diseased, you can toss it in the

00:18:08
compost pile. And that's going to help,

00:18:10
obviously, you know, to enrich our soil for the next season.

00:18:13
You can also, as long as there's no weed seeds in those weeds,

00:18:16
you can also just drop them in place and use them as a natural

00:18:19
mulch. I have been known to do that

00:18:20
too. And then this is also a really

00:18:24
good time to be cutting back any of our perennials like asparagus

00:18:29
and rhubarb after they have gone dormant.

00:18:33
And if you grow perennial herbs, so thyme or oregano or sage,

00:18:39
this is when you also might want to prune them a little bit and

00:18:42
kind of, you know, shape them for the next season and mulch

00:18:45
the base of the plants for winter protection.

00:18:48
Oftentimes these perennial herbs will tend to get a little bit

00:18:51
woody. And so this is a really good

00:18:53
time to sort of thin out those woody areas and give space for

00:18:57
fresh new growth to come up in the spring.

00:18:59
And then of course, you know, maintaining your garden tools,

00:19:02
this is always something that we want to do before we store them

00:19:04
for the winter. So if you need to sharpen or

00:19:05
clean them or disinfect them so that we don't have any diseases

00:19:08
that are overwintering on our tools, because that absolutely

00:19:11
is a possibility. This is just going to extend the

00:19:13
life of the gardening equipment and it's also going to prevent

00:19:15
us from spreading diseases back into our garden in the spring.

00:19:19
OK, so for my warm climate gardeners, you folks in USDA

00:19:23
hardiness zones 10 and 11, so Southern California, Miami, FL,

00:19:28
Honolulu, HI for you guys, I know I've not gardened in your

00:19:33
particular climate. I've done enough research to

00:19:36
know that I could be a little bit jealous sometimes of your

00:19:39
growing climate. I do know that in these warm

00:19:42
climates, fall is actually the start of like the prime growing

00:19:47
season. So you don't get a frost and you

00:19:49
don't really have a Persephone period, so you're going to have

00:19:52
sufficient daylight to be able to grow food year round.

00:19:55
This is fantastic, but you still have certain tasks that should

00:19:59
occur in fall. This kind of signifies your

00:20:03
transition to the best time to grow cool weather crops.

00:20:08
So you know, even though you don't have to worry about a

00:20:10
frost, you are having cooler temperatures.

00:20:13
And this is about the only time of year that your weather is

00:20:16
conducive for growing things like broccoli, cabbage, beets,

00:20:19
carrots, spinach. And again, this is going to

00:20:22
depend on exactly what your climate is, but you know, you

00:20:26
know what your temperatures normally like.

00:20:27
This is also a good time for cool season herbs.

00:20:30
So cilantro, dill and parsley, they don't really like the high

00:20:33
heat. Now is the time where you can

00:20:34
start seeds for those as well. Unfortunately, this also means

00:20:40
it's a good time for pests to come out.

00:20:42
So pests like aphids and whitefly can actually be more

00:20:47
active with cooler temperatures. So this is a good time to start

00:20:51
monitoring your garden really closely and use those integrated

00:20:55
pest management strategies like using insect netting on the

00:20:58
plants that don't require pollinators, planting companion

00:21:01
plants that will attract predatory insects, including,

00:21:04
you know, introducing beneficial insects.

00:21:06
If you need to. You can also use some

00:21:08
insecticidal soaps and other less damaging means of

00:21:11
protection. My go to's are usually for

00:21:13
Saturday Lyme or Elmdert's Shield when the natural

00:21:16
predators maybe aren't present or if I have an overabundance of

00:21:20
some pest. The key is to be aware ahead of

00:21:23
time of what is prevalent in your area so you can be prepared

00:21:28
before you start to see those pests and that way you've got it

00:21:30
on hand when it's it's time to go.

00:21:32
But definitely, I absolutely recommend starting with insect

00:21:35
netting specifically on things that are not requiring

00:21:39
pollinators. So your cooler crops, your

00:21:41
broccoli, your cabbage, beets, those types of things that also

00:21:45
tend to be very attractive to things like aphids and

00:21:48
whiteflies. Now, one other thing too in

00:21:52
these warmer climates is if you're growing intensively year

00:21:56
round, your soil may need replenishing and there isn't

00:22:01
really sort of an end of season. I'm using air bunnies here for

00:22:05
you to just kind of go, OK, I'm going to add the compost and let

00:22:08
it sit. That does not mean that you

00:22:10
can't be doing this continuously throughout the season.

00:22:13
You can add compost or aged manure or, you know, green

00:22:17
materials to the surface of your soil and allow it to naturally

00:22:22
break down, Especially if you put additional mulch over top of

00:22:25
it. Because that's going to sort of

00:22:26
trap that green material or that compost material in next to the

00:22:31
level of the soil. And it's going to help to feed

00:22:33
those microbes as it breaks down.

00:22:35
It's also going to improve or maintain that soil structure.

00:22:39
So this is a really good idea to do a couple of times a year if

00:22:43
you are growing year round. And if you're not, if you do

00:22:46
take part of the season off, say, I know a lot of gardeners

00:22:48
in really warm climates don't grow a whole lot through the

00:22:50
middle of the summer because it's just too darn hot.

00:22:53
That's a good time to be adding, you know, your, your compost and

00:22:56
stuff when the when the garden isn't actively growing.

00:22:59
But if you're growing year round, don't don't think that

00:23:02
you have to have a specific time to add this.

00:23:04
You can do this all the time. Just add it to the surface.

00:23:07
You can also use a balanced organic fertilizer.

00:23:10
If you have something that's being planted that really needs

00:23:12
that extra boost just when you need it, that's fine.

00:23:16
This is also a good time for you to lightly prune any of your

00:23:20
perennial herbs or your fruiting plants and trees, Your citrus

00:23:23
trees fall is a really good time to shape your plants without

00:23:28
stimulating too much new growth because this isn't their most

00:23:32
active growing time. They are still going to grow a

00:23:34
little bit just because of the climate that you're in, but it's

00:23:37
a good time to sort of get ahead of the game before that growth

00:23:40
really starts to to spur in the very, very early spring.

00:23:44
If you are in a region with a fall rainy season, this is also

00:23:50
a really good time to just double check and make sure that

00:23:52
your drainage is good. If you have drain tile around

00:23:56
the outside of your garden, if you have rain barrels that you

00:24:00
use to capture water for using during dry spells, if you have

00:24:04
sort of ditches dug around. And these are things that are

00:24:08
very common. If you're in, you know, some

00:24:09
place that gets a lot of of rain in the fall, then just make sure

00:24:12
that those are all cleared out. Make sure they're not, you know,

00:24:15
jammed up with leaves or any debris that has fallen down.

00:24:18
You just want to make sure that you are somehow preventing

00:24:20
waterlogged roots during that really rainy season.

00:24:25
Using mulch around your plants is actually going to help with

00:24:29
this. In addition to helping to

00:24:31
regulate the soil temperatures and retain moisture when it's

00:24:34
dry, you can also use mulch to help slow down that like

00:24:39
excessive rainfall, particularly it during a dry season or during

00:24:44
a wet season. So mulch serves multiple

00:24:47
purposes and I always recommend it.

00:24:49
Obviously, now is the time to be adding that.

00:24:52
And then of course, if you're growing year round, you get to

00:24:54
enjoy your continued harvest of things like, you know, tomatoes

00:24:58
and Peppers as long as the temperatures remain warm enough.

00:25:01
In fact, many of you are going to see this as a burst of growth

00:25:04
now because it is finally cooled off enough to be able to allow

00:25:09
these plants to continue to grow.

00:25:11
If you took a break from those plants during the summer season,

00:25:16
now is the time to be putting in starts to be able to take

00:25:19
advantage of the more moderate temperatures and be able to grow

00:25:22
what the rest of us normally grow in the middle of the

00:25:24
summertime. So depending on your growing

00:25:31
zone, I hope that has given you an idea of what tasks you should

00:25:34
be tackling now in the fall. I know it can seem a little bit

00:25:37
overwhelming sometimes because we've just gotten out of the

00:25:39
summer season and for most of us, that is the busiest part of

00:25:42
our garden and we almost feel like we're tapped out.

00:25:46
I get it, I totally do. But one last little push in the

00:25:49
fall, regardless of whether or not you're planning on actively

00:25:52
growing anything in the fall, is still going to benefit our

00:25:55
gardens in the spring. If we can tackle a lot of this

00:25:58
stuff before it really starts to get too cold to comfortably do

00:26:01
anything out there, or if you're one of my more temperate climate

00:26:05
growers or one of my more warm climate growers, I should say,

00:26:09
you know, when it starts to get too hot for you to do things in

00:26:13
the in the rest of the season, now is a really good time to

00:26:16
just sort of do that one last push and really get things

00:26:19
prepped and ready to go to get us through the winter and into

00:26:21
the spring again. So until next time, my gardening

00:26:24
friends, keep on cultivating that dream garden and we'll talk

00:26:26
again soon. Thanks for listening to another

00:26:29
episode of the Just Grow Something podcast.

00:26:31
For more information about today's topic and to find all

00:26:34
the ways you can get in touch with me or support the show, go

00:26:37
to justgrowsomethingpodcast.com. Until next time, my gardening

00:26:40
friends, keep learning and keep growing.