Biennials are the often-overlooked middle sibling of flowers. They don’t make the yearly displays of perennials or offer the immediate impact of annuals. But don't overlook how important biennials are; you should embrace them, and June is an ideal time to sow lots of biennial flowers.

Sowing biennials in early summer fits their life cycle perfectly. They’ve got many months ahead to produce strong roots and foliage, before going dormant for winter and then bursting into life and flowering in spring or summer. With a bit of planning, you can get lots of gorgeous blooms to enhance your flower beds or container displays at a crucial time, with many flowering after the spring bulbs and before the annuals.

In mild and northern hardiness zones, biennials are ideal for planting in June. You can sow seeds either indoors or outdoors, depending on your preference, and there are some fantastic plants to choose from. I prefer the former – sowing indoors and planting them outdoors in fall – and here are some of my favorite biennials to sow in June.

Foxgloves

Foxgloves, or Digitalis, bring vertical drama to any flower bed in spring and early summer, with their tall spikes of flowers demanding attention before many other perennials or annuals really get going. The flowers are good for pollinators and also look stunning in a vase when used as cut flowers.

I usually start foxglove varieties indoors in June. The seeds are very fine and only need to be scattered on the surface and pressed into the compost. Don’t cover them though, as they need light to germinate.

Give them temperatures of 50–60°F in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame, and they’ll germinate in a few weeks. Then, you can transplant seedlings into the garden in early fall.

See foxglove seeds at True Leaf Market

See foxglove seeds at Burpee

Canterbury Bells

Canterbury Bells is a biennial type of campanula and a popular cottage garden plant. They have fragrant, bell-shaped flowers in shades of white, pink, blue, and purple that sit on tall spires and gently nod in the summer breeze.

This biennial flower prefers milder climates, rather than the hottest, southern US hardiness zones.

To sow seeds indoors in early summer, finely scatter the seeds in trays and press them into the compost. You can top with a very fine layer of vermiculite, but the seeds do require light to germinate. At temperatures of 70-75°F, the seeds will germinate in two to three weeks.

Gently pot up the seedlings into individual pots filled with well-draining potting soil once they are large enough to handle. Plant them outside in the fall or next spring into a sunny spot in the garden.

Shop Canterbury Bells seeds at Amazon

Shop Canterbury Bells seeds at Walmart

Wallflowers

Biennial wallflowers are popular spring flowering plants to use in large numbers for bright, highly fragrant displays. They come in vivid shades, which make a real impact when planted in mass, and are really simple to grow from seeds sown in early summer.

Wallflowers are one biennial that buck the trend for me. As I said at the start, I usually start my biennials off in trays or pots, but not when I grow wallflowers. For them, I still use the traditional way of starting them off a nursery seedbed.

To do this, I prepare the bed and rake it to a fine tilth. I then sow seeds into rows, let them germinate, and them transplant them from this bed to their final position in the fall.

You can, however, still start them off in trays if you want to and prick them out into pots to grow on before planting out. Wallflowers reliably germinate quickly and benefit from pinching out once they reach six inches tall, to encourage bushing and more blooms.

Shop wallflower seeds at Amazon

Shop wallflower seeds at Walmart

Sweet Williams

Sweet William, or Dianthus barbatus, is a nostalgic plant, and one that I grew in large numbers for displays in one historic garden I worked in for several years. The plant played an important role in the summer formal parterre display each season, and I always sowed the seeds of the biennial in summer.

Sweet Williams burst into flower in late spring and summer. The colorful blooms, which can be red, pink, purple, or white, are clusters of many flowers, each with serrated petals, that sit atop thin stems, and attract bees and butterflies during the flowering season.

To grow Sweet Williams, sow seeds onto the surface of pots filled with compost. These pots can go into a cold frame or an unheated greenhouse to germinate. The location is important, as for the best results, Sweet Williams need cool temperatures rather than too much warmth.

If you don’t have a suitable location to start the plants off, the seeds can be sown directly into their growing position onto the soil surface and thinned to 12 inches apart.

See the range of Sweet William seeds at Botanical Interests

See the range of Sweet William seeds at True Leaf Market

Honesty

Honesty, Lunaria annua, has been popular for centuries, primarily for its translucent seedheads that can either be cut and used for dried flower arrangements or left on the plant to add glorious interest in a winter garden.

But don’t overlook the flowers, too, as the delicate four-petalled purple blooms (you can get white varieties, too) are a beautiful addition to any space in late spring or early summer.

June is the last month to sow honesty seeds each year, to ensure they have the time to develop strong roots this year to see them through winter and burst into life come spring.

Sow the seeds into pots and cover with a light layer of soil or vermiculite and germinate them in a cold frame, or make shallow drills into your beds and sow directly into them.

Whether you transplant young plants or thin seedlings, honesty plants ultimately want to be spaced 12 inches apart and grown in full sun or partial shade.

See honesty seeds at True Leaf Market

See honesty seeds at Amazon

Hollyhock

Hollyhocks are grown as biennials, but once you plant them in a garden, you may consider them a perennial as they will make themselves properly at home and self-seed around. Like a guest who simply won’t leave, but one you are happy to have stay.

The plants are adored for the tall flowering spikes that can reach up to six feet in summer. They won’t flower this year, but planting hollyhock seeds in June will give you stunning blooms next year.

And if you sow next summer, they’ll bloom the following year. From that point on, your self-seeded hollyhocks can take over for year after year of charming flowers.

Sow the seeds directly into the soil this month. Gently scatter them and barely cover them with soil, as they need light to germinate. If you keep them moist, but not waterlogged, they’ll germinate readily in early summer temperatures.

Hollyhocks do make good plants for pollinators. If you do want to grow them in a wildlife garden, pick single-flowered varieties, whose nectar is easier to access by bees and butterflies.

See the range of hollyhock seeds at Botanical Interests

See the range of hollyhock seeds at True Leaf Market

See the range of hollyhock seeds at Burpee

Evening Primrose

This native plant has decorative, fragrant, bowl-shaped, yellow flowers that open in the evening and attract night-time pollinators, including moths and nocturnal bees.

It is a very pretty night-scented plant, but it has a reputation for being aggressive. Evening primrose does self-seed, so deadheading is advisable if you want to stop it from spreading around your garden or into your neighbor's property.

And you can plant it in containers to stop the rhizome spreading. Control is something to consider before sowing this biennial plant.

Directly sow the seeds outdoors onto the soil surface and tamp them down, then thin seedlings to around 12 inches apart once they germinate. If you start the plants off indoors, which you can do, sow into biodegradable pots this month and plant them out in the fall to reduce any root disturbance.

Shop evening primrose seeds at Amazon

Shop evening primrose seeds at Walmart

What to Shop

June is a busy month for sowing and planting. As well as biennials to sow in June, there are still annuals and vegetables to plant this month. For inspiration, our in-depth guide to what to plant in June contains fast annuals, heat-loving vegetables, summer bedding, herbs, and more that you can add to your garden in early summer.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

May is a perfect time to add a wide variety of plants to your garden to guarantee it hits all the right glorious notes come summer. For a summer garden packed full of highlights but without the high maintenance, you can pick and choose from planting perennials, annuals, tubers, bulbs, grasses, and edibles this month.

In May, the soil is warm and moist in most regions. As the days and nights are more agreeable, and the frost ends for many gardeners, it becomes a time of great opportunity. It is the perfect month to sow seeds outdoors, transplant seedlings started indoors, or plant any purchases from garden centers, nurseries, or online.

During my years working in public gardens, May was a crucial month. There was a lot of planting of flower beds, borders, containers, and kitchen gardens to get the garden set up for summer. Think along the same lines for your backyard ideas. Whether you want flowers, texture, or vegetables, feel encouraged to plant this month. So let’s dive into what to plant in May.

Plant Simple, Long-Blooming Flowers

Most gardeners will aspire for flower beds or container gardens packed with bright summer flowers to enjoy. May is the perfect time to get that dream going into overdrive, as there are many low-maintenance, long-blooming plants you can start growing this month from seed.

The likes of zinnia, cosmos, sunflowers, marigolds, cornflower, snapdragons, and poppies can be sown this month directly into their growing position. The seeds germinate and establish quickly. And the reward can be blooms and instant color from early summer onwards.

Sowing seeds outdoors directly in flower beds or containers is a great way to fill gaps in your borders and add extra pops of color. You can start many of the above indoors and then transplant seedlings outdoors, depending on the space you have for propagation this month.

After the risk of frost has passed, it is also time to plant out sweet peas and other tender annuals you may have started indoors earlier in spring to add even more color to your beds.

Plant Productive Vegetables

May is a prime time for any vegetable garden. It can be a busy time of sowing seeds (both indoors and outdoors) or adding plants to your beds. There is a wide selection of crops that can fill any kitchen garden with summer vegetables.

Firstly, you can direct sow fast-growing vegetables like radishes, spinach, or spring lettuces to harvest in early summer before the temperatures peak and they risk bolting.

As the soil warms, the likes of carrots, beets, green onions, and rutabaga can also be sown in situ to grow on for summer crops. These can be sown successively every few weeks for long harvests.

May is also a window to plant out heat-loving vegetables you may have started earlier indoors, or bought as young plants. Tender crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, zucchini, pumpkins, and squash can be planted into their final position.

Other highly productive crops you can plant in May include beans, peas, kale, and chard. These are all vegetables that give big yields, especially when you harvest the likes of kale and chard (along with broccoli, arugula, spinach, and lettuce) as cut-and-come-again vegetables.

Plant Pollinator-Friendly Native Perennials

There are many perennials you can plant in May, but the best route to go is native plants to support local wildlife in your garden. These plants have evolved to suit your climate and the pollinators and beneficial wildlife in your area, and they will bed down quickly if planted this month.

May is an ideal time to plant perennials as they can develop strong roots before summer arrives. They will put on a glorious show for months to come. The likes of black-eyed Susan, milkweed, coneflower, asters, and bee balm will burst into bloom come summer and attract the likes of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds into your garden.

To get the plants off to the best possible start in your garden, add some organic matter to the planting site. Adding some compost or well-rotted manure will boost the soil structure, maintain moisture, and provide nutrients as it breaks down.

Mulching after planting is also advisable to regulate soil temperature, retain moisture, and smother weeds. Add a layer 2-3 inches deep of compost or shredded bark around the newly-planted perennials, taking care not to smother them.

Plant Grasses to Add Drama

Ornamental grasses come in a range of shapes and sizes, from small blue fescue grass that can be under a foot tall to Stipa gigantea or pampas grass that can soar to over six feet. The range includes warm- and cool-season grasses, as well as evergreen and deciduous types.

There is a huge variety when you are landscaping with ornamental grasses, but they all offer movement and drama. Whether used as screening plants, dotted through flower beds to provide a textural backdrop to showy blooms, or as specimen plants in containers, grasses add something special to yards of any size.

May is the right time to plant warm-season grasses, including switchgrass (Panicum), fountain grass (Pennisetum), and maiden grass (Miscanthus). These grasses start growing in late spring, and planting this month lets them establish before the temperatures rise in summer.

Plant ornamental grasses in a sunny spot, but they will tolerate some shade. If you put grasses in containers, use heavier pots to prevent taller grasses from blowing over, and use a well-draining potting mix, as grasses are unhappy sitting in wet soil for long periods.

Plant Flowering Tubers

For a crescendo of summer blooms, there are flowering tubers, bulbs, and corms you can plant in May for vibrant displays.

Once the risk of frost has passed and the soil warms in spring to around 60°F, summer-flowering bulbs and tubers like dahlias, cannas, gladioli, agapanthus, and crocosmia can all be planted. These will provide a riot of color that peaks in summer and lasts into fall.

Of all those listed above, perhaps dahlias are the most adored by gardeners globally. And for good reason, as there are so many types of dahlias in different shapes, sizes, and colors that can brighten up any yard.

It is not too late to buy dahlia tubers, and, depending on your location, the window to plant dahlias can stretch until early June. Whether you put them in borders and grow dahlias in pots, there can be a variety to suit any garden.

For the best performance from your summer bulbs, incorporate organic matter, such as compost or well-rotted manure, into the soil before planting to improve soil structure and moisture retention.

Gardens on a smaller scale can be as bright and bold as any other. Filling pots and troughs with long-flowering container plants will reward you with a bold display and color throughout summer.

Some of the best container flowers to plant in May include sunflowers, alyssum, thunbergia, and black-eyed Susans.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

April can be somewhat of a flexible month for fig trees, and any maintenance you need to do will depend on your location. There are, however, going to be tasks for gardeners in all zones, so let's look at what to do with a fig tree in April to help you get a strong harvest this year.

A growing fig tree is low-maintenance, but at this stage in the year, you can ensure they are in a good place for the season ahead. If you haven’t already, pruning and feeding trees in April is definitely needed to promote new growth to carry fruit.

Whether you have fig trees in the ground or in containers, they may also need watering in dry spring and potentially some protection from the weather and pests to keep them healthy. A few simple measures carried out in April can make a big difference for the coming months – so keep a close eye on your figs and show them some love if you want an attractive ornamental tree and a crop of sweet figs come summer.

1. Prune Trees

The window to prune fig trees is still open, but not all gardeners will need to reach for the tools this month. As mentioned earlier, it is one of those jobs that depend on the climate.

Fig growers in warmer climates will likely have done their pruning earlier in the year, in late winter. But the time may be right for those in colder climates, and it is important to get that timing right. The key time to prune fig trees is after your last frost, and before the tree starts budding out for the new season.

This crucial window may be April for many gardeners, so prepare to head out with the pruning tools if this applies to you. Avoid holding off too long, though, as pruning too late after the tree has started growing is a fig growing mistake that will result in lots of sap loss. This weakens the tree, leaving it susceptible to pests and diseases.

Use clean, sharp pruning tools, and wear gloves as the sap can irritate the skin. Working upwards on the tree stops sap from dripping and causing issues.

In terms of how to prune the fig tree, the primary focus of trimming at this time of year is to remove dead, damaged, and diseased wood and lightly shape the tree.

Concentrate on the 3 D’s and also target inward-growing branches, along with weak growth. Trimming branches back to a bud or branch will promote new growth to carry fruit, but use a light touch. Don’t get too carried away and remove more than a third of the growth, as it can lead to stress and erratic regrowth.

2. Feed Trees

As with pruning, some fig growers may already have fed their trees once the buds started to break dormancy earlier in spring. But, for many others, April can be an opportune time to fertilize fig trees to give them a dose of nutrients to develop healthy growth and produce fruit.

A key moniker to remember each season is that when you see growth, it is a perfect time to fertilize.

Fig trees generally don’t need rich, fertile soil, but a feed once a year in spring can provide the nutrition the trees need to develop and ripen fruits. This is the case for trees growing in the ground. However, if the fruit tree grows in pots, it does need a more rigorous feeding regime.

A good fertilizer for fig trees is a balanced, slow-release product that will boost the soil nutrients over an extended period. A good example of such a feed is this 10-10-10 all-purpose fertilizer at Amazon.

After fertilizing in spring, it is also advisable to mulch the trees with a 2-3 inch layer of compost or well-rotted manure, such as this composted cow manure, also from Amazon.

3. Water in Dry Spells

Fig trees naturally grow in dry, sunny climates. They are drought-tolerant fruit trees native to the Mediterranean and western Asia, and their deep roots can search far down into the soil for water and nutrients. However, that does not mean gardeners need never water fig trees.

They do need deep watering during extended periods of dry weather in spring, and will especially want regular watering if they are growing in containers.

Indeed, newly-planted fig trees and those in pots are going to be most in need of watering in April. Keep a close eye on both of these to prevent the soil from drying out completely. Check the moisture level a few inches under the soil surface with your fingers. If it feels dry, water the tree.

Alternatively, use a soil moisture meter, and it will tell you when the tree needs watering. You can get a long probe soil moisture meter at Amazon.

Water the tree well, but don’t waterlog the soil, which can be especially risky in containers. Fig trees sitting in saturated soil for too long can lead to yellowing leaves, foliage drop, or root rot.

4. Protect From Late Frosts

In colder climates, fig trees may need some protection from late spring frosts. Keep checking local forecasts and be prepared to act if temperatures look set to drop below 32°F at night. Severe frosts and freezing winds can damage new growth and buds, potentially wrecking any harvest.

Some varieties of figs are hardier than others, so it pays to understand your type of fig and the temperatures it can tolerate. The ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig is a popular cold-hardy type suited for growers in colder climates, and you can get a live Chicago Hardy fig tree at Fast Growing Trees.

A simple way of protecting fruit trees from frost is to wrap them in frost cloth (horticultural fleece), burlap, or old sheets. Place the covers ahead of freezing temperatures, and remove them when temperatures rise again the following day so pollinators can get to any blooms.

Fig trees in containers can be moved indoors or to a protected spot and wrapped for the night. Placing covers over the container will insulate the roots from frost, such as these winter pot covers at Amazon.

5. Deal with Pests or Damage

Even if you took steps to winterize your fig trees and protected them from challenging weather, your trees may have suffered damage. And spring can have turbulent weather, including storms.

Check your trees for any signs of damage, especially after any spring storms, and remove any broken branches promptly with clean, sharp pruning tools.

There are also early pests around in April. Fresh growth on fig trees is appealing to active pests in spring, and it is advisable to keep a close eye and catch issues quickly.

The likes of aphids and scale insects can be found on new shoots and leaves. These are both sap-sucking insects that congregate around new stems, leaves, and buds and can be spotted by honeydew (a sticky residue) that is left behind them.

You can knock them off plants with a blast of water, scrape them off stems, or, as a last resort, spray with insecticidal soap spray, available at Walmart.

Fig tree borer is a major issue that feeds on all parts of the tree. It tends to strike in summer, but it is advisable to watch out for any symptoms in spring, including stunted growth or wilted stems.

The best way to prevent fig tree borer is to keep the tree healthy, as they are attracted to stressed trees and dead or damaged wood.

What to Shop

Looking ahead, you want to ensure that birds and squirrels don’t nab your figs as they ripen on the tree. Did you realise you can cover figs in tinfoil as they’re developing to stop any pests getting to enjoy them before you?

Wrapping the fruits can trap moisture, so it is advisable to poke some holes in the foil to allow airflow if you want to experiment with this technique.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Forsythia shrubs put on a scintillating early spring display of bright yellow blooms. Once this fades, it is time for a few core maintenance tasks. Understanding what to do with forsythia in April sets the shrub up for a repeat performance next spring.

April is a prime time to prune, fertilize, and then mulch forsythia shrubs. This trio of tasks encourages lots of healthy new growth to carry next spring’s performance of blooms. You may also need to water shrubs during dry periods, and there is an opportunity to propagate new ones.

When you grow forsythia in your garden, always remember that April is a good time to head out and give your shrub some care and attention. It’ll reward you with another show-stopping display of flowers next spring to brighten up any cold, crisp early spring days. Here are the important jobs to add to this month’s to-do list:

1. Prune After Flowering

Forsythia is one of the earliest spring-flowering shrubs, bursting into bloom from February to April, depending on your location.

As an early bloomer that flowers on last year’s growth, pruning forsythia post-blooming is the most vital job to do this month. Cutting the shrub back in April gives it lots of time to develop growth and buds for next spring’s display.

Once you see the old flower petals dropping, pick up the pruning shears and head outside to trim. Don’t wait until it is too late to prune forsythia, as cutting late in spring or summer can impact next year’s flowers.

Use clean, sharp pruning tools for trimming this month. For example. I have had a trusty pair of Felco F2 pruning shears for a decade now. It is durable, reliable, and has seen me through many pruning years, and you can get a pair Felco F2 shears at Amazon.

Start by removing any dead, damaged, or diseased stems from the forsythia. Some older, woody stems can be trimmed out to open up the center and allow for lots of air and light to reach the interior of the shrub.

Then, this year’s flowering stems can be cut back by up to a half to shape the shrub and encourage fresh, productive new growth.

2. Feed After Pruning

Early flowering takes a lot of energy out of a forsythia. The shrubs will benefit from a pick-me-up by fertilizing after trimming to give them a valuable dose of essential nutrients to spur growth to carry next year’s flowers.

A perfect product to fertilize the shrubs is a balanced, slow-release product, with an NPK of 10-10-10 or similar, such as this all-purpose plant food at Amazon.

Sprinkle the product at the recommended rate around the shrub, incorporate the granules into the top inch of the soil, and water thoroughly to activate the ingredients.

3. Mulch After Fertilizing

After pruning and fertilizing shrubs, the next job on any spring gardening checklist for forsythia should be mulching around them. It is a good idea to mulch with organic matter to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and provide nutrients as it breaks down.

Use organic mulch, such as compost, well-rotted manure, leaf mold, or bark chippings, and add a layer two to three inches deep. One example of such a product is this all-natural pine bark mulch at Lowe’s. Compost is always a great option, whether you make compost at home or purchase bags, such as this composted cow manure, from Amazon.

Spread the mulch over the roots of the shrub, but leave a clear ring a few inches around the forsythia’s base. Piling organic matter against the shrub’s stems is a mulching mistake, as it can lead to rotting.

Water as Required

April can be an ideal time to plant new forsythia shrubs, and they will need regular deep watering to help them establish in their new home.

Once established, forsythia are fairly drought-tolerant shrubs. However, they may need watering during particularly dry Aprils, especially in warmer climates.

The soil should be consistently moist, but not waterlogged, as forsythia can be prone to disease or rot when sitting in saturated soil for long periods. Consider investing in a soil moisture meter, such as this soil moisture meter at Amazon, to help decide when to water and reduce the risk of overwatering outdoor plants.

If you grow forsythia in pots as part of a container garden, these will need more watering in spring than in-ground shrubs to supply sufficient moisture for strong early-season growth.

Propagate by Layering

The most common way to propagate new forsythia shrubs is by taking cuttings. This is not a task for April, but there is scope to start propagating new shrubs by layering this month. This is a slower process that can be started in spring, using low-growing, flexible stems you bend down to touch the ground.

Scrape away some bark with a sharp knife at the point where the stem meets the ground, and peg it down using wire or landscape staples (you can get staples at Amazon). Cover the section with soil, keep it moist, and leave it for between a few months and a year to develop roots.

Next spring, you can cut the rooted section away and plant elsewhere in the garden or into a pot.

What to Shop

We touched upon cuttings, and taking softwood cuttings is best done in late spring when there is lots of fresh growth to choose from. Alternatively, you can take semi-ripe cuttings of forsythia shrubs from midsummer.

Our guide to how to take forsythia cuttings talks you through the process, showing you how to take summer semi-ripe cuttings to get new shrubs for free to add to your garden.

If you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

Fertilizing in April is one of the most helpful things you can do for plants. As spring is a time of rapid growth across the garden, feeding plants gives trees, shrubs, and perennials a beneficial boost at a key time in the season.

Shrubs, perennials, fruits, and container plants will thank you for providing them with that vital dose of nutrients by fertilizing this month. It’ll help them grow strongly and have the energy to produce foliage and flowers in the coming weeks and months. Your TLC is more than repaid with a stunning display.

There is no denying how important fertilizing is in April – it needs to be near the top of any spring gardening checklist if you want beds and pots brimming with beautiful blooms this year. Here we look at some of the most important plants to fertilize in April, and reveal the feeds to use to guarantee the best results.

1. Roses

Growing roses remains globally popular, and feeding plants guarantees the best display of those sought-after blooms.

In most climates, they will have started developing new growth for the season ahead. After they wake from their winter slumber is a perfect time to fertilize roses and give them a dose of essential nutrients for strong spring growth and to produce flowers.

These hungry plants always want feeding in spring with a balanced slow-release fertilizer once they start to grow again. A product like this Espoma organic rose-tone food at Walmart is ideal for the job and will give you healthy shrubs and bigger blooms come summer.

Apply the product to the soil around the drip line and gently work it into the top inch of soil before watering well. Avoid the fertilizer coming into contact with the woody stems.

2. Shrubs

Flowering shrubs need annual feeding to perform at their best. As deciduous shrubs start to leaf out for the new season, they are hungry for nutrients to guarantee healthy growth and strong flowering.

At this stage in their annual cycle, fertilize shrubs with a slow-release fertilizer that contains the primary nutrients needed for strong plant growth.

A rounded NPK ratio means the feed has a good mix of nitrogen for strong foliage, phosphorus to stimulate the production of blooms, and potassium for healthy roots.

If you worry about potentially over-feeding shrubs, these tree and shrub fertilizer spikes at Amazon are pre-formulated to feed shrubs and simply need to be hammered into the soil near the plants in spring.

Plus, if your shrubs prefer acidic soils, like rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, and Japanese maples, use a feed specifically for such plants instead, like this acid mix at Amazon.

3. Evergreens

Evergreen shrubs also produce new foliage in spring and require a valuable dose of nutrients. However, they prefer a slightly different type of fertilizer at this time of year.

Firstly, they only require a light feeding. Indeed, unless the shrub shows signs of slow growth, yellow leaves, or ill health, it may not need fertilizing at all in spring. Evergreens in healthy, fertile soil types may not need feeding every year, but will benefit from an application of spring fertilizer at times, and April is an ideal window for this.

A suitable fertilizer for evergreen shrubs is higher in nitrogen to boost strong foliage growth. You can use high-nitrogen products like chicken manure pellets (you can get organic chicken manure plant food at Walmart), or a product formulated especially for evergreens, such as this Evergreen-tone plant food at Amazon.

4. Fruit

Fruit trees and bushes are bursting into new growth in spring and want lots of nutrients to leaf out, flower profusely, and provide you with a bumper harvest of fruits.

There is a sweet spot between the buds breaking and the flowers opening to fertilize fruit trees and guarantee yourself a great crop.

You can see this guide to fruit trees to fertilize in April for specific advice on groups of trees you may have in your yard.

As for a quick overview of how to fertilize fruit trees this month, they want a product with a balanced NPK ratio, such as this 10-10-10 slow-release fertilizer from Amazon. Spread it around the area under the tree as wide as the canopy and water it into the soil.

If you are growing fruit bushes, such as berries and currants, they also need feeding in early spring to get them on the right track to a great harvest. A balanced feed is ideal, except if you are growing blueberries, as they prefer acidic soil and want a feed for acid-loving plants.

You can get a specially formulated liquid blueberry fertilizer at Amazon

5. Perennials

Many gardeners are likely to see the first shoots of perennial plants in their flower beds appearing in April.

Once the plants start actively growing in spring is a perfect time to fertilize flower beds. It gives them a great boost of nutrients at a time when they are exerting a lot of energy producing stems, buds, and flowers.

A balanced, slow-release product is the best fertilizer for flowers in April, such as this 10-10-10 all-purpose flower and vegetable food at Amazon. As clumps expand and lose vigor over the years, annual feeding and dividing plants every few years keep any perennials performing year after year.

Only ever feed perennial plants gently; never go over the recommended rates. Over-fertilizing plants is always a mistake to avoid. But when it comes to perennials, you will get lots of lush growth rather than blooms, and that excess is likely to flop and look unsightly come summer.

Spring mulching is also advisable after fertilizing. Spread a 1-2 inch layer of organic matter, such as compost, leaf mold, or bark chippings (you can get bags of pine bark mulch at Lowe’s), to smother weeds, retain moisture, and feed plants as it decomposes.

6. Container Plants

Plants in container gardens always need more feeding and watering than those in the ground, as they can use up all the nutrients in the compost. After planting, the nutrients in the mix tend to last a couple of months, and so the plants need feeding going forward.

It means that any plants that have overwintered in pots and are entering a new season will be desperately in need of an additional dose of nutrients in early spring for the food they need to grow and flower over the weeks and months ahead.

To fertilize container plants, it is advisable to opt for a slow-release fertilizer in spring, supplemented with regular liquid feeds every week or two going forward.

This Osmocote plant food on Amazon can feed for up to six months and is a great source of spring nutrients. Sprinkle the recommended amount onto the soil surface and mix into the top inches of soil.

Follow this up with a liquid feed starting at least two weeks after the initial application. For this, you can use a general liquid product, homemade comfrey tea, or a seaweed fertilizer, such as this sea magic extract at Burpee.

What to Shop:

April can be a really busy time in any garden. But it is also an exciting time of year as the temperatures rise and the garden really bursts into life.

To help you plan your month, our guide to what to plant in April shows what range of plants you can add to your garden as the soil warms in spring. And, this piece on plants to prune in April will tell you what you should and shouldn’t trim this month, too.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.

Early spring offers an ideal window for a range of April lawn treatments that can make a big difference to your summer lawn. Ideally, you’d do them all. But, in reality, homeowners are busy and can only dedicate so much time to lawn care. So what is one quick fix that can help a lawn thrive come summer? Dethatching.

I chatted to experts about what they think are the most impactful April lawn treatments and dethatching was highlighted as a simple fix that will help your lawn thrive come summer. This is because gently raking out thatch and debris from your lawn puts it in a perfect position for healthy growth.

If you are planning your April lawn care but are short of time, this is one job you should do in the upcoming weeks. A little bit of vital attention can make a marked difference to your summer lawn. Along with this, the experts also revealed a few other important lawn care tasks you can do this month that will help your lawn stay healthy and beautiful for summer parties and family gatherings.

The One April Lawn Fix That Makes a Big Impact

If you want a thick, green lawn to enjoy come summer, you need to add dethatching to your spring gardening checklist.

It is a spring lawn care task I have always done when maintaining turf in public gardens, and at home, and a vastly experienced lawn expert highlights it as an impactful, quick fix to get done this month.

Jason McCausland, National Technical Director at Weed Man, recommends ‘a good fan raking’ in April to get the season off to a great start. And this simple April lawn treatment can make a big difference come summer.

‘This will remove a lot of the thatch and debris that has accumulated over the winter,’ says the lawn expert. ‘This ensures your lawn is ready and able to soak up the sun, water, and nutrients it needs to thrive in the summer.’

You can get a fan rake with a carbon steel head containing 22 teeth and a sturdy wooden handle at Walmart that makes an ideal tool for dethatching a small lawn by hand this month.

Thatch is a natural layer that occurs in all lawns. It comprises dead material, decomposing grass stems, and moss, and sits between the soil surface and the visible top of the grass blades.

You expect all lawns to accumulate thatch. A thin layer is beneficial, but when it builds up too thickly, it becomes a problem. A thick thatch layer acts as a barrier, stopping water and nutrients from getting down to the grass’s roots. The result is a spongy, unhealthy lawn.

All lawns will benefit from being dethatched at least once a year. The best time to dethatch a lawn is when the grass is actively growing. Cool-season grasses will always benefit from a light dethatching in early spring, but whether April is the perfect time will depend on your location.

‘April is the perfect time in many northern and central areas because the lawn is just coming out of dormancy,’ adds Jason. ‘But April is a bit late in warmer and more southern areas. Their lawn care season usually kicks off in late January, so timing is key depending on where you live.’

Dethatching and scarifying both remove thatch and debris from a lawn; the difference is that scarifying is a deeper, more aggressive approach.

Dethatching is recommended for lighter maintenance, but you may need to scarify a lawn if you have a severe build-up of thatch that potentially jeapordizes the health of your grass.

Other April Grass Treatments That’ll Make a Difference

Dethatching alone will help any lawn perform better during the summer, as it improves how much moisture, nutrients, and air get to the grass roots. If you want to improve your summer lawn further, which other April lawn treatments do experts recommend?

Before doing anything this month, Theresa Smith, SVP at NaturaLawn, hails the importance of doing a lawn soil test at the start of the new growing season.

She says ‘a beautiful lawn starts with the soil’ and a soil test will tell homeowners vital information for the year ahead.

‘It will help you understand your soil (soil pH, nutrient levels, organic matter content, and soil type) and what nutrients and treatments will help it thrive all summer long,’ adds Theresa.

‘April is a great time to do a soil test because it should inform every other task. This will help you use the right type of treatments and right amounts – saving you from wasting products and money.’

You can get a soil test kit at Amazon that provides laboratory analysis of your lawn's soil pH and the availability of 13 nutrients.

In many climates, April is when homeowners start watering their lawns in the spring. When temperatures rise and regular rainfall is absent, it becomes time to implement a healthy watering schedule

Don Chouinard, a lawn irrigation expert from Irrigreen, says optimizing watering of lawns is ‘one of the simplest and most impactful’ things homeowners can do in April.

‘April is an ideal time to establish this routine as your lawn enters its active growing season,’ he says. ‘Maintaining consistent moisture early on helps prevent common issues like disease, root rot from overwatering, and weak root systems caused by inconsistent irrigation.’

Lawns need around an inch of water per week to stay green and have strong roots. How long you water your lawn for can make a big difference, as it is more beneficial to do deep, infrequent watering rather than daily light applications.

Jason McCausland also advises fertilizing the lawn this month, saying of the April lawn treatment: ‘It is time to apply a slow-release granular fertilizer to give the lawn a boost and help ensure a green and lush lawn all summer.’

The best fertilizer for grass in spring is a slow-release product that provides a lot of nitrogen to the lawn. A good example is this premium lawn food, available at Amazon.

What to Shop

When you should start lawn care in spring depends on the soil reaching the right temperatures. It differs across the US hardiness zones and whether lawns have cool or warm-season grasses. This guide to the ideal soil temperature to start spring lawn care reveals the markers for a host of seasonal maintenance tasks.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.

Spring is in the air, and as the days begin to stretch, I'm sure, like me, you are spending more time in your yard, while also itching to change things up a little to give your outdoor space a bit of a refresh as temperatures begin to rise. And one easy way to make an instant change is to introduce a new color palette for your beds, borders, or containers.

The good news is you don't have to break the bank to give your yard a springtime glow-up. Color can bring about an immediate impact, adding vibrancy and depth to your spring garden ideas. Choosing three or four complementary colors will create cohesion and drama for your backyard ideas, while mixing in foliage with colors for depth will help keep your yard looking lush and vibrant all summer long.

To find out more, I spoke to two US garden designers to find out what they would do to help you focus on your next garden chapter, and they shared their two distinctive methods.

Cohesive Color

Chicago based landscape designer Hayden Regina knows a thing or two about giving yards a refresh and believes the key is to focus on repeat planting using the same or similar colors and shades.

He tells me, 'A useful way to make a spring refresh feel intentional rather than piecemeal is to think in terms of matrix planting. He gives us an example of a soothing palette in blue hues.

'Rather than arranging plants as individual specimens, the garden can be organized around a consistent base layer that repeats. When the same colors and textures recur across the planting, the whole composition reads as a single tapestry rather than a series of disconnected plants.

'A dependable matrix can begin with something like Sesleria autumnalis (or autumn moor grass) as the constant. Its fine, mounding foliage forms a soft green ground plane that visually ties the planting together from early spring through fall. Through that layer, drifts of Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’ emerge in spring with clear blue flowers and a compact, upright habit. You can find Amsonia 'Blue Ice' perennial plants available from Amazon.

'As the season progresses, the hardy geranium ‘Rozanne’ extends the color story with violet-blue blooms that repeat for months. Together, these three plants create structure, continuity, and a long season of interest while keeping the palette calm and cohesive.'

Hayden continues, 'To prevent the planting from feeling flat, introduce punctuation plants that rise above the matrix with distinctive form. Sculptural perennials such as Eryngium ‘Prairie Moon’, Digitalis ferruginea, or Echinacea pallida bring vertical movement and contrast without disrupting the composition. You can find great-value Echinacea pallida seeds at Amazon.

'Their silhouettes, whether the architectural grey thistles of eryngium, the warm spires of rust foxglove, or the graceful, nodding petals of pale coneflower, read as rhythmic markers moving through the planting. This creates a spatial condition rather than many focal points.'

Color Bursts

If you like the idea of growing edimentals, another way to bring some change this spring with color is by choosing some new edible plants for your borders, as Ashley Irene, founder of Heirloom Potager based in South California, shared with me.

'I love to layer in a color story, mixing warm and cool season flowers, most of which are edible, to complement the future fruits and vegetables growing into the warm season.

'For clients who love a warm color story, I'll mix white alyssum with red and yellow violas and pansies, paired with Alaskan nasturtium, and a mix of red, orange, and yellow ranunculus or poppies for the cool season layered against green cabbages, colorful lettuce mixes, and arugula.

'As the weather warms, red petunias, orange and yellow marigolds, and edible celosia are added when tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are transplanted.'

This edible wild flower seed mix from Amazon would be a quick and simple way to create your own take on this idea.

There is no limit to Ashley's imagination when it comes to injecting change that not only looks beautiful but also taste delicious and edimentals are a great way to do just that.

She continues, 'Black Strawberry tomatoes, purple jalapeños, and a mix of warm-season greens, such as arugula, Swiss chard, and kale offer a beautiful mix of foliage to accent the color story.'

To ensure a smooth transition after your spring flowering bulbs begin to fade you will want to focus on choosing a palette of color for summer flowering bulbs. Think lilies, gladiolas and dahlias. The good news is there are so many wonderful varieties to choose from, the difficulty will be choosing a palette that reflects your style of gardening and your personality.

Or you could also consider sowing a wildflower meadow in your yard, which will provide a succession of different flowers throughout the summer and also provide a feast for pollinators, adding a different type of life and energy to your greenspace. This wildflower seed mix available from Amazon contains 21 different types of wildflowers, which will bring vibrancy and color with minimal effort.

And if you love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news, why not sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox?

The sun is finally shining after what feels like an incredibly long, dark, and cold winter. But, don't be too hasty to pick up your pruning shears and head out into the garden – experts warn we're experiencing a false spring and colder fronts will soon return.

False spring is a phenomenon in late winter and very early spring when unusually warm temperatures arrive, often triggering plants to bloom and put on new growth prematurely. The issue is it typically only lasts for a couple of weeks before frosty conditions return. As such, some pruning, planting, and fertilizing now is likely to do more harm than good.

Experts say these actions may seem productive but will actually make your plants vulnerable to frost damage, potentially wiping out your spring garden before the real growing season arrives. Here, they share five common mistakes to avoid in false spring to protect your plants' health and save wasted efforts.

What is False Spring?

False spring is a period in late winter or early spring when temperatures seem warmer than usual, the sun is shining, and some your plants have responded positively with new growth and early blooms. But, it's often short-lived with colder weather retuning just a few weeks later.

'False spring can feel like permission to begin planting. Warm days arrive, soil softens, and it seems like winter is ending,' describes Siobhan Shaw, sustainable gardening expert and founder of Growing to Give.

'But when that warmth is followed by a hard freeze, the damage can be significant, not something a bandage can fix,' she adds.

To help you avoid this, experts have shared five common mistakes to steer clear of during false spring.

5 Mistakes to Avoid in False Spring

You can look out for a false spring by looking ahead at the weather forecast for your US hardiness zone, identifying your frost dates, and figuring out when the last frost is.

This way you'll know exactly when it's safe to prune, plant, and fertilize without putting your garden at risk.

1. Don't Neglect Fruit Blossoms

It's not uncommon for some fruit trees to have emerging blossoms in early spring. But, don't be fooled by the warmer temperatures of false spring – these delicate flower buds need protecting now to ensure they fruit later in the year.

'I have seen entire peach and apricot crops lost after trees began blooming during a January thaw and then freezing temperatures returned and turned them black,' says Siobhan.

'Once blossoms are damaged, there is no fruit for the season. That means no harvest, and in our home, no canned peaches or apricot jam for winter. It makes the impact very real,' she adds.

You can protect the best trees for spring blossom with things like a frost cloth (like this one for trees from Amazon) during this time.

Just take care to remove it during warmer temperatures in the day (which will allow for pollination to happen) and replace it as frosty nights return.

Only when the risk of late frost has passed entirely should you remove the frost cloth completely.

2. Don't Direct Sow Seeds

With your garden soil feeling warmer and daylight seemingly sticking around for longer in false spring, it can feel like the right time to sow seeds outdoors. However, the short-lived nature of false spring won't fully support seed germination, reducing your yield.

'I was so excited when warm weather broke that I planted peas in clay soil, only to return weeks later and find no germination,' Siobhan recalls.

'In heavy, cold, saturated soil, seeds can rot before they ever sprout. Air temperature can be misleading during false spring and soil conditions matter just as much,' she notes.

Instead, keep an eye on your frost dates and wait to direct sow later in the season for warm-season crops. Or, sow seeds indoors to start them early in a controlled environment, like a greenhouse.

You might find these seed trays with humidity domes from Amazon are helpful for the vegetables you plant in March.

3. Don't Plant Out Seedlings

Just like sowing seeds outdoors, the short-lived conditions of false spring won't be suitable for supporting a smooth transition for seedlings and starter plants.

'It's important not to get too excited and start planting outside when a false spring arrives,' warns gardening expert Annette Hird.

'It will most likely spell disaster for those tender plants, and even if some of them do survive, they're probably not going to put on that spurt of growth you were hoping for when the weather finally does become warm,' she adds.

This rings true for seedlings, starter plants, and overwintered plants, which are best kept under cover until all risk of frost has passed.

If you're lacking sheltered space to keep them in, consider a portable greenhouse (like this from Amazon) or a cold frame.

4. Delay Pruning a Little Longer

If you're anything like me, then you're keen to get out in the garden after winter to tidy up, cut plants back, and get the yard spring ready. But, it's a pruning mistake to do so during a false spring.

'Pruning during a false spring creates an injury on the plant and if the temperatures are going to drop again, that injury will be exposed and the plant won't be able to heal itself,' explains Lindsay Chastain, gardening expert and founder at The Waddle and Cluck.

If the plant isn't able to recover from pruning before frost returns, it could severely weaken it. This is especially true when pruning encourages new growth that will only be wiped out by colder temperatures.

It wastes plant energy, hinders its health, and could even cause the plant to dieback.

Instead, focus on light clean-up during this time, only pruning to remove damaged and broken plant material rather than encourage new growth – check out our list of plants to prune in March for more guidance.

If you do have to do any essential pruning during this time, always use sharp, clean pruning shears (like these Fiskars bypass pruning shears available on Amazon).

5. Avoid Fertilizing Your Plants

There are some plants that benefit from early feeding, but doing it too early can cause some serious setbacks once those frosty conditions return.

'This will initiate new growth, which is likely to die if a freeze happens. Hold off feeding plants until after the last predicted frost instead,' Annette suggests.

Not only can it encourage new growth that won't cope well with colder conditions, but fertilizing when plants aren't actually in active growth can cause fertilizer burn, causing them to fade and dieback.

Slow release fertilizers are often a better choice to avoid fertilizer burn, offering a gradual source of nutrients over a longer time period.

For example, you can fertilize your rose by applying this slow-release rose feed from Amazon in spring.

FAQs

What Is Fool's Spring?

Fool’s spring is simply another name, an alternative to false spring, that people sometimes use to describe that first period of warmth and sun in late winter or early spring. It is often followed by cold and seasonally-expected weather, including low temperatures, frosts, and snow.

Not only are there mistakes to avoid in false spring, but there is actually a false fall to be aware of, too. Check out our guide for expert advice on what to do when this comes around.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.

Shop Gardening Kit

March is a great time to divide many popular plants, but whether you should depends on your climate and the weather conditions. So let's take a look at potential plants to divide in March, and when it is better to wait until later in the season, or longer.

The top plants to divide in March are herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses. It is a perfect moment for many gardeners as they are about to start growing again for the new season. However, for those still experiencing winter frosts, snow, and storms, it is not so opportune, and you may do more harm than good dividing plants this month.

Here we deep-dive into when to divide plants in early spring, and the best candidates that you may have in your garden. To prevent any mistakes, we reveal the zones where you should wait and the plants not to divide this month.

Plants You Can Divide in March: What to Do Now

1. Summer and Fall-Flowering Perennials

If the ground is workable, not frozen or waterlogged, a long list of summer and fall-flowering perennials can be divided in March. Lifting and dividing perennials every few years helps to keep clumps vigorous and continue to put on the best displays.

Over the years, clumps can get congested, and the flowering is affected. Dividing not only rejuvenates them, but also gives you more plants to add to your backyard ideas.

You can divide lots of the best perennials in early spring, including aster, sedum, bee balm, hardy geranium, monarda, salvia, black-eyed Susan, and many more.

When it comes to how to divide plants, smaller clumps can be dug up and divided by hand. Larger ones may need a sharp knife or two sturdy garden forks (such as this steel spading fork at Lowe’s) inserted back-to-back to lever the clump apart.

2. Foliage Plants

The importance of foliage plants cannot be underestimated, as they offer glorious color, sculptural foliage, and texture to any flower bed or container.

Many of the most popular foliage plants can be divided in March. Just like flowering perennials, congested clumps can suffer from bare centers or smaller foliage, which can be solved by lifting, dividing, and transplanting. Also, if a clump has got too big for its space, it can be divided into smaller sections.

The likes of hostas, hardy ferns, bergenia, brunnera, and lamb’s ears (if you want more plants with silver foliage) are suitable for dividing in early spring.

The job is best done on a dry, cloudy day, rather than a hot, sunny day, and care must be given to keep newly-planted divisions well-watered to get them established. A soil moisture meter (available at Amazon) can help you determine when to water divisions to ensure they put down strong roots.

3. Cool-Season Ornamental Grasses

Perfect for height, movement, and interest throughout the winter, ornamental grasses come in a wide variety, with specimens suitable for anything from screening to pots. When you grow ornamental grasses, they need to be divided every 3-4 years to prevent congestion, which can affect vigor and lead to dead centers.

Cool-season ornamental grasses such as carex, calamagrostis, festuca, hakonechloa, schizachyrium, and stipa can be divided just as they start growing in early spring to rejuvenate clumps, and give you new ones for free.

As the time to cut back ornamental grasses also lands in late winter or early spring, you can either prune and divide at the same time, or divide plants a little later, though any new growth should be an inch or two when lifted, split, and replanted.

Ornamental grasses can be split with a sharp spade or a hori-hori knife. The clumps can get very large, so it may take some work to dig up and divide an older one. It is recommended to wear gloves when working with grasses, as the blades can cause nasty cuts.

You can get a Japanese hori-hori garden knife at Amazon with a serrated blade that is ideal for sawing through tough roots.

4. Ground Cover Plants

Ground cover plants are vitally important but often underrated. The benefits of ground cover plants go far beyond smothering weeds and preventing soil erosion. There are lots of flowering ground cover plants that can make colorful carpets, and evergreen ground cover plants to bring year-round interest to often trickier spots with shade or slopes.

If you have extra areas to fill, you can propagate fast-growing ground cover plants by division rather than spending money on new ones. Or, if any of your existing plants are looking sparse, dividing them can revitalize clumps and give you new plants.

Popular ground cover plants like ajuga, creeping thyme, lamium, monkey grass, ground cover sedums, and more can be divided into sections in March and replanted straight away to get down roots before temperatures rise for summer.

When lifting and transplanting, adding bone meal into the planting hole and mixing it into the surrounding soil helps the new clumps to develop roots quickly. You can get a bag of organic bone meal at Burpee, which is ideal for new plants.

Plants You Should Not Divide in March – When to Wait

1. Anything When the Ground Is Frozen

The simple truth is that you don’t want to lift and divide any plants during frozen winter weather. It means the task isn’t suitable for colder US hardiness zones, particularly zones 3 or 4, in March, where it may be a job for April, or even May.

Depending on the weather, gardeners in zones 5 or 6 may be able to divide plants in the second half of March; otherwise, wait until next month if the ground remains frozen this month.

The dangers of dividing plants in freezing weather are that it stresses the plant, and roots can get damaged in extreme cold. If the ground is frozen or freezing temperatures are forecast, wait until the conditions get more suitable and the weather improves.

2. Spring-Blooming Perennials

Perennials are divided in spring or fall. A good motto to remember is that summer and fall-flowering perennials are better for spring division, and those that bloom in spring are better for fall.

Dividing spring-flowering perennials in March disrupts their natural life cycle, disturbing them just when they should be putting their energy into blooming. You’ll lose out on flowers for that season – is it worth it?

Instead, if you grow peonies, bleeding heart, irises, lilies, phlox, astilbe, or any other spring bloomers, don’t touch them in early spring.

Hold fire, and divide the plants after flowering, in early fall. This gives new clumps a lot of time to bed down roots ahead of winter, and they can flower come next spring.

3. Tender Plants

Any tender or borderline hardy plants in your yard shouldn’t be divided until at least after the risk of frost has ended. March is too early in many US hardiness zones to lift and divide plants, if the conditions are still too cold then leave it until late spring, usually April or May.

Wait until the soil has warmed in late spring to lift and divide the likes of cannas, agapanthus, red hot poker, dahlias, or alstroemeria. Dividing and planting them too soon can result in plants getting damaged by freezing weather, or rotting in cold, wet soil.

4. Warm-Season Ornamental Grasses

Cool-season ornamental grasses can be divided in March, but you do want to wait with warm-season grasses.

These types of grasses start growing later than cool-season ones, starting in late spring as opposed to early spring – hence the slight delay in lifting and dividing them, as you still want to do it just as they start growing.

If you have panicum, pennisetum, blood grass, pampas grass, or miscanthus varieties, these warm-season grasses should be divided in late April or early May once they just start growing for the new season.

As well as plants to divide in March, there are other key seasonal tasks to add to any spring gardening checklist.

Pruning is an important job, as many trees, shrubs, and perennials need trimming before they start growing again when the temperatures rise. You can see our guides to plants to prune in spring and trees to prune in March for detailed guidance on lots of plants that may need some attention this month.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.

Tools for Dividing Plants

Spring is here, and the days are getting longer. As the soil warms up now is a key time to make the first outdoor sowings of the many easy vegetables to plant in March that will bring great results.

Once spring arrives, my thoughts always shift towards being outside in the garden again – on warm days anyway. There’s a real sense of looking forward and a keenness to gear up for the growing season ahead. If you're new to growing your own, working out the easiest vegetables to grow in March is a good place to start to help you get up to speed.

It's also a key time for sowing seeds indoors, especially if the weather is disappointing. I use a heat mat and grow lights to help speed up germination, and I always label everything carefully as it's amazing how many seedlings end up looking the same. Read on to find out what made it onto my list of favorite easy vegetables to plant in March.

1. Summer Cabbage

One of my favorite vegetables to plant in March is cabbage. It's so rewarding to grow as it develops into giant heads of leaves so fresh they squeak when you prep them for cooking. Packed with crunch and flavour, homegrown cabbages are a world away from store-bought varieties.

It's not too late to sow seeds now for a spring harvest, as it is a fast-growing vegetable. I prefer to start my cabbage seeds indoors around now, in seed trays placed on heat mats like this durable seedling heat mat from Amazon.

Seeds need to be kept consistently moist while they germinate. Once they sprout a few sets of leaves, which usually takes around 5-6 weeks, they can be transplanted directly into the ground, spacing them about 2 feet apart to give them enough room.

This year I'm trying the new Saku Saku cabbage variety from Burpee, which is available as seeds and young plants.

Cabbages are greedy feeders, so apply a high nitrogen fertilizer for plants such as this one by the The Grow Co, available from Amazon, until the heads begin to form.

Young plants need watering regularly too. It's a good idea to protect cabbage plants from pests by covering them. I grow my cabbages in hoops made from PVC pipes with mesh stretched over to stop the birds nibbling them.

2. Onions

Last year I planted my onions way too late and as a result the harvest was very disappointing.

The late planting was compounded by a very dry spring. Onions need water to grow larger, so when I eventually picked the crop in summer some of them had barely increased from the size they were when I planted them.

One of the most useful vegetables you can grow, onions are a cool-season crop that can be started in March. I always use onion sets, which are small onion bulbs especially prepped for planting.

Buy them according to the part of the country you live in. Look for short-day onions if you live in the south, while it's best to choose long-day onions for northern latitudes. Intermediate-day onions are also available, which are suitable for central locations. Find a selection to choose from for all hardiness zones here at Burpee.

Onions like a sunny location and well-drained soil. Plant the sets pointed end up, about 1 inch deep and 4 inches apart. Onions quickly become established and require very little attention unless there is a lack of rainfall, in which case you will need to water them regularly.

3. Kohlrabi

I grew green kohlrabi for the first time last year and was so impressed I'm growing it again. I like kohlrabi as it's one of those vegetables where you use all the parts, as both the stem and leaves are edible.

This time I'm trying purple kohlrabi too and I've chosen these organic heirloom 'Purple Vienna' seeds from Amazon, with a mildly sweet flavor and tender greens that can also be eaten raw.

The combination of green and purple will make a stunning addition to the garden too. Kohlrabi thrives in full sun and well-draining soil that's rich in nutrients.

The seeds can be sown directly in the ground if conditions are suitable or started indoors in seed trays if you live in a cold climate. Use a heat mat to provide warmth during germination, and ensure the trays remain consistently moist.

Kohlrabi seedlings are ready for transplanting when they have developed a couple of sets of true leaves. Then use a nitrogen-based fertilizer every 4 to 6 weeks for best results.

4. Chili peppers

I find that chillies are one of the best vegetables to plant in March as they need a long growing season, so it's a good idea to get going with them as soon as you can. Sow seeds indoors now to give them the time they need to reach maturity in late summer/early fall.

I'm mixing things up a little this year with a combo of different colors and varieties. This Salsa Blend from Burpee has red, yellow, orange and green varieties including 'Hungarian Wax', 'Anaheim Chili', 'Long Slim Red' Cayenne, 'Ancho' (Poblano) and 'Jalapeno M'.

Fill a tray with seed compost to a depth of ½ inch and push in the seeds. Transfer to a warm place – if necessary use a heat mat until the seeds have germinated. Keep the soil moist. Transplant seedlings when they have a couple of sets of true leaves.

Once it gets warmer move the plants outside, planting them either in the ground or in containers.. Chillies thrive in full sun and like well-drained, fertile soil.

5. Spinach

Leafy green spinach is one of the best vegetables to plant in March for instant gratification as it grows so rapidly – around a month from sowing seeds to picking a plentiful supply of fresh leaves to enjoy.

This cool-season vegetable likes a sunny spot with well-drained soil. It can be either started indoors from seed then transplanted outside or planted directly in the ground or in containers.

If you want to grow outside now is the time to sow spinach seeds like this crinkly-leaved heirloom 'Bloomsdale' organic variety from Amazon. Wait for a spell of fine weather at a depth of about an inch, spacing them 4 to 5 inches apart. Water thoroughly and maintain a consistent soil moisture.

As with lettuce and salad leaves, I always make sure I sow a scattering of seeds every couple of weeks to keep my spinach crop producing consistently.

6. Early Potatoes

March is a key time to plant early potato varieties, which will need chitting beforehand. This is the process of letting seed potatoes sprout before planting them outside. I use empty egg cartons for this and just stick them on the windowsill. Main crop varieties can be grown directly outdoors once the threat of frost has passed.

If you're planning on growing potatoes in the ground, enrich the soil with organic compost and all-purpose fertilizer before planting. At this stage phosphorus and potassium are the key nutrients to boost growth cycle, so try a seed potato fertiliser like this one by Wicked Growth from Amazon, which is packed with beneficial ingredients.

Place the potato in the bottom of a trench with the eyes facing upwards, and cover with soil. Once the plants have grown to around 10 inches tall, mound them up with more soil to protect tubers from the light and prevent them going green.

Potatoes need consistent moisture throughout their growth period. Water around the base of the plants, avoiding the leaves. It's a good idea to add a layer of mulch to aid moisture retention in the soil.

7. Tomatoes

One of my favorite things to grow, last year I had such a bumper crop of tomatoes that this year I'm going to do successional seed planting to spread out the harvest. Last year I grew three different varieties and I'm adding a couple of extra ones to the mix this time round.

I love the look of the new 'Rain Drops' cherry tomato from Burpee, which promises cascades of fruit in dense clusters, plus the cold-tolerant 'Early Bird' variety, also from Burpee, as the seeds can be sown directly outdoors.

Once I start sowing tomato seeds indoors in March it feels like the new growing season is really happening. You need to start tomato seeds off around eight weeks before you plan to transplant them outside.

Again, it's a case of filling a seed tray with seed compost and sowing 1-2 seeds per cell around ½ inch deep. Keep the soil evenly moist during the germination phase. It's also a good idea to use a heat mat to speed up growth.

Tomato seedlings are ready to transplant when they grow a couple of sets of their true leaves. Before moving plants outside it's important to harden them off gradually so outdoor temperatures aren't a shock.

Finding out when to plant vegetables can be tricky. To get your season underway find out some of the easiest vegetables to grow.

There are more crops you can add to your seed sowing schedule for March too. On top of those already covered, you can also start growing kale, sweet peppers, eggplant, and leeks, as well as a good selection to max up your summer herb garden ideas.

Love inspiring garden ideas, outdoor advice, and the latest news? Sign up for our newsletter and get the latest features delivered straight to your inbox.

Whether you think of it meteorologically or astronomically, spring begins in March. It leaves February as the last real opportunity to get certain tasks done before spring arrives and the garden explodes into action. We’re over halfway through now, and there may be vital pruning, planting, or preparatory jobs you must get done before the end of the month.

Meteorologically speaking, spring always starts on March 1, while astronomical spring comes a few weeks later (March 20th in 2026). As the temperatures warm and days grow longer, plants start to wake from their winter slumber. Some plants desperately need pruning before new growth starts, others need planting ahead of their buds breaking, and certain flowers or vegetables need sowing to be ready in time.

February has always been a prime transitional month and a busy one for a gardener. As plants start to stir, you can set yourself up for success by getting certain key tasks done now. Here are five February gardening jobs to never skip that you need to get done before the window closes. You’ll see what to trim, sow, plant in February, and more.

1. Prune Wisteria

Regular pruning keeps any wisteria looking and performing at its best. For a glorious plant, you need to prune wisteria twice a year, in summer and winter.

This keeps it compact, healthy, and flowering profusely. If you grow wisteria and haven’t done it yet, the window for winter pruning closes at the end of February.

Thankfully, the actual method for winter pruning wisteria is very simple. It just involves cutting the previous summer’s growth back to two or three buds with a pair of sharp pruning shears.

I have used a trusty pair of Felco F2 pruning shears (available at Amazon) to do this task for many years.

Getting it done before the end of the month is important. An unpruned wisteria produces fewer flowers, as trimming encourages the growth of flowering spurs.

Any flowers that do appear can end up obscured by lots of leaves and stems, and the vigorous growth habit can lead to stems getting out of control.

2. Prune Fruit

Winter pruning is important with fruit trees such as apples and pears. It keeps them healthy and will encourage a better crop of fruit this season. The best time to prune fruit trees (including apples, pears, quince, and figs, but NOT stone fruit trees) is in winter, during dormancy, before the new growth starts in spring.

Not pruning can lead to increased health issues, especially if you are not removing dead, damaged, or diseased wood, and over time, cause overcrowded canopies that are more susceptible to disease. Yields and the size of the fruits are also affected when pruning is skipped.

Also, when you grow raspberries, February is a prime month for pruning fall-fruiting types that fruit on new wood. This type of raspberry pruning is super-simple; just cut all the canes down to ground level. It wants to be done in late winter – I have always had these as plants to prune in February on my to-do list – before any new growth starts.

If you don’t cut them down, the new growth coming through can get swamped. A lack of air and light stunts their growth, and you’ll not get many berries to pick. The patch will look messy and crowded. It can only take a few minutes to cut them down, so get it done this weekend.

3. Plant Bare-Root

Bare-root plants are a great option for any gardener. You can get ornamental trees, fruit trees, shrubs, roses, hedging plants, and perennial plants bare-root during dormancy. They are a cheaper alternative to container-grown plants and offer a cost-effective way to boost flower beds or overall backyard ideas.

They are available during dormancy and want to be planted before the plant starts actively growing.

Once the buds start to break, it is too late. While some gardeners in colder climates can plant in early March, for most gardeners, the window to plant bare-root trees or shrubs closes at the end of this month.

Certainly, the clock is ticking to purchase bare-root plants (see a wide range of bare-root plants available at Amazon). You may be able to act fast and find bare-root roses, trees, or shrubs, but you will need to plant them straight away when you get your hands on them.

To get bare-root plants off to a good start in their new home, it can help to add compost or bone meal to the soil when planting. You can get organic bone meal at Burpee that will help to promote strong root development.

4. Chit Potatoes

Chitting potatoes isn’t essential, but I highly recommend it, and I do every year to boost my harvests. In a nutshell, it is a method of sprouting seed potatoes indoors to extend the season, and it can improve your yield and help to grow bigger potatoes.

The classic types of potatoes to chit are early potatoes, and February makes the perfect time to start them off indoors. Set them into egg boxes or seed trays, with their ‘eyes’ facing upwards, and place them somewhere bright and cool, such as a windowsill that gets lots of indirect light.

Chitting takes 4-6 weeks, and early potatoes are planted between mid-March and mid-April. First earlies ideally want to go into the ground in March, while second earlies are planted early to mid-April.

To give them enough time to chit for a good period, they want to start before the end of February. Given the right conditions and time, the shoots should be around an inch when you plant potatoes.

If you want to grow potatoes, see the range of potatoes at Burpee. If you miss the boat for earlies, maincrop potatoes are planted in April after the second earlies and don’t necessarily require chitting due to their longer growing season.

5. Sow Sweet Peas

Sweet peas are perennially popular cottage garden flowers. Whether adorning trellises in flower beds or being grown as cutting garden flowers, these nostalgic plants deserve a place in any garden to bring glorious blooms and sweet fragrance in summer.

Midsummer is the prime season for most sweet pea varieties. If you want yours to be blooming in full splendour at that time of year, you need to plant sweet peas by the end of February.

You can start growing sweet peas in the fall or late winter/early spring. As they can take three to four months from sowing the seeds to starting to bloom, seeds planted by the end of February can be expected to bloom in June.

Sowing sweet peas has always been one of my own February gardening jobs to never skip, and I make sure to have them planted before the end of the month. Realistically, you can sow into March, but the downside is later blooms and a shorter overall season of flowers to enjoy.

Another trusted tip is to pinch the tips of the plants when they reach around four inches tall. This develops a bushier plant, with more side shoots and more blooms. If you sowed sweet peas in fall or earlier in the year, add pinching out plants to your list if they have reached that size.

See the range of sweet pea seeds to sow at Amazon

See the range of sweet pea seeds to sow at Walmart

See the range of sweet pea seeds to sow at True Leaf Market

See the range of sweet pea seeds to sow at Botanical Interests

Do you fancy discovering another of those February gardening jobs to never skip? An honorable mention must go to lifting and dividing snowdrops in the green. The term ‘in the green’ basically means the plant has flowered, but the green leaves are still growing.

It is a reliable way to lift, divide, and plant snowdrops, and is best done when the blooms start to fade. This can be February for many gardeners, but it may be early March for those in colder climates whose snowdrops bloom later.

Shop Pruning Tools

February can be a prime time for pruning in many climates. As the worst of the winter weather releases, it is a perfect window to prune before plants commence with spring growth. With that in mind, we look at some plants to prune in February and give trimming tips so you get spectacular displays this season.

Over my years as a horticulturist, I have spent many late winter days out in the garden with pruning tools in hand. It is a great time to trim, tidy, and train. Pruning needs to feature prominently on your list of February gardening jobs, as trees, shrubs, climbers, and perennials want trimming.

But it is important to know what and what not to prune this month, as cutting anything that blooms on old wood simply removes the flowers. Consider the weather, too, as the ideal timing will depend on your US hardiness zone. Those in warmer and milder climates are good to go in February, but delay if the days are frosty, and those in colder areas are best to wait until at least late February to prune.

1. Hydrangeas (Some)

Knowing when to prune hydrangeas can be confusing for many gardeners. It all comes down to the type of wood that they bloom on, so you must know if your hydrangea variety flowers on old wood or new wood.

Those that flower on new wood can be pruned this month, whereas a hydrangea that flowers on old wood should be left alone, as trimming now removes this year’s flowers.

Late winter is the time to prune panicle hydrangeas, such as ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas and ‘Bobo’ hydrangeas, and smooth hydrangeas, including the ever-popular ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea.

Only ever prune hydrangeas with clean and sharp pruning tools, including pruning shears, loppers, and a pruning saw (such as this Felco folding saw at Garden Goods Direct). This ensures clean cuts, which reduces the risk of pests and diseases, and prevents the spread of diseases around the garden.

2. Rose of Sharon

You don’t need to prune a Rose of Sharon yearly, but as this hibiscus variety is a fast-growing shrub, regular trimming, at least every two or three years, keeps it controlled and healthy. If you plant a Rose of Sharon and don’t prune, you’ll risk a spreading shrub that flops under the weight of its own flowers – not the most attractive look.

Prune a Rose of Sharon during dormancy, just before new growth starts. As the shrub flowers on new wood, pruning directs energy into creating new shoots to carry flowers. It is better to trim earlier than later, as leaving it too late is a pruning mistake that risks cutting off developing buds.

Remove any dead, diseased, or damaged branches, and weak, crossing, or undesirable stems. You can then shape the shrub and trim the tips of some branches to encourage bushy growth.

A word of warning, Rose of Sharon is classed as an invasive plant in some US states. As it is notorious for self-seeding, regular deadheading throughout the blooming season will prevent the shrub from spreading.

3. Crepe Myrtle

Crepe myrtle is a flowering shrub that needs pruning each year if you want a great display of blooms every season. If you grow a crepe myrtle and don’t prune, the risk is of a dense, overgrown shrub. So plan to prune a crepe myrtle every late winter, with the window opening in February in most climates.

It is another shrub that flowers on new wood, so it needs pruning before it starts growing. If you have wondered why your crepe myrtle isn’t blooming, it can commonly be due to gardeners pruning too late and removing the developing buds.

As for how to prune crepe myrtle, start by removing dead, damaged, and diseased stems. It is also advisable to cut out any weak stems thinner than a pencil and any branches growing inward. You can selectively remove a few larger branches to thin the crown and lower the canopy, which is better than topping the shrub to one height.

4. Trumpet Vine

Trumpet vines (also called Campsis) are among the fastest-growing climbing plants, making them a necessary choice for pruning in February if you have one.

Regular pruning is essential to keep these vines in check, as they can cause damage to structures if allowed to grow uncontrolled. There is no need to panic, though. Pruning a trumpet vine keeps it in check and rewards you with lots of its warm, long-lasting flowers.

Prune in late winter to remove any dead, damaged, or diseased stems, and cut back lateral shoots off the main stems to 2-3 buds. However, when required, you can be more aggressive with trumpet vine pruning. This can even involve cutting all the growth back to 12 inches to rejuvenate the climber.

When working with trumpet vines, it is advisable to wear gardening gloves and long sleeves (you can get gardening sleeves at Amazon for protection) as the stems can bleed sap, which can cause skin irritation to some gardeners.

5. Wisteria

Wisteria is another vigorous flowering climber that demands attention. Indeed, when you grow wisteria, it needs pruning twice a year, once in winter and once in summer. This double-pronged approach keeps it looking fabulous and under control.

The good news is that pruning wisteria in winter is surprisingly simple. It is a good time to thin the plant, shape the climber (which is easier to do when the leaves have dropped), and train and tie in wisteria shoots for the growing season ahead.

Cut out any dead, damaged, or diseased stems, weak growth, and crossing branches. Then, simply cut back last summer’s growth, which should be long and whippy, to two or three buds from the main framework of branches. Cut back to a healthy bud to encourage a great display of spring flowers.

6. Black-eyed Susan

Black-eyed Susans bring glorious warm shades to flower beds in the summer and fall, with the backswept petals standing out against the dark center, which gives them their moniker.

While black-eyed Susans have a long blooming season, lasting up until the first frosts, you don’t want to rush out too quickly to chop them down. They rank alongside coneflowers and globe thistle as perennials not to cut back in fall, as they provide valuable food for birds in winter and shelter in a beneficial wildlife garden.

It is better to cut back black-eyed Susans in late winter. This timing is also relevant for cutting back coneflowers, too, along with any other perennials and native plants that can feed birds in winter. Foodscaping for winter wildlife is vital for supporting birds, insects, and small mammals, and leaving seedheads is a simple way to do this.

To cut back black-eyed Susans in February, simply head out with a pair of clean and sharp pruning shears or hedge shears and cut the stems back to 4-6 inches above the ground.

7. Russian Sage

Russian sage is another of those great plants for pollinators that you don’t want to be too quick to cut back once they finish flowering. While it can be done in the fall, it is preferable to leave the seed heads in place for local wildlife to enjoy. A bonus is that the untrimmed stems will provide structure in flower beds, and they look beautiful when tinged with a winter frost.

It is, however, important to cut back Russian sage each late winter. A trimmed plant will have strong, upright stems covered in lovely blue-purple flowers in summer, whereas one left to its own devices can flop over, which can be an eyesore in the garden. A well-maintained Russian sage is bushy, open, and has lots of new growth, rather than being congested and full of woody stems. Good air circulation and light penetration help keep the plant healthy.

To prune Russian sage, cut the stems back to the lowest set of leaves or around 12-14 inches from the ground. Always cut to a healthy bud to promote the growth of lots of flowers to enjoy.

If you grow ornamental grasses in your garden, these are also ideal plants to prune in February. Late winter is the perfect time to cut back ornamental grasses, and it is simple to do.

The only thing to remember is that deciduous and evergreen grasses require different techniques. To help you prune correctly, this guide to ornamental grasses to cut back in February contains both types, along with tips for how to prune them properly.

Shop Pruning Tools:

Starting vegetables in a cold frame or under a cloche is a proven way to enjoy earlier homegrown harvests. There are great candidates for this, including peas, beans, lettuce, carrots, spinach, and more. So, as a gardener who has grown many crops under cover, here are my picks of seven ideal vegetables to plant in February for delicious spring harvests.

The crops here are all easy to grow, reliable, and quick to mature. It means you can enjoy spring harvests without huge effort. I always advocate for getting ahead and enjoying earlier harvests, which is why planting in February, when the opportunity arises, checks all the right boxes for me.

This is where cold frames and cloches come to the fore. They offer an ideal way to warm the soil in late winter, which opens opportunities to sow seeds outdoors earlier. They provide an ideal protected environment for early crops that thrive in cooler temperatures, and free up space by giving an alternative place to start plants rather than doing it all in a greenhouse.

1. Lettuce

Lettuce is available in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and tastes. For the earliest lettuce harvests, it is best to sow butterhead or loose-leaf types of lettuce in late winter under cold frames (such as this wooden portable cold frame from Wayfair) or cloches.

To grow lettuce in this early way, prepare the soil before sowing by weeding thoroughly and placing the cold frame or cloche in place two weeks before to warm the soil ready for the seeds. Thinly sow the seeds around a half-inch deep into drills or individual holes and keep the soil moist.

You should thin the seedlings in early or mid-spring to give the plants sufficient space to develop, and remove the cloche or lift the cold frame lid on warm days to provide air circulation. As the weather warms, you can remove the cover, though you may need to take precautions against slugs and snails.

Harvest the cut-and-come-again lettuce by removing the outer leaves first and allowing the inner ones to continue to develop.

'Salad bowl' is a perfect loose-leaf lettuce variety to plant in February, and you can get packs of 'Salad Bowl' lettuce seeds at Burpee.

2. Arugula

This spicy salad leaf grows quickly and thrives in cooler conditions. If you want a reliable vitamin-rich crop that adds peppery notes to winter and spring salads, then arugula is a top contender. Going from sowing to picking in little over four weeks, you can enjoy fresh harvests as early as March.

Growing arugula under the protection of a cold frame or a cloche (or something like this portable mini greenhouse from Amazon as a cloche alternative) lessens the risk of slugs and snails nibbling on seedlings as they develop. Plus, as arugula doesn’t respond well to being transplanted, directly sowing seeds outdoors guarantees the best results. So sow the seeds into shallow drills and cover lightly.

Keep the plant moist and remove the cover on warm days to allow air to circulate and keep the leaves healthy. Harvest arugula as a cut-and-come-again vegetable once the leaves are large enough to use. Simply snip off the largest, outer leaves with clean scissors or pruning snips.

You can get packs of arugula seeds at Botanical Interests that can produce tender leaves to pick in 20-28 days.

3. Carrots

Homegrown carrots simply taste much sweeter than store-bought ones. If, like me, you use a lot of carrots throughout the year, then don’t just grow them in summer; start early and enjoy a longer season.

The earliest crop of carrots can be enjoyed by sowing them in February under a cloche or in a cold frame. Warm the soil for a few weeks before sowing the seeds, and then remove any stones to ensure straight roots and rake the ground level.

The best types of carrots for early sowings are fast-maturing varieties, like 'Nantes' (you can get Nantes carrot seeds at Burpee) or 'Amsterdam', or circular carrots, such as 'Paris Market' (you can get Paris Market carrot seeds at Amazon). For any of these, sow the seeds in rows four inches apart, and leave an inch between each seed.

You can add compost to the soil before sowing, but not manure or any high-nitrogen fertilizer. This will encourage lots of green growth, rather than the roots, which is what you need when growing carrots.

If you do want to fertilize carrots, use a low-nitrogen, higher-phosphorus and potassium fertilizer (such as this 5-10-10 vegetable fertilizer at Amazon) or bone meal, applied just before sowing or as the seeds germinate.

4. Radish

A super-early harvest of radishes can be the reward for being bold and sowing early. The first sowings of radishes can be made in late winter under the protection of a cloche or cold frame, and this can be the first of many successive plantings of radishes for a long, productive season.

Plant radish seeds directly into the soil, spacing them about an inch apart and half an inch deep. You may need to thin seedlings as they develop to the right spacing for the best roots.

Radishes are among the fastest-growing vegetables; they germinate in under a week and can go from sowing to harvesting quickly. While early sowings do take a bit longer than those done later in the season, you should still expect to be harvesting in around six weeks from a February sowing.

You can get 'French Breakfast' radish seeds at True Leaf Market, which are renowned for their speedy growth and tender roots

5. Fava beans

You can start growing fava beans in a cold frame in February. As fava beans germinate at lower temperatures than many other crops, you can plant them into deep pots in a cold frame to start them off, and then plant them outside after around six weeks.

I have sown indoors in February and found it a more reliable way to plant fava beans than doing it in the fall. You’ll certainly get earlier pickings than waiting till the ground is suitable for spring planting. The harvest time for fava beans can potentially be advanced by four to six weeks through the use of covers.

The cold frame route is a good option as seeds can rot outdoors in cold, damp soil, and also gives the beans protection from mice, which are renowned for nibbling on them as they search for food in winter.

'Aquadulce' is the variety I have always sown in late winter. It is very reliable, heavy-cropping, and can survive cold. You can get packs of 'Aquadulce' fava bean seeds at Amazon.

6. Peas

Peas are a very versatile crop to grow, and the earliest sowings can be made in February. This gets them off to an early start and provides you with harvests by May or early June.

Just as with fava beans, the seeds can rot in cold, wet soil, and mice are fans, so the protection offered by cold frames and garden cloches can be crucial to successful germination and raising healthy seedlings.

Sow early pea varieties two inches deep into pots, recycled toilet rolls, or deep modules. To avoid root disturbance when transplanting seedlings, biodegradable pots like these at Amazon are great for peas, as you plant the pot with the seedling.

Another common way gardeners grow peas is to sow them along a length of guttering filled with seed compost, then slide the seedlings and soil from the tube into a trench.

A great compact variety of shelling pea to grow is 'Little Marvel', and you can get seeds at Botanical Interests for plants that grow just 18-24 inches tall.

7. Salad Onions

Spring onions, green onions, and scallions are thrown together under the tag ‘salad onions’ here, as they are immature onions harvested at different stages, harvested with or without a small bulb forming. No matter what you call them, these onions will reliably germinate under a cold frame or cloche.

The seeds want to be sown in narrow drills 4-12 inches apart, and the seeds need to be spaced two inches apart for good-sized onions to use for salads, seasoning, or in cooking. If you sowed thickly, thin these seedlings to a good spacing as they develop.

Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged, as this risks the spring onions rotting. If you sow in February, you can start harvesting in April. Once the stems reach 8-12 inches apart, start harvesting them as required.

'White Lisbon' is a variety of bunching onion that has always worked for me. You can get packs of 'White Lisbon' bunching onion seeds at Burpee to sow.

February can be a busy time as you try to get the garden ready for the new season. To help you get organized, this guide to February gardening jobs features lots of useful tasks to do this month. Plus, if you want to do a bit more sowing, see this guide to flowers to sow in February so your beds and containers will be full of blooms come summer.

Shop Vegetables to Plant in February:

Severe snowstorms are sweeping through the US this winter making yards extremely hazardous. While it isn't recommended to attempt to clear snow from all areas of the yard (especially where it isn't safe to do so), there is one thing you should give some attention to: your greenhouse.

Even if you winterized your greenhouse, it's important to remove snow from its roof after a snowstorm. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the weight of heavy snow can cause structural damage and even cause your greenhouse to collapse. Secondly, snow can block daylight to the plants inside your greenhouse, which is already limited in the winter months.

But, just like removing snow from a driveway, it isn't as simple as swiping it off your greenhouse roof. You should act with caution to prevent danger to yourself, your plants, and the greenhouse itself. Here, I talk through why you should remove snow from your greenhouse roof and how to go about it safely.

Why Remove Snow from Your Greenhouse Roof?

There are a few reasons why you should consider removing snow from your greenhouse roof.

As mentioned, extremely heavy snow can weigh down on the roof and cause collapse. This is especially the case when it comes to less permanent types of greenhouse, like this PVC greenhouse from Amazon or this polycarbonate greenhouse from Lowe's.

Having said that, even heavy-duty greenhouses can become weaker and give in to the weight of snow over time, as layers build and cause cracking and bending.

As for plant health, snow can block light, which is a disadvantage in winter especially. It can slow down plant growth and stress them, potentially wiping out everything you've been growing in your greenhouse in winter.

Not only this, but it can also prevent heat coming in by reducing sunlight, and can harness an environment for increased condensation as airflow becomes restricted. You may then find yourself having to get rid of powdery mildew and mold.

How to Remove Snow from a Greenhouse Roof

Just like removing snow from trees, it isn't recommended to just swipe snow off suddenly, especially if you have a thick layer sitting on the roof.

Not only can it fall on you and cause injury, it may also cause damage to the greenhouse in the process, plus it may damage any surrounding garden equipment.

Instead, you should remove snow from a greenhouse roof carefully and gradually.

Don't wait for it to build-up, rather remove snow after it falls. Importantly, you should wait for it stop snowing to do this, keeping yourself safe from slipping or having heavy snow fall on you.

Fresh snow is lighter and softer to work with, while allowing it to layer up will result in compaction and make it harder to break and move.

You also need the right tools to hand. Avoid anything with sharp spikes that will scratch and damage your greenhouse.

Snow rakes and soft bristled brush are often a better choice. I recommend this snow rake and brush duo on Amazon, providing you two options for gentle snow removal.

Opt for something long-handled, too, to prevent strain when reaching up to the roof of your greenhouse.

Aim to push sections of snow upward and to the side, rather than directing it downwards towards yourself.

As for heated greenhouses, raising the heat inside (or even using a greenhouse heater, like this from Amazon) can help melt and soften the snow, encouraging it to slide off the roof.

Once the roof has cleared, don't forget to also clear any gutters on your greenhouse.

FAQs

How Can I Patch up Holes in a Greenhouse?

For cracks and holes in greenhouse panels, one of the most recommended methods is using poly repair tape (like this from Amazon). This is designed to provide a waterproof, transparent, strong seal, ideal for greenhouse repairs.

Other winter greenhouse tasks include heating your greenhouse. This can make it a more productive space during the coldest months, allowing you to sow seeds early and propagate plants.

Sowing seeds early in the year is not without any risk; there is no sure-fire guarantee of success. I’d love to tell you there was, and that all your early sowings would work out, but I would be doing you a disservice. It is something that divides opinion. You’ll see social media flooded with cheery gardeners sowing seeds in January, while other experienced heads will tell you to wait, as they see early-season sowings as a folly.

The facts are that yes, you can sow seeds in January. Indeed, here on Homes & Gardens, we published recent articles on flowers you can sow in January and vegetables to sow in January. But in those articles, we explain that early sowings will require additional warmth and light to have any chance of germinating and developing into healthy plants.

For many years, I worked as a professional gardener and always started sowing vegetable seeds in January. I sowed year-round in roles where I was growing crops for restaurants, and I still do early sowings for my home vegetable plots. I have experienced many successes and struggles with winter sowings. Taking all that I’ve seen into consideration, here are my five essential steps to successful early-season sowings.

5 Essential Steps to Successful Early-Season Sowings

In short, the essential steps to successful early-season sowings include ensuring seeds and seedlings get the right amount of warmth and light. And you need to care for and water them properly early in the season to keep them healthy.

Your chances of success with early-season sowings will depend on where you can sow them. A greenhouse is always best, but a warm windowsill will suffice, and you may need extra equipment such as heat mats and grow lights.

You can get complete sowing kits, such as this one at Amazon, that come with a seed tray, heat mat, grow lights, and a humidity dome, and can help improve your chances of success with early-season sowings.

1. Sow at the Correct Time

One of the often overlooked essential steps to successful early-season sowings is timing. As with many aspects of life, timing is key.

Sowing seeds indoors at the correct time of year gives them the best chance of germination and keeps them healthy. Get it wrong, and you run the risk of poor (or no) germination, leggy seedlings, and stressed plants that are susceptible to pests and diseases.

It is important to know the frost dates in your climate so you can get the timing right for transplanting seedlings. This ensures they don’t sit in trays or pots for too long, getting unhealthy and root-bound, and take up space in your greenhouse or cold frame.

All seed packets will reveal information about timing. They will show when to sow the seeds, both indoors and outdoors, and give other tips on planting depth and soil temperature. Seed packets are the best source of sowing information, and you can easily find this information in books or online.

Make a seed sowing schedule at the start of the season. Using the guidance on seed packets and working backwards from that crucial last frost date, you can plan your sowings and start flower and vegetable seeds indoors at the right time.

2. Give Seeds and Seedlings Sufficient Heat

For most growers, except those in the warmest US hardiness zones, early-season sowings will take place indoors. The lower natural levels of heat and light mean that the opportunities to sow seeds outdoors are limited.

You can start sowing seeds as early as January indoors, such as long-season crops like eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and onions, as well as flowers like verbena, nicotiana, and Icelandic poppies.

These sowings must be done undercover, such as in a greenhouse or on a warm windowsill, and giving them sufficient heat is critical for success. This can be why many gardeners wait until at least early spring to start sowing seeds.

The minimum greenhouse temperature for seedlings varies, but for many crops it is around 45°F to ensure they stay alive. For germination, however, the requirements are much higher, and many seeds need a temperature of 64-75°F.

Over the years, I have used heated propagators, heat mats, and fan heaters (like this greenhouse fan heater with thermostat at Amazon) to provide crucial warmth to early sowings. This extra warmth increases your chances of fast, strong germination, rather than sorry results, especially for warmth-loving crops like eggplant, tomatoes, and chili peppers.

Heat mats are the most cost-effective way to provide essential bottom warmth to seed trays, such as this seedlings heat mat at Burpee, which can provide seedlings with a 10-20 degree increase in temperature.

In late winter and early spring, there are the first opportunities to warm up the soil with plastic sheeting, cloches, or portable cold frames and make the first outdoor sowings of cool-season crops, including beets, carrots, and spinach.

These crops can sprout in soil temperatures as low as 45°F, but you’ll have much more success if you can warm the ground in advance and keep the seedlings protected from dropping temperatures.

Again, seed packets are always a useful source of information as they tell you the specific temperatures required for germination and the timings for when to sow indoors and outdoors.

3. Light Is Crucial – so Get It Right

Once seeds germinate, they also need light for strong growth, as well as warmth. Getting the levels of light right is one of the most essential steps to early-season sowings, as a lack of light can mean weak, leggy seedlings that grow tall and thin as they stretch towards any available light.

As natural sunlight is shorter and weaker during the early months of the year, grow lights supplement natural levels to ensure seedlings grow strong and healthy. Any sowings before March will benefit from additional light, especially if they grow on window sills, from which point the levels of natural light start to increase at a rate.

LED grow lights are energy-efficient and affordable. Lights with a blue spectrum are useful for seedlings, but using full-spectrum lights that mimic natural sunlight is often helpful, as they provide different wavelengths to encourage strong growth. An example of such a grow light is this full-spectrum grow light with a timer at Amazon.

Use these grow lights for 12-16 hours a day, placing them 6-12 inches above the seedlings and increasing the height of the levels as the seedlings develop. Consistency is important, and not keeping such a cycle is a grow light mistake that can affect seedlings.

Some grow lights come with timers; otherwise, getting a programmable timer is recommended. Like this digital timer, also available at Amazon.

4. Keep Seedlings Well-Ventilated

Warmth and light understandably take most of the headlines when gardeners think of the essential steps to successful early-season sowings, but don’t overlook the importance of air circulation.

The early stages of a plant’s leaf are fraught with potential problems, and that includes damping off, which can kill your seedlings.

Damping off is a common disease that affects seedlings, causing them to collapse and die. The seedlings rot where the stem meets the soil and collapse over. There are several causes of damping off, including overwatering, but one common culprit is poor airflow and high humidity.

If you see mold on seedlings (either green or white) and collapsed plants as a result of damping off, remove any infected seedlings to stop the spread.

Good air circulation helps to reduce humidity and strengthen your seedlings. It is always advisable to remove humidity domes (you can get humidity domes at True Leaf Market to cover seed trays) from trays and pots for extended periods. And to open doors or vents on bright days to ventilate a greenhouse or cold frame, to allow air movement.

You can also use small fans, such as this greenhouse fan with adjustable speeds from Amazon, to improve air circulation and help to keep your seedlings healthy.

5. Be Careful With Watering

Watering is always a balancing act with seedlings; you don’t want too much or too little. Early in the year, there is an increased risk of seedlings rotting if you overwater them. This is because the soil dries out more slowly in cooler temperatures, but there are some sure-fire ways to avoid overwatering plants and prevent issues like damping off.

I always water from the bottom rather than the top when dealing with seeds. I use this technique for two reasons: it prevents the seeds from being dislodged by overhead watering and ensures the soil absorbs the necessary moisture without becoming oversaturated or waterlogged.

To water plants from below, place seed trays or pots in a large tray filled with water, such as these shallow plastic trays at Amazon, and leave them for at least 10 minutes to soak up moisture.

To test how often to water seedlings, a simple trick is to pick them up. If the trays feel heavy, they are moist. If the tray feels light, it is short of water and is best put into a tray of water to rehydrate it.

Don’t let trays of seedlings completely dry out, as they will collapse, and it is not guaranteed they will recover through watering.

Another point worth mentioning is that it is advisable to avoid using cold water to water seedlings, as it can shock them. In the early part of the season, keep a watering can of water in the greenhouse so it is at room temperature and won’t stress your seedlings.

Another important aspect to ensure any success when sowing seeds is to use the right soil. The best soil to start seeds is always a potting mix designed for seeds and cuttings.

Such a product, like this Burpee seed starting mix made from coconut coir, is specially formulated for the needs of seeds, having a finer texture than other soils, containing fewer nutrients, and can hold onto water efficiently.

You don’t want to use garden soil, as it holds onto too much moisture and risks seeds and seedlings rotting.

January is a great month to get your garden prepped for spring. It might seem quiet, but it's the perfect opportunity for some solid planning and preparation, with lots of key tasks to help get your space in shape.

This month has always been a key time for prep. As a year-round horticulturist, I always found it the ideal time to assess, plan, and build any new infrastructure to boost the garden going forward. Taking a head start early in the year means big wins once the season gets going.

Some jobs will be dependent on your climate and the weather conditions, but there is a strong mix of big and small tasks, as well as outdoor and indoor jobs, here to add to your late winter gardening checklist. These tasks have always been on my to-do list, and there will be something on here for every gardener to do this January.

January Gardening Jobs: 7 Jobs to Prep Your Space Like a Pro

No matter the size of your garden, there will be something on this list you can do this month. Even if you have a courtyard or container garden, you'll benefit from some of these January gardening jobs.

As a professional gardener, I advise keeping a garden diary and logbook (like this gardening logbook available at Amazon) to track your progress and jot down important notes. It can serve as a helpful reference to look back on and an inspiration for future ideas.

1. Test your soil

January is an ideal time to think about soil health. Having healthy soil ensures plants perform at their absolute best, and the best first step to take in January is to test your soil. A soil test will tell you vital information about the soil in your garden, including the soil type, the pH of your soil, and the levels of essential plant nutrients.

Finding out these important facts early in the year gives you ample time to make any necessary amendments before spring arrives. It provides a window to help you improve soil quality and boost soil nutrients, so you go into the new season with confidence.

A simple way to test the soil is with a quality home kit that provides laboratory results. For example, this soil test kit from Amazon gives a professional analysis of 13 nutrient levels in the soil.

2. Add Organic Matter

A perfect way to boost your soil so all plants benefit is to add quality organic matter, which you can either dig into the ground or put on the surface as mulch. Provided your soil is not frozen or waterlogged, you can spread or incorporate compost or well-rotted manure to improve soil structure, retain more moisture, and add nutrients to the soil.

Compost and manure are the best materials for the job, while leaf mold is also a good alternative if you have been busy collecting leaves. The compost would ideally be homemade, but you can use shop-bought bags of compost (such as this premium organic compost at Amazon).

Any manure must be well-rotted, as fresh manure contains high levels of nitrogen that can burn plants. If you don’t have access to manure, bags of chicken manure pellets are a great alternative to improve the soil, like this bag of organic chicken manure at Amazon.

You can either dig or turn the soil and incorporate organic matter, or opt for the mulching method. Compost, manure, or leaf mold are all great types of mulch to use, but there is also the option of using bark chippings or straw as mulch.

Add a 2-4 inch layer of mulch in winter, and it will smother weeds, protect the roots of plants against frost, and provide nutrients as it breaks down and is incorporated into the soil by worms.

3. Plan Your Crop Rotation

A healthy vegetable garden relies on the simple premise of crop rotation. It is the process of moving vegetables around the plot, and not growing them in the same position year after year. Rotating vegetables is a key part of healthy soil, strong yields, and fewer problems with pests and diseases.

Best practice is always to have your rotation decided ahead of the season, so take a bit of time to plan what is going where.

You can take it a little further and draw out a planting plan, or mark out the plot in advance so you know what goes where come planting time, saving time and potential confusion.

When you sit down and plan, remember that not everything has to fit into a rotation. For example, perennial vegetables and fruits can remain in their spot for many seasons.

The most important families of vegetables to rotate are brassicas, legumes, alliums, roots, and potatoes. Some annual crops are not included in a rotation, such as zucchini, pumpkin and squash, lettuce, and corn. Plant these wherever you have space, but not in the same spot for several seasons.

4. Get Tools Ready for Action

Good, well-looked-after garden tools will be much more effective come spring and summer. Giving your digging, weeding, and pruning tools some TLC at this quieter time of year will make them easier to use and kinder on your plants.

Sharp pruning shears cut cleanly compared to blunt ones, for example, and rusty pruning shears will make jagged cuts that are difficult to heal, making your trees or shrubs more susceptible to disease. Avoid this happening by cleaning tools, sharpening blades, and removing any rust on metal tools with a wire brush or steel wool.

A simple way to sharpen the blades of any pruners is to have a handy garden tool blade sharpener like this one at Amazon.

As part of preparing garden tools for spring, taking the time to lubricate pivot points with WD40 and oiling wooden handles will also protect them when they are not in use and help to extend their lifespan.

5. Avoid Time-Wasting by Checking Seeds

Gardeners love buying seeds, and it is completely understandable. The thrill of browsing catalogs and picking new, exciting varieties or cultivars to try. But, in reality, it can often result in a surplus of old, unused seeds sitting in containers, tins, or drawers.

The best practice, and one I always try to adhere to, is to use these open seed packets up, but there is only a certain amount of time you can store seeds for before they become unviable. It is hard to know how long you’ve got before they become inefficient to sow, as the length varies depending on the type of seed and how it is stored.

No one wants to waste precious time at the start of the sowing season by planting seeds that won’t successfully germinate. It’ll waste compost, water, and time, as you find yourself staring at bare seed trays waiting for signs of life.

Luckily, there is a simple way to test seed viability and avoid that scenario come spring. It is as easy as sprinkling a handful of the seeds over a damp paper towel and putting it in a plastic container.

Keep the container somewhere warm, spray the paper towel to keep it moist, and monitor it for signs of germination. If less than 50% of the seeds germinate, it may be better to order new seeds for the season rather than risk a poor germination rate.

6. Add a Rainwater Harvesting System

Natural rainwater is the best water to use on your plants, as it is softer than tap water, doesn't contain chemicals, minerals, or salts, and also has a lower pH. These aspects are all beneficial to plants, while harvesting rainwater also saves you money and helps you have an environmentally-friendly garden.

Therefore, it makes sense to harvest this natural bounty as much as possible. You are likely spending a lot of time watering plants during the season, so why not install a collection system so your plants get the best water they can? And you can do so by installing a rain chain or putting in a rain barrel to collect the water when it falls.

Many gardeners use a downspout from a home, shed, or other building to attach their chain or barrel to, but there are ways to harvest rainwater without a gutter. These include taking advantage of drip points or using a tarp to divert rainwater, while you can also divert the runoff to create a rain garden where moisture-loving plants can grow.

You can see a range of attractive rain barrels at Wayfair

7. Start Making Homemade Compost

If you haven’t got one already, winter or early spring is the best time to start a compost heap.

Having a backyard compost heap offers a perfect way to turn garden waste, kitchen scraps, and other household items into rich, fertile compost to use around the garden. It is easy, eco-friendly, and the reward will be homemade compost that is perfect for your plants.

You can either purchase yourself a purpose-built compost bin, kit, or compost tumbler (such as this 43-gallon dual chamber compost tumbler at Wayfair), or build your own DIY compost bin out of repurposed wooden pallets.

If you have the desire, you can make composting stylish by staining or painting the wood, adding embellishments, or hiding it with planting or screening.

An honorable mention must go to building raised beds as an addition to this list of January gardening jobs that will make a difference to the upcoming season. Raised beds offer a great way to grow flowers and vegetables, and they can be integrated into gardens of any size.

Whether you opt for ones made of wood or metal, fill your raised garden beds with a mix of quality compost and topsoil, and you can start planting straight into them come spring.

The start of the year is a perfect time for garden planning. When the conditions outside may be far from desirable (which is common for many of us in January) grasp the opportunity to come up with new ideas for tweaking border or pot displays for the season ahead.

Possibly one of the best amendments you can do is to make any space more wildlife-friendly, so your garden becomes a haven for essential pollinators and beneficial insects. It needn’t be an expensive transformation, as some of the best perennials you can choose to do this with are available as bare-root plants at this time of year.

Adding a diverse range of plants for pollinators can make any garden a beacon for essential bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and moths. These pollinators will, in turn, reward you with more flowers, vegetables, and fruits throughout the growing season. If you are wondering what to plant in January, you can’t go wrong with bare-root and pollinator-friendly, easy perennials. Here we reveal seven perfect choices you can make for perennials to plant in January.

Perennials to Plant in January: What Makes Bare-Root so Great?

Bare-root perennials offer gardeners a more budget-friendly solution to buying container-grown plants from garden centers, nurseries, or online retailers.

While they won’t look like much, arriving dormant as a set of roots with just a little bit of green top growth, they are cheaper as a result, and are also a more environmentally friendly choice without a plastic pot.

Any bare-root perennials will have been grown in a field and dug up ahead of being sent out, and the roots wrapped in a protective material. They establish quickly once planted, and can last for many years in your garden.

1. Yarrow

Yarrow (also known as Achillea) is a beautiful, versatile, low-maintenance, and long-flowering perennial, available in bare-root forms, which can be planted early in the year. It is so simple to grow that it can be classed as a perennial that thrives on neglect, making it ideal even for inexperienced gardeners.

Yarrow has fern-like foliage and large, flat umbels of blooms. The shape of the flowers makes them ideal landing spots for many pollinators and beneficial insects, including bees, butterflies, and hoverflies, to visit and enjoy the pollen on offer.

The perennial comes in many colors. You can grow common yarrow (Achillea millefolium) in shades of white, cream, or yellow, while other species and cultivars offer gardeners a kaleidoscope of bright colors to pick from.

For a subtle yet beautiful addition, I like this Yarrow Crème de la Crème with cream petals and yellow centers. You can get bare-root Crème de la Crème plants at Dutch Grown to add to your flower beds.

2. Coneflower

Coneflower (also known as Echinacea) is a fantastic summer-flowering perennial with distinctive petals that are backswept from the flower’s central cone.

If you're interested in growing coneflowers, there are many different coneflower varieties available now. They come in a rainbow of colors and varying sizes, and many can be purchased bare-root in January. Plant coneflowers somewhere sunny and in fertile, well-draining soil, and they’ll thrive for years to come.

It is an excellent plant for pollinators, attracting lots of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Plus, if you refrain from deadheading coneflowers at the end of the season, the dried seed heads make it a great native plant to feed birds during the winter months.

Smaller varieties of coneflower can make great container plants for pollinators, and this Echinacea Blueberry Cheesecake, available bare-root from Dutch Grown, is a stunning double-flowering maroon and magenta variety that grows just 20 inches tall.

3. Astrantia

Astrantia is a late summer-flowering perennial with gorgeous small flowers that have a pincushion-like center surrounded by an outer ring of longer petals. It comes in shades of white, pink, and dark red, and these long-blooming plants can flower all the way through to October with regular deadheading.

Astrantia often takes a supporting role in flower beds, but it deserves more attention as the star-shaped flowers will boost biodiversity and attract huge numbers of pollinators and beneficial insects over their long flowering season. The delicate blooms also make excellent cut flowers, which is something many growers don’t take advantage of.

This perennial is ideal for sunny and part-shade spots in the yard. I like a darker Astrantia, such as this 'Sparkling Stars Pink' Astrantia that you can get bare-root at Dutch Grown. This variety has pink outer petals surrounding a darker center.

4. Red Hot Poker

Red hot pokers, or Kniphofia, are dramatic plants with tall flower spikes made up of hundreds of individual blooms that demand attention from late spring into summer.

Different red hot poker varieties can be fiery shades of red, orange, or yellow. These blooms are rich in nectar and irresistible to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, who can easily find the flowers thanks to their bright color. Indeed, if you are after a show-stopping perennial to attract hummingbirds, put a red hot poker at the top of your shopping list.

Red Hot Pokers are suitable for US hardiness zones 5 to 9 and will thrive in a full sun position in the garden. If you cannot make up your mind on what color you want to grow, why not try a mix? This ‘Breeders Mix’ of bare-root kniphofia plants at Dutch Grown offers a mix of red, yellow, and orange blooms.

5. Sedum

Sedum is a wide and varied genus of perennial plants, and different varieties can be suitable for distinct uses, ranging from flower beds to rock gardens to being underrated ground cover plants.

Sedums are drought-tolerant perennial plants, and larger border types offer late summer and fall color. Sedum’s flat-topped flowers also make a convenient spot for bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths, and other beneficial insects to land and enjoy the plant’s rich nectar. Dried sedum seed heads are also a great food source for birds in winter, so hold off cutting back sedum until the spring wherever possible.

A rarer and more unusual sedum is ‘Orange Xenox’, a hybrid of two types that transforms in color from yellow through orange and finally pink over the seasons. It also has darker foliage that stands out against the unique blooms. You can get bare-root ‘Orange Xenox’ sedum at Dutch Grown to grow in borders or container gardens.

6. Eupatorium

Eupatorium maculatum, also known as Joe Pye Weed, makes a great fall-blooming native plant to add to your wildlife garden. The large nectar-rich blooms it produces are adored by bees, butterflies, and moths, plus the seed heads make great food for birds during the colder months.

This perennial is suitable for hardiness zones 3 to 8 and likes to grow in full sun or partial shade. As a moisture-loving perennial, it is suitable for growing in rain gardens, bog gardens, or along the edges of a garden pond or stream.

Some varieties of eupatorium are giant plants that can reach up to six feet tall, but there are more compact versions so you can enjoy Joe Pye Weed in smaller yards.

This includes Eupotarium ‘Snowball’, which will grow 40-50 inches and produce clusters of white flowers that will attract pollinators and beneficial wildlife. You can get bare-root Eupotarium ‘Snowball’ plants at Dutch Grown.

7. Delphinium

The tall spikes of flowers that you get when growing delphiniums act as a beacon for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds as they are rich in nectar and pollen, plus come in vibrant shades of blue, purple, pink, and white that insect visitors easily see.

If you want to maximize the impact the flowers can have on local wildlife, opt for single-flowered varieties of delphiniums that are easier for bees and other pollinators to access for nectar. Double-flowered types are also likely to contain less pollen and nectar than single flowers.

These classic cottage garden plants start blooming in spring, and, if you cut back delphiniums after the first flush of flowers, you’ll likely get a second set of blooms late in the summer.

You can get a bare-root purple delphinium plant at Amazon to add to your garden this month.

Do you want some more monthly gardening inspiration to go with these perennials to plant in January? Luckily, we’ve got you covered, as our in-house experts have put together in-depth guides to flowers to sow in January and vegetables to plant in January. If you wish to up your sowing and growing game this year, you’ll find expert planting advice to help you have a bountiful season of flowers and crops.

The first month of a new gardening season can promise so much, though sometimes the weather gods aren’t on your side. If you have purchased bare-root trees or shrubs but the ground is unsuitable for planting, such as being frozen or waterlogged, don’t panic. There is a simple way to store them safely to plant in the future; and that is to heel in plants.

'Heeling in' is a common way of temporarily planting trees, shrubs, or plants in containers to protect them from the elements. In winter, it means insulating them from the cold if you can’t plant them straight away, which is usually ideal when planting bare-root trees and bare-root shrubs.

This temporary method of storing your new trees or shrubs is quick and straightforward. I have done it regularly as a professional horticulturist, and I want to demonstrate how easy it is to do. Trust me, there is no need to worry if you can’t plant your new purchases straight away.

Heeling in Plants: Why, Where, and How

‘Heeling in’ is a phrase commonly thrown around, but it may sound confusing.

As with much potentially baffling terminology, the reality is that it is simple to understand and do. It is not an essential task, but one required for specific circumstances. There is no need to do it if you don’t want or need to.

However, heeling in bare-root trees and bare-root shrubs (including bare-root roses) is recommended if they cannot be planted quickly after receiving them in winter, as you need to protect plants from frost and snow.

If planting looks like it will be delayed by weeks rather than days, you should heel in plants to keep them safe through winter.

5 Key Steps for Heeling in Bare-Root Plants

The following advice applies to any bare-root plants, including ornamental trees, fruit trees, shrubs, soft fruit bushes, or hedging plants. It will ensure your new plants stay alive and healthy until the conditions are right to plant them into their new permanent spot in your yard.

1. Prepare the bare-root plant – Bare-root trees, shrubs, or hedging plants will arrive looking like bare twigs with a set of roots attached. You do want to give them a bit of TLC before you heel in plants. As an example, when you plant bare-root roses, it is always best to soak the roots in water in a bucket, such as this five-gallon bucket at Walmart, for three to six hours before planting. It is the same advice when heeling in bare-root roses. So, before you heel in plants (any plants), give the roots a good soak before planting.
2. Find a protected spot – You should heel in plants in a part-shade and protected spot in the yard. It should ideally be sheltered from strong winds and away from any frost pockets. And it needs to have a soil type that drains well, to prevent the plant from sitting in cold, waterlogged soil during winter.
3. Dig a trench – You don’t dig a traditional planting hole when you heel in plants. Instead, you use a spade to dig a shallow trench. It needs to be wide and deep enough to fit the roots of the plants; around 12 inches deep can suffice, and it can house several plants for a temporary period. Just remember to use plant labels or markers (such as these large, waterproof plant labels at Amazon) to remember what's what in the trench.
4. Place plants at an angle – It may sound unusual, but when heeling in plants, you place them into the trench at an angle. Lay them against the side of the trench at an angle of 30-45 degrees. This angle protects them from the wind. Also, spread out the roots in the trench. If you have bought many bare-root plants that arrive in a bundle, which is common with fast-growing hedging plants, you can heel them in as a bundle to save space.
5. Cover the roots – Carefully cover the roots with soil as you fill in the trench. Press down gently with your heel to pack in the soil and remove any air pockets around the roots. Then give the plants a good watering to settle the soil. You can provide an extra layer of protection by mulching over the soil surface with leaves or straw, or covering plants with frost cloth if extreme cold is predicted.

The objective when you heel in plants is to store and protect them for a temporary period. It should be a solution for weeks, rather than months. Once the temperatures start rising in late winter or early spring, and the ground conditions are suitable for planting, lift the plants from their trench and add them to flower beds or borders.

There is another technique of heeling in plants I have also used over the years, this one in vegetable gardens. It is to lift and heel in some crops to make harvesting easier over winter.

Primarily, I have used this technique when growing leeks. You can lift them ahead of severe weather and heel them into trenches, at an angle as mentioned above, so they are easier to lift when the ground does freeze.

What you can sow or plant in January depends on your climate and US hardiness zone. However, wherever you live, there are vegetables you can plant this month. It will be a case of the types and growing methods differing from region to region.

Gardeners in warmer climates may enjoy the luxury of direct sowing the first of their yearly vegetables directly into the soil this month. While, at the other end of the scale, those in cold climates may look at frozen ground and be tinged with jealousy. They can start crops indoors, but may still need a heated propagator and grow lights to have healthy vegetables.

I have grown a wide array of vegetables year-round. I have never been fortunate enough to plant vegetables outdoors in January, but I have had the luxury of greenhouses and heated propagation benches to help extend the growing season. Here I want to highlight seven vegetables to plant in January, which will include crops suitable for gardeners in any climate, along with some planting tips.

Vegetables to Plant in January – How to Help Sowing Indoors

If you have a vegetable garden in cold or milder climates, from US hardiness zones 3-8, you will likely be restricted to sowing seeds indoors. I was a professional kitchen gardener in zone 8, and started all my crops off undercover in January. It wasn’t until early spring that I started sowing seeds outdoors.

A heat mat or heated propagator will help you start vegetable seeds indoors in January. It can provide valuable heat to germinate seeds, and they come in various sizes. Even if you only have a bright windowsill for sowing this month, you can get windowsill heat mats like these on Amazon.

1. Leeks

While not the conventional time to start growing leeks, if you want larger leeks and earlier harvests, then you can do an early sowing of seeds indoors in January. This is best recommended for those in colder climates, and you can expect to harvest leeks come late summer or early fall from a winter sowing.

To start leeks this month, sow them thinly in pots or modules filled with seed compost, such as Burpee's seed starting soil. I have had success sowing them into two or five-liter pots and then separating and transplanting them outside come spring. Leek seeds need temperatures of at least 45°F to germinate, which you can provide in a greenhouse or on a windowsill.

When the leeks are 6-8 inches tall and pencil-thick, transplant the seedlings into their final growing position after the last frost.

See the range of leek seeds at Amazon
See the range of leek seeds at Walmart
See the range of leek seeds at Burpee
See the range of leek seeds at True Leaf Market

2. Peas

You can either start growing garden peas in late January, or grow pea shoots as microgreens on a bright windowsill. To grow garden peas, you can start seeds indoors or try to warm up the soil early and plant the peas under a cold frame or frost cloth – it will depend on how cold your soil is in January.

Peas need a soil temperature of 55-60°F for germination, which you can check with a soil thermometer, like this one at Amazon. If it is too cold outside, sow peas into deep modules (like these deep nursery pots on Amazon) or root trainers filled with seed compost. Plant them an inch deep and place them on a heat mat, or on a warm, bright windowsill for good germination.

Whether you plant peas indoors or outdoors in late January, a good tip is to sow rounded pea seeds, rather than wrinkled seeds, earlier in the year, as the rounded ones won’t hold onto water, so are at less risk of rotting at colder temperatures.

For pea shoots, sow the seeds thickly over a tray filled with compost and cover with more soil. Put them on a warm windowsill, ideally south-facing, and you can harvest the microgreens within a couple of weeks.

See the range of pea seeds at Amazon
See the range of pea seeds at Walmart
See the range of pea seeds at Burpee
See the range of pea seeds at True Leaf Market

3. Carrots

January is early for planting carrots, but it is possible. In warmer climates, the soil can be warm enough to sow seeds directly into the vegetable garden. However, there is also the possibility of growing some carrot varieties indoors in cooler zones.

As carrots don’t transplant, you want to plan where you are growing carrots and the types accordingly. For example, to cultivate them indoors, you may need to grow carrots in containers and pick fast-growing varieties or shorter-rooted types.

The ideal soil temperature for carrots is 50-70°F. If your soil is warm enough for outdoor sowings, prepare the ground and rake it level. Thinly sow the seeds into drills only a quarter-inch deep and then gently water the row to avoid disturbing the freshly-sown seeds.

Covering the rows with a cold frame or horticultural fleece (such as this floating row cover at Amazon) can provide an extra bit of warmth to help with germination.

See the range of carrot seeds at Amazon
See the range of carrot seeds at Walmart
See the range of carrot seeds at Burpee
See the range of carrot seeds at True Leaf Market

4. Beets

Beets are a cool-season crop that prefers milder soil temperatures, thriving between 50°F and 75°F.

For growers in warmer climates, they are ideal for the winter months, as growing beets can be tough in hot summer temperatures. While you can plant beets in a greenhouse or polytunnel during winter in colder climates for an earlier harvest, you would struggle to grow beets outdoors in cold conditions.

Beets are commonly sown directly into the ground, though you can grow them in module trays and transplant seedlings once they are large enough to handle. But if the soil temperature is warm enough, you are better off direct sowing.

Do so carefully, though, as beet seeds are multigerm clusters containing several seeds. Sowing too thickly is a beet growing mistake that leaves you stuck with the arduous task of a lot of thinning if they all germinate. Instead, try to place each seed around four inches apart, and an inch deep in the soil.

See the range of beet seeds at Amazon
See the range of beet seeds at Walmart
See the range of beet seeds at Burpee
See the range of beet seeds at True Leaf Market

5. Lettuce

Yes, you can start growing lettuce in January. It may seem an early start for planting lettuce to many gardeners, but where and how you can sow will depend on your climate.

Growers in warmer climates can sow outdoors, albeit with some protection on cold nights, while those in milder climates can start lettuce seeds outside courtesy of some protection from tunnels, cloches, cold frames, or frost cloth.

As long as the soil temperature is above 40°F, you can sow directly. Winter lettuces can tolerate temperatures of 32°F, but growth slows once the temperature dips below 40°F. A row cover or a low hoop tunnel (like this hoop tunnel kit at Walmart) can keep temperatures at an adequate level for lettuce to grow.

In the coldest zones, you can start seeds in a greenhouse, but you will need the assistance of grow lights and additional heat sources when growing indoors.

The best varieties to start in January are the more cold-tolerant lettuces, such as ‘Winter Density’ or ‘Arctic King’. Alternatively, you can opt for some alternative hardy leaves, including corn salad, winter purslane, or mizuna, which all make fantastic cut-and-come-again leaves to grow over the cooler months.

Get Winter Density lettuce seeds at True Leaf Market

Get organic corn salad seeds at Burpee

6. Spinach

Spinach germinates reliably well at cooler temperatures and is a super-hardy crop, hence its inclusion here as one of the top vegetables to plant in January. Spinach seeds can germinate at temperatures down to 32°F, and plants can tolerate temperatures as low as 0°F.

This makes growing spinach suitable for most climates during winter, as a cold frame or row cover can protect plants even in the coldest gardens. For the best success, however, opt for the hardiest varieties in January, such as ‘Winter Giant’, ‘Bloomsdale’ and ‘Perpetual’.

To sow spinach outdoors in zones 7-10, sow the seeds directly into one-inch drills and thin seedlings to at least three inches apart as they appear. For growers in zones 7 and 8, it is advisable to cover plants with frost cloth, low tunnels, or a cold frame for guaranteed success.

In colder zones, it is best to start seeds indoors in large modules to limit root disturbance when transplanting out seedlings. Too much disturbance can be responsible for spinach bolting, so using a product like this XL seed starting tray from Burpee can help reduce stress when transplanting.

Get Bloomsdale spinach seeds at Burpee

Get Winter Giant spinach seeds at True Leaf Market

7. Garlic

It is not too late to plant garlic. If you missed the fall window to start growing garlic, you can still get bulbs into the ground in January and enjoy a decent crop for all your culinary needs.

As garlic needs a period of cold weather to form good bulbs, this can be achieved by planting in January, as long as the ground isn’t frozen. You may get smaller bulbs from spring planting, but you can get a good harvest of garlic in mid-to-late summer from planting at the start of the year.

The best types of garlic for new year planting are softneck varieties, compared to hardneck garlic, which typically need a full winter in the soil to reliably produce good yields. If the soil is workable, simply separate the cloves into bulbs and plant them pointy end up an inch deep in the soil.

However, if you have heavy or waterlogged soil, it is best to plant the garlic in pots. Leave these containers in an open cold frame or protected spot in the yard, and transfer the plants into the ground once the soil becomes workable in late winter or early spring.

See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Amazon
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Walmart
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at Burpee
See the range of garlic bulbs to plant at True Leaf Market

January starts off a new gardening year, and it can be a busy time. There is a wide variety of January gardening jobs to choose from to keep you occupied and give you a bit of a gardening fix this month.

It ranges from physical outdoor tasks like pruning deciduous trees and shrubs, and planting bare-root trees, shrubs, and perennials, to indoor tasks for bitter days, when you can clean tools and equipment and get ahead with planning for the upcoming season.

Shop Kit for Winter Propagation:

There is something rather wonderful about sowing flower seeds in January. When the days are still short and crisp, there is nothing I love more than finding time to cocoon myself in the workshop with some fresh compost, seed trays and a lovely selection of new seed packets.

It is not only a mindful and calming activity, but as someone who has grown flowers for pleasure and business for more than a decade, I also find it hugely hopeful and optimistic. Planning for an explosion of color and joy to experience in the year ahead is an uplifting thought.

When thinking of what to plant in January, many vegetables and herbs come to mind, but flowers are more than possible, too. Starting flower seeds in January will mean a flush of early flowers in your yard, though it does require certain conditions for seeds to germinate. Here, I detail what your seeds will need to flourish, and inspire you with seven of the most beautiful and interesting flowers you can sow in January.

How To Start Seeds Properly in January

Natural levels of daylight and outside temperatures are both low in January, so starting seeds may require a bit of extra help in the form of propagators, heat mats and possibly even a grow light.

No matter where you live and what your local climate is like, you will be starting seeds indoors in January. A sunny windowsill may be all you need, but it is amazing what a little bit of help from clever seed starting kit can do.

Grow lights are great for preventing leggy seedlings, which happens when seedlings do not get enough natural light, and is something I am guilty of every year, while heated propagators provide that essential warmth that seeds need to germinate. Once you have one you'll wonder how you ever coped without it.

1. Verbena bonariensis

Architectural, airy and a designer-favourite, Verbena bonariensis is always on my must-grow list. I was even gifted a new packet of seeds for Christmas, and I am raring to sow them.

A modern classic for naturalistic gardens, January sowing gives these pollinator-friendly plants a vital head start, helping them flower earlier and more reliably in summer borders.

Sow indoors and cover seeds with a light layer of vermiculite, available from Amazon, to allow enough light to get to the seeds.

You can find inexpensive Verbena bonariensis seeds available from Walmart.

2. Nicotiana

Highly fragrant and a wonderful night scented plant, nicotiana or ornamental tobacco, is perfect for terraces and outdoor living spaces.

Early sowings can maximise flowering time to enjoy on those long summer evenings.

Pot up in seed compost, available from Amazon, as this has all the necessary nutrients seeds need to germinate and thrive.

You can find nicotiana seeds at True Leaf Market.

3. Cosmos

This will always and forever be on my must-sow list of flowers to sow in January. One word of caution, however, is to watch for leggy seedlings.

Cosmos seeds tend to germinate very quickly, and if they don't have adequate light they will shoot up on lanky stems before putting on any true leaves.

I have written about how to save leggy cosmos seedlings in the past, however, to avoid this happening I would advise using a grow light.

You can start cosmos seeds throughout the winter and spring to extend the growing season of this cutting-garden staple for as long as possible.

You can find beautiful cosmos seed mixes at Amazon.

4. Salvia farinacea

Salvia farinacea, or mealy sage, is in my humble opinion an underrated annual type of salvia that thrives when started early and has a long flowering season.

Sown in January, it produces elegant spires of blue, purple, or white that bring structure and long-season colour.

It is also drought-tolerant, so once established is ideal for long hot summers.

You can find Salvia farinacea seeds at Amazon.

5. Cleome

Cleome, or spider flower, was a new flower that I grew from seed last year. I would describe it as bold and fairly contemporary in style.

It is a statement annual with exotic-looking flowers on tall stems. Grown from seed it takes some time to establish, making January one of the best sowing windows.

While they are known for being some of the best plants to attract pollinators and hummingbirds, they do not have the best aroma. Indeed, they made it onto our list of the worst smelling plants to grow in a garden last year.

Some people describe them as having a musky, pungent smell; something to consider when thinking about where to place them in your yard.

You can find cleome seeds at Walmart.

6. Scabiosa

Scabiosa or pin cushion flower, as they are often more fondly known, are exquisitely romantic flowers to sow in January.

They are a stalwart of my cutting beds, as I love to use them in floral arrangements and hand-tied bouquets.

Started early, scabiosa produce long-stemmed blooms ideal for cutting, and with regular deadheading they flower for months.

You can find a selection of beautiful scabious seeds at True Leaf Market.

7. Coneflower

You might not have thought of sowing this perennial in January, preferring to buy an established coneflower plant later in the year, but sowing this early can and will produce healthy plants that will flower in their first year.

The prairie-style appeal of coneflower, or echinacea, never seems to ebb, and it's easy to see why. For low-maintenance, pollinator friendly plants that provide interest all year long in the garden, they are a must-grow for me.

You can find an abundance of beautiful coneflower seeds to sow from Amazon.

There is a lot more you can be thinking about doing in your garden this month. For instance, January is an ideal time to plant bare-root perennials and shrubs, plus there are plenty of vegetables you can plant in January, too, for early summer harvests.

Let's be honest, winter isn’t always the most pleasant time for gardening, but tasks do need to be done and having the right tools makes them more enjoyable and efficient. You can prevent struggling with freezing hands and ineffective implements by filling your shed with these hard-wearing winter garden tools that prove vital throughout the season.

I worked outdoors year-round as a professional gardener for a decade, and you can still find me in my home garden or on my allotment through winter, provided the weather isn’t too bitter and freezing (I do have my limitations). Over my years as a horticulturist, I have discovered a selection of winter garden tools that have proved vital season after season for me.

Building a solid collection of hard-working winter garden tools means you have everything you need to dig, prune, mulch, clear, and tidy your yard throughout the colder months, plus they are great over the rest of the gardening year. These essential gardening tools can help you work smarter and reduce fatigue, while protecting you from the worst of the winter elements.

Essential Winter Garden Tools

It can be a challenging time in the yard, but hard-wearing tools will make things a lot easier and certainly more pleasant.

These are my recommended pieces of kit for a winter garden. They are tools I have regularly used over the colder seasons to keep both the gardens I worked in and my home plots tidy and healthy.

Winter gardening has many facets, but protecting plants forms a key part, and understanding how to overwinter a garden shields all your precious plants from cold. There are different ways to protect plants from frost, depending on your climate and how tender they are.

It includes wrapping plants outdoors, bringing tender plants indoors for winter, and mulching to insulate the roots of outdoor plants against freezing temperatures. Keeping a close eye on temperatures and putting all measures in place to keep plants adequately protected is crucially important as part of any winter gardening checklist.

When you mention December harvests, most people will think straight away of those classic festive vegetables like Brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage. It may be surprising what a selection of vegetables can be picked in mid-winter, so here I look at some of those lesser-known vegetables to harvest in December.

Having year-round harvests from a vegetable garden requires some planning, but there is a long list of cold-hardy crops that can be freshly picked for winter dinner plates. Get it right, and you can enjoy nutritious winter greens, hearty roots, unique brassicas, and peppery leaves.

I grew a wide selection of winter vegetables during my time growing and harvesting edibles for chefs at different restaurants. We picked fresh vegetables multiple times a week in December, ranging from winter staples to some less common crops. Here, I want to shine a light on some of those less-recognised winter crops in this list of vegetables to harvest in December.

7 Vegetables to Harvest in December

Growing and harvesting vegetables into December requires careful selection of types and varieties to ensure a diverse range of overwintering vegetables that can withstand the cold.

You can assist them by using row covers, cloches, or cold frames to protect plants from frost and extend the harvest season well into winter. I’ll mention which of the highlighted vegetables need extra winter protection, along with some harvesting tips.

1. Collard greens

Collard greens thrive in cold weather and are one of the hardiest brassicas you can plant in your vegetable garden. The earthy leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals, and perfect for southern dishes, warming soups, and hearty stews.

I grew collard greens in the productive vegetable garden at Soho Farmhouse in the Cotswolds, and the crop was freshly picked for chefs at the on-site restaurants throughout December and January. There is a good reason they were desired in these months, as frosts convert starches in the plant to sugars, so the collard greens taste sweeter.

Collard greens can withstand temperatures as low as 15°F. In US hardiness zones 7 and below, covering plants with frost cloth (such as this row cover at Amazon) or building a hoop tunnel helps protect winter leafy greens from frost and allows harvests through extreme temperatures.

Harvest collard greens as a cut-and-come-again crop. Snip individual leaves once they are large enough to use, starting with the lowest, older leaves, and never take more than a third at any one time.

2. Broccoli Rabe

Broccoli rabe is a crop known by many names, and you will hear it called (or spelt) broccoli raab, rapini, or spring broccoli. It is a leafy green that resembles broccoli, but is related to turnips. However, don’t underestimate it, as it is a fast-growing vegetable that can give you harvests of bitter and nutty heads and stems throughout the winter in milder climates.

It is another winter crop I grew and harvested for the chefs at Soho Farmhouse, which is located in US hardiness zone 8. That is worth pointing out, as broccoli rabe is a winter crop more suited to milder regions. When planted in late summer or early fall, the crop can provide harvests through winter and into spring. Plants will benefit from mulching to insulate the roots, and covering with frost cloth or blankets ahead of frosty nights.

To harvest broccoli rabe, cut the main head once the plants reach 12-15 inches tall. This will encourage lots of smaller side shoots to develop, which can be harvested two or three times by cutting them with sharp pruning shears or a harvesting knife, like this pocket-sized folding harvesting knife at Walmart.

3. Lacinato kale

Another crop that goes by many names, including Tuscan kale, dinosaur kale, or, as I have always known it, cavolo nero. I have grown kale of various kinds in different vegetable gardens, and my personal favorite remains this one. This is because the dark strap-shaped leaves give lacinato kale a stunning ornamental look, and the plants are prolific.

This is a brassica that I have regularly picked through winter for chefs, and it is super-easy to harvest kale in a way that keeps it growing for a long period of time. Once the leaves are large enough to use, you can harvest them as a cut-and-come-again vegetable.

Start with the largest leaves at the bottom of the stalk, and carefully remove them one by one. It is better to snip them close to the stem, as pulling them is a harvesting mistake that risks damaging the plant.

Lacinato kale is very cold-hardy and can tolerate frosts and low temperatures down to -10°F. In colder climates, it can be beneficial to build a mini hoop tunnel (you can use hoops like these at Amazon to make a tunnel) and cover it with frost cloth to protect plants from extreme cold.

But kale will overwinter in most US hardiness zones without too many issues. Plus, the flavor of the nutritious leaves will also improve after a few frosts.

4. Celeriac

Celeriac have long been one of my top vegetables to grow, and I have cultivated and harvested this unique root crop in several different vegetable gardens, including for Michelin-starred kitchens.

The globe-shaped roots have a nutty, sweet taste and are highly versatile, as you can mash, roast, or puree them as well as add celeriac to winter soups and stews.

You can harvest celeriac from late fall to early spring, and it is another crop that benefits from a few frosts, turning the starches in the roots into sugars. A bit of patience means sweeter celeriac for your dishes.

If you grow celeriac in colder climates, covering the plants in a layer of straw helps to overwinter root vegetables. The mulching layer stops the roots from freezing and thawing, while also making it easier to lift them in winter as the ground doesn’t freeze solid.

Use a garden fork to gently lever the celeriac roots out of the soil, rather than attempting to pull them from the earth with your hands.

5. Kalettes

Kalettes may be a new crop to many. It is a recent introduction to vegetable gardens, but their popularity is increasing, and kalettes are becoming a bit of a trendy crop. I grew them for the chefs at high-calibre restaurants as an alternative to Brussels sprouts, and kalettes do have a sweeter taste than the more traditional festive sprouts.

Kalette plants develop tall stalks covered with florets of tightly packed small green and purple kale leaves.

The florets are individually picked from the stem throughout winter and into spring. As all the florets don’t mature at the same time, the stalks need to be regularly checked and ready ones twisted from the stem or cut with a sharp knife.

As the plants grow tall stems, they will require staking in windier sites to stop them toppling over due to strong winter winds, or suffering wind rock and root damage. But the plants are very cold-hardy and need little protection against frost and snow.

6. Corn salad

Corn salad, also known as lamb’s lettuce or mache, is a very hardy leafy green. Its nutty, succulent, deep green leaves can be a distinct addition to winter salads.

The crop can tolerate freezing temperatures and a covering of snow. Even growers in colder regions can enjoy growing corn salad by covering plants with frost cloth, cloches, or cold frames (like this wooden portable cold frame at Wayfair) for extra protection in the depths of winter.

To harvest corn salad, you have a choice. Either pick individual leaves with scissors by cutting a few inches above the crown for successive harvests. Alternatively, you can cut the whole head near the base of the rosette, and the plant will resprout for a second crop.

Corn salad isn’t the only hardy green you can pick to spice up winter salads. The likes of arugula, spinach, mizuna, mustards, and winter lettuces can all provide harvests in December, especially when given some protection, or when you have them as vegetables growing in a greenhouse in fall and winter.

7. Rutabaga

Rutabagas are perfect for hearty winter stews, casseroles, soups, or roasts. After the roots have sweetened courtesy of a few frosts, start digging them up for all manner of seasonal dishes.

The root crop can be left in the ground to harvest over winter, but needs to be protected with a thick layer of straw or leaves to prevent the ground from freezing and the roots from going mushy due to repeated freezing and thawing. Give rutabaga a thick layer of straw and cover this with hoops and a row cover to keep it in place for winter.

Harvest the rutabaga once they reach 3-5 inches in diameter. Carefully loosen the soil around the roots and gently lift them from the soil. Once they reach this size, rutabagas can be stored for longer, up to four months in a dark, cool place with high humidity.

How does growing your own Christmas dinner sound to you for a truly homegrown festive celebration? If you like the prospect of Christmas plates full of homegrown vegetables, this guide reveals all the sowing and planting dates you need to know to grow your own Christmas dinner and enjoy plates piled with potatoes, carrots, sprouts, carrots, rutabaga, and green beans.

Shop harvesting tools

By December, many garden tools have been put to bed for winter after a long season. The lawn mower is getting a well-deserved rest, pruners are less in demand in winter, and digging or weeding tools are certainly not seeing the same level of use as earlier in the year, if at all.

Your tools shouldn’t just be tossed away in a garage or shed and forgotten about until next spring. In an ideal world, they will have been given a good clean and some TLC before being stored. If you skipped that stage, though, December offers a great opportunity to clean your garden tools in preparation for next year.

Giving your tools some attention at this quiet time of year keeps them working at their best, making your life easier, and extends their lifespan. This list highlights some of those essential garden tools to service in December, including both hand and mechanical tools, along with some key care, maintenance, and storage tips to keep them in perfect condition.

We reveal some essential garden tools to service in December

When I worked as a professional gardener in the UK, we always cleaned, sharpened, and oiled hand tools, as well as gave mowers, hedge cutters, and strimmers some much-needed attention after many hours of use during the season.

It meant all tools were clean, sharp, dry, and in great working order, ready for the next gardening year. Cleaning and storing tools for winter in good condition has always stuck with me as a must-do, and I still take the time for my tools and machinery at home.

1. Pruning shears

The most used pruning tools throughout the year, pruning shears, endure a lot and do need to be kept clean and sharp. This benefits the gardener, as sharp pruning shears cut more easily than blunt ones, and plants, as they make clean cuts rather than jagged ones, which are easier to heal and reduce the risk of pests and diseases.

Therefore, cleaning pruning shears should be a regular job to prevent them from getting dirty, clogged, and rusty. But a deep clean is a definite for winter, and servicing them this month means they will be primed for when you start pruning plants in spring.

Disassemble the pruning shears and brush off any dirt. Wipe down the tools with warm, soapy water, scrubbing tough areas as required, and clean any rust from the blades with wire wool or a wire brush.

Then dry the tools and spray the joints and blades with a lubricating spray (I have always opted for WD40, available at Walmart) to keep them moving and protected from rust.

Sharpen your pruning shears with a fine file, sharpening stone, or a tool sharpener, such as this pocket-sized sharpening tool at Amazon that can put a sharp edge on the blade in just a few strokes.

2. Loppers

Loppers come to the fore for larger pruning of trees and shrubs, when the branches are too wide for pruning shears to cut safely. They often don’t demand as much attention or love as pruning shears, but need a good, deep clean and sharpening in winter, ready for the pruning season.

It is a similar checklist to pruning shears, though you don’t want to disassemble the tool. Wash away any dirt, debris or sap on the handles, mechanism, and blades with warm soapy water. And give the joints and blades a spray with lubricating spray to make cutting smoother and easier.

The cutting edge of the blades can be sharpened with a file, a sharpening stone, or a tool sharpener. After cleaning and sharpening the tool, ensure it is dry before putting it away to prevent the pruning tools from rusting over the winter.

If you also use a pruning saw to prune trees, this tool should be scrubbed with a stiff brush and soapy water to get all residue and debris from within the teeth. It is not as simple to sharpen a saw, unfortunately, as you need to sharpen each individual tooth with a small saw file.

3. Digging tools

Any trowels, spades, or forks will see a lot of action over the year, from planting shrubs, perennials, and bulbs, to turning soil, or dividing plants. After all this use, they deserve some TLC before you store gardening tools away in late fall or winter. It stops them rusting or splitting, and they’ll last you longer.

Brush any soil off and give them a scrub with a stiff brush and soapy water to remove all dirt and debris. Dry the tool with a cloth or towel, and if required, use a file to sharpen the cutting edge of the spade.

When sharpening a spade, maintain an angle of around 45 degrees and make slow, consistent strokes away from you.

Oiling tools before storage gives added protection. Wooden handles benefit from a thin coating of linseed oil (you can get linseed oil at Walmart), while camellia oil protects metal blades. Always wear gloves when oiling tools to prevent any skin irritation.

4. Weeding tools

There are many different types of weeders suitable for removing all manner of unwanted plants out of flower beds, lawns, patios, driveways, and more. Getting rid of weeds is a regular and often unavoidable gardening chore, but keeping the tools well-maintained helps make that task a little bit easier.

Tools such as a garden hoe, weeding sickle, weed puller, patio knife, or hori-hori knife should be cleaned after each use. It is essential for maintaining their effectiveness and preventing the spread of soil-borne diseases throughout the garden.

As with digging tools, scrub off soil from the handle and blade of the weeding tool and dry it thoroughly. A quick sharpen of the edges helps make weeding easier next year, and a thin layer of oil on wooden handles or metal blades protects against corrosion or rusting.

A good practice is to hang tools over winter, rather than leaving them on the floor. If you don’t have the space for wall-mounted racks, a free-standing tool organizer like this at Amazon can raise tools off the floor and away from moisture.

5. Rake

A rake is an under-valued garden tool, but come the end of fall, it may have seen a lot of use collecting leaves. It is versatile, used not only for clearing leaves but also for removing debris from garden beds and borders. Furthermore, it is suitable for scarifying a lawn in either spring or fall.

Whether you use a landscape rake, leaf rake, or garden rake (there is a surprisingly large number of different rakes), it can be quick and simple to clean a rake to preserve its lifespan and keep it in fine working order.

Clean dirt, debris, and moisture from the tool with a brush and dry it thoroughly before storing it away for winter.

6. Lawn mower

After giving your lawn its final mow of the year, give it some care and attention. All lawn mowers are regularly used throughout spring, summer, and into fall. You want to make sure it starts again and cuts properly when you start mowing the lawn again in spring, hence the need for a winter clean and service.

It can take just a little time to winterize a lawn mower before it is put away for the season, and it starts with giving the machine a good clean. Use a brush to remove clippings, dirt, and debris from around the deck and on the blade, then clean the air filter.

This can be done by tapping a paper air filter against a flat surface or washing foam filters with water and soap.

Depending on your lawn mower, either drain the fuel (you can alternatively add fuel stabilizer rather than draining it) or remove the batteries, and store the mower in a dry, sheltered place.

It is advisable to sharpen mower blades at least once a season, and you can either use a professional service or do it yourself.

To do the task, remove the mower blade, secure it in a vice, and use a metal file. Hold this at a 45-degree angle, and slide it in one direction, working up and down the blade. It is important to make sure the lawnmower blades are balanced before using it, and you can do so with a blade balancer, available at Amazon.

7. Hedge cutter

Well-maintained hedge cutters last longer and make pruning hedges easier. Before storing your tools away for the winter, there are a few key steps to take so you can have peace of mind that they’ll be in top shape for the next season.

Remove the battery from the tool, or drain all the fuel if it is a petrol-powered trimmer, and wipe down the blades with soapy water and a cloth. Before storing them away, ensure all screws or bolts are tight. Once the blade is dry, you can spray it with a lubricating spray.

If you want to sharpen hedge trimmer blades to keep them cutting at the best of their ability, align the blades to offset the cutter and the guard (they can be pushed with a solid object like a plastic screwdriver handle or a piece of wood) and secure your trimmer with a vice.

Use a flat file on the surface of each tooth, keeping a consistent angle and working only in one direction. A couple of passes on each tooth should suffice.

A hedge cutter can be stored in a dry and sheltered spot, such as a garage or shed, for winter, ideally raised off the floor and hanging from a hook.

To prevent yourself from making any faux pas that can damage your precious garden tools, this article on tool storage mistakes highlights six common errors that gardeners make when it comes to putting their tools away after use.

It includes the likes of storing wet tools, not protecting blades, and failing to look after batteries properly, along with expert advice to prevent falling foul of the mistakes.

You may think that December is far too late in the year to plant flower seeds, but that is not the case. There are many flowers you can sow in winter to bring you earlier blooms in spring and summer.

Most flower sowing in December is done indoors, and plants are started in a greenhouse or a heated propagator. Some, though, do need a period of cold and can be planted in a cold frame or directly in the ground, provided it is not frozen.

We aim to show you that December is not too late to sow flower seeds. This list features seven flowers to sow in December to fill your garden with blooms over the next season. A little bit of sowing can provide light relief from other seasonal stresses, and the rewards are bountiful blooms come spring. Let’s see what to plant in December.

7 flowers to sow in December

Many of the flowers on this list are best sown indoors, such as in a greenhouse or on a bright windowsill. Some can be sown in a cold frame or sown outdoors, and we’ll make sure to point out those that can be started in colder conditions.

Getting the heat and light levels right for seeds is a trickier aspect of winter sowings, as natural levels are lower in December. The likes of heat mats, heated propagators, or grow lights are useful when you sow seeds indoors in winter to help you get good germination rates and healthy seedlings.

1. Cranesbill

Cranesbill, also known as hardy geraniums, are low-maintenance perennial plants and simple to grow from seed. There are thousands of hardy geranium varieties, ranging from small alpine plants to ground-cover plants and large specimens for flower beds and borders.

Cranesbill seeds can be germinated in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse. They require a period of cold stratification, which can be achieved by storing the pots in a colder, but protected, location over the winter.

Sow seeds into pots or large modules and cover them with a thin layer of soil. Keep the seeds moist, but not waterlogged, and wait for them to germinate in late winter or early spring once the temperatures rise.

See the range of cranesbill geranium seeds at Amazon

See the range of cranesbill geranium seeds at Walmart

2. Dusty miller

Dusty Miller, also known as Silver Ragwort or Silverdust, is a mounding perennial plant with silver foliage and small, yellow flowers.

Dusty Miller can be cultivated as a perennial in zones 8 to 11 or grown as an annual in colder climates. It makes an excellent addition to container gardens or hanging baskets, while it can also be planted in borders, where its silver foliage provides a striking contrast with other plants.

You can sow dusty miller seeds indoors in December in trays or pots filled with seed starting compost. Do not cover the seeds, as light is essential for germination. And provide them with temperatures between 65°F and 75°F, ideally in a greenhouse or on a warm windowsill.

Pot up the seedlings as required once they are large enough to handle or outgrow their pots or modules, and plant them outside after the last spring frosts.

See dusty miller seeds at Amazon

See dusty miller seeds at Burpee

See dusty miller seeds at True Leaf Market

3. Impatiens

Impatiens are popular bedding plants that come in vibrant colors to perk up flower beds (including shadier corners of borders), containers, and hanging baskets. They are bright, cheery, prolific, and low-maintenance, especially as they are self-cleaning annuals that don’t need deadheading.

Impatiens are great for mass plantings, but the cost can add up if you get them all from garden centers. You can grow impatiens from seed, but it is a long process, and you need to start early. It usually means starting in winter, and earlier sowings mean earlier flowers.

Sow impatiens seeds into module trays, which is preferable to avoid root disturbance. Another option is using biodegradable pots, such as these 3.15-inch biodegradable pots on Amazon.

The seeds want temperatures of 70-75°F to germinate, and then 62-68°F for the seedlings to develop healthily. Grow lights will also be required in the absence of a greenhouse or a bright window.

See the range of impatiens seeds at Amazon

See the range of impatiens seeds at Walmart

See the range of impatiens seeds at Burpee

See the range of impatiens seeds at True Leaf Market

4. Meconopsis

Meconopsis, commonly known as the Himalayan Blue Poppy, is a glorious poppy with elusive blue flowers. It is not the easiest type of poppy to grow, but if you fancy a challenge with a stunning reward, they are sown from December to February.

Meconopsis do require stratification over winter, but also need protecting from excessive winter wet. Sow seeds onto the surface in pots or trays, but only cover them with a fine layer of compost or grit. Place the containers in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse; they want the cold and frosts but not the winter rain.

Aside from meconopsis, December is also a great month to start growing poppies, with the likes of Icelandic poppies, Oriental poppies, and Shirley poppies suitable for sowing in winter. Follow the above instructions for any of these.

You can get meconopsis seeds at Amazon to sow this month

5. Snapdragons

Snapdragons, or antirrhinums, have been popular for many years, as they can offer a multitude of colors and heights in border displays, plus they make great cutting garden flowers that can last up to two weeks in a vase.

These cottage garden favorites are not the easiest flowers to grow from seed, but they do offer the chance to grow a much wider variety of snapdragons than you typically find sold as transplants in garden centers or nurseries.

Snapdragon seeds are tiny, so take care when sowing them thinly over the surface of seed compost in trays, modules, or pots. Gently press the seeds into the compost and cover with a very fine layer of soil or vermiculite. Take care to water plants from the bottom, to prevent disturbing the tiny seeds.

Snapdragon seeds prefer temperatures of 68-75°F for germination, but they can take some time to germinate, so it often pays to start early. Pot up seedlings into individual pots, and pinch out plants once they have four sets of true leaves to encourage branching and get snapdragons flowering to their full potential.

See the range of snapdragon seeds at Amazon

See the range of snapdragon seeds at Walmart

See the range of snapdragon seeds at Burpee

See the range of snapdragon seeds at True Leaf Market

6. Sweet peas

It may surprise some gardeners to know that you can start growing sweet peas in December to get a head start on the growing year and get earlier blooms of these summer-flowering favorites.

Planting sweet pea seeds indoors in winter rewards you with strong plants to transplant outside in spring and earlier, fragrant blooms to enjoy and pick from May onwards. And it can be done with any sweet pea varieties.

Plant sweet pea seeds in deep pots or root trainers in December, as their fast-growing roots dislike disturbance when transplanting. Plant the seeds around an inch deep into the soil and keep them moist. The seeds need temperatures of 60-65°F for good germination, which can be done in a greenhouse or on a bright windowsill.

See the range of sweet pea seeds at Amazon

See the range of sweet pea seeds at Walmart

See the range of sweet pea seeds at True Leaf Market

7. Violas

Violas are a great choice for delicate, bright plants to bring color in the cooler months of the year. There are perennial and annual varieties, and many types will return year after year as they are self-seeding flowers.

Violas are related to pansies, but have smaller flowers. They come in all different colors, and viola blooms are edible flowers that are perfect for garnishing cakes, adding to salads, or putting in cocktails.

To propagate violas in December, sow seeds lightly into trays, modules, or pots and cover them with a layer of compost or vermiculite. Unlike others in this list, viola seeds want darkness for germination.

Give the seeds temperatures of 60-70°F. If you use a heat mat, pick one with a thermostat. Viola seeds fail to germinate if the temperatures get too high, so control is essential. Pot up the seedlings once they have their first set of true leaves, or thin seedlings in pots, and grow them on at temperatures of 55-60°F.

See the range of viola seeds at Amazon

See the range of viola seeds at Walmart

See the range of viola seeds at Burpee

See the range of viola seeds at True Leaf Market

If you want more inspiration for seed sowing this month, why not start some crops too? Our guide to vegetables to plant in December highlights a great selection of crops you can sow this month. Sowing vegetables in December rewards you with earlier harvests next year.

Native plants are experiencing a welcome surge in popularity as more gardeners appreciate their many benefits. They are perfectly suited to the local climate and conditions, making them low-maintenance additions that also provide essential food and shelter for native wildlife.

If you already have native shrubs in your garden, winter provides a fantastic chance to expand your collection. This is the perfect time to propagate many plants for free using hardwood cuttings, giving you identical clones of your treasured native specimens.

For a bit of inspiration, this guide features seven native plants to propagate in December, along with some useful tips for taking plant cuttings successfully and nurturing them over the coming months. Taking and growing cuttings is very satisfying, and a little bit of time now rewards you with a bounty of new native shrubs to enjoy for years to come.

7 plants to propagate in December

Hardwood cuttings are simple to take, but do take longer to root than softwood cuttings taken earlier in the year. However, they are a reliable way to propagate many native plants during the colder months. Cuttings can either be planted directly into the soil outdoors or started in pots and kept in a greenhouse or cold frame.

A long list of plants can be grown from hardwood cuttings. Indeed, I featured seven plants to propagate in December in this article from 12 months ago. However, this time I want to focus specifically on native plants to propagate in December. The following are all suited to attempting hardwood cuttings, if you want to add the task to your winter gardening checklist.

1. American beautyberry

Callicarpa americana, or the American beautyberry, is a deciduous native shrub to the Southeastern United States suitable for hardiness zones 6-11. It has an arching growth habit and offers beauty throughout the seasons.

It is best known for its spectacular purple winter berries, and is one of the best shrubs with winter berries to have in a yard. Besides looking stunning, these fruits offer valuable food for wildlife and birds, including cardinals, woodpeckers, finches, and more, during late fall and winter.

You can propagate American beautyberry (similar to this one from Walmart) from seed or cuttings, either softwood cuttings in spring or hardwood cuttings in winter. Take cuttings of healthy one-year-old shoots in winter, dip them in rooting hormone, and plant them in a trench or pots in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse.

A cold frame makes a useful spot for protecting hardwood cuttings and other plants over winter. Come spring, a portable wooden cold frame, like at Wayfair, is also useful for starting seeds.

2. Strawberry bush

The American strawberry bush, or Euonymus americanus, is a deciduous shrub native to the eastern United States. It makes a good option for sometimes tricky part-shade spots or woodland gardens.

Don’t get it confused with edible types of strawberry plants, the ones that produce the summer fruit we all know and love. The strawberry bush is in the bittersweet family and reaches over six feet. It makes an attractive addition mainly thanks to its distinctive warty (and strawberry-like) seed capsules, which open up to reveal bright red fruits. These fruits are safe for wildlife, but poisonous to humans.

Use clean, sharp pruning shears to take pencil-thick hardwood cuttings for propagation. The cleanliness of your tools is vital, so check your shears and sharpen them if needed with a tool like this pocket-sized tool sharpener on Amazon.

3. Snowberry

Snowberry, or Symphoricarpos albus, is a medium-sized shrub native to the US and Canada and one of the best winter plants for wildlife.

It produces clusters of fruits that are essential food for songbirds and small mammals during winter, plus the habit of forming thickets can provide shelter in any wildlife garden. While the fruits are great for wildlife, the shrub is poisonous to humans.

There are many ways to propagate a snowberry bush, including softwood or hardwood cuttings and by digging up and transplanting suckers. If you plan to take new plants of this cold-hardy and drought-tolerant shrub over winter, put cuttings into slits cut into the ground in a sheltered area.

To improve drainage in wetter soils, dig a thin trough and line the bottom with coarse sand or horticultural grit to reduce the risk of your cuttings rotting in cold, waterlogged soil over winter. You can get bags of horticultural grit at Amazon.

Shop beautiful Snowberry at The Home Depot.

4. Honeysuckle

Some types of honeysuckles are invasive plants to avoid. But native varieties offer some of the best honeysuckles you can grow; they offer lots of benefits without the issues. Native honeysuckles include trumpet honeysuckle, coral honeysuckle, hairy honeysuckle, and twinberry honeysuckle.

When you grow honeysuckle and want more identical native plants to add beautiful blooms and glorious fragrance to attract pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, you can take honeysuckle cuttings in the summer or winter.

Put cuttings into pots filled with potting soil and keep them in a greenhouse, cold frame, or on a warm windowsill. Keep the soil moist, but not waterlogged, and wait to pot up or plant out the new honeysuckle until you see the roots showing out the bottom of the pot.

The Honeysuckle Vine from Fast Growing Trees comes highly recommended, judging by the glowing reviews – and it’s already in my basket.

5. Dogwood

There are around a dozen native dogwood trees, including the Pacific dogwood, the flowering dogwood, and the pagoda dogwood. They are a diverse selection of dogwoods that offer large spring flowers to attract pollinators, vibrant foliage in fall, and winter berries as a food source for birds.

As growing dogwoods can be simple, owing to being low-maintenance as well as beautiful year-round, you can understand why gardeners may want clones of their favorite native varieties.

Take cuttings 8-10 inches long and make a sloping cut at the top, above a bud, and a flat cut at the bottom, below a bud. Dogwood cuttings can go in the ground or a tall container indoors, but it will help to dip them in rooting hormone beforehand, such as this rooting hormone powder for hardwood cuttings at Amazon.

Take several cuttings to be on the safe side, and, if all goes well, they should root within four months. Plants in pots can be transplanted in the spring into a bigger pot, but it is best to leave cuttings in the ground until next fall.

Fast Growing Trees is one of my favorite places to shop for flowers and plants, and this Dogwood Tree is no exception.

6. American holly

Ilex opaca, or the American holly, is native to eastern and south-central states and is one of the hundreds of different species of holly.

It is an evergreen tree that reaches up to 50 feet, and both male and female species are required to get the classic red berries that hollies are renowned for. Thanks to American holly’s dark green leaves with spiny margins and fruits, it can make a great addition to Christmas wreaths.

To take cuttings of the evergreen holly in the winter, cut stems into 6-8 inch pieces above a bud at the top and below a bud at the bottom. On holly, the buds showcase as distinctive bumps on the canes, also known as bud unions. Remove all but the top two sets of leaves, and dip the bottom end in rooting hormone.

Place the cuttings in the ground or in pots, and keep them moist over the next 12 months. They can be transplanted next fall or the following spring.

7. Viburnum

Viburnums have been popular among gardeners for years as they are low-maintenance and fast-growing shrubs, offering a wide range of different flowers, colors, and berries.

There are native viburnums you can add to your backyard ideas that will provide appeal throughout the seasons, such as mapleleaf viburnum, the arrowwood viburnum, and the American cranberry bush (which is a viburnum rather than a cranberry).

Native deciduous viburnums are great candidates for hardwood cuttings from late fall into winter. They take longer than softwood cuttings, but offer a chance to get new clones of existing plants at a quieter time of year.

Take cuttings 8-10 inches long, remove the leaves, and dip the bottom end in rooting hormone. Viburnum cuttings are best put into pots and covered with a plastic bag to increase humidity. Place them in indirect light, and keep the soil moist.

To make sure you don’t fall foul of any common problems, check out this guide to plant cuttings mistakes to avoid. It features eight errors that gardeners make, which can be the difference between success and failure with plant cuttings.

Propagating essentials

A lot of pruning in December depends on your climate. In colder and milder regions, plants go dormant in winter, which is perfect for pruning them, but you do want to avoid pruning during spells of extreme cold and frosty weather. It is always better to do your pruning on milder, frost-free days, and keep a close eye on local forecasts to avoid trimming just before extreme cold arrives.

While in warmer climates, plants may not go fully dormant, but there is a risk of early pruning forcing them to produce tender new shoots, which will be at risk during any cold snaps. It can make December pruning feel like a potential minefield, and the risk of making the pruning mistake of trimming at the wrong time may give inexperienced gardeners sleepless nights.

I have experience in winter pruning from over a decade of professional gardening. I have spent countless hours and days outside in the December cold trimming trees, shrubs, and fruit bushes. To help you plan your month, I highlight seven plants to prune in December here, but only trim them when the weather is suitable. There is no need to rush and get the job done this month, as the pruning window for deciduous trees and shrubs runs from early winter to early spring.

7 plants to prune in December, or not – don’t take any risks

Note pruning these plants on your winter gardening checklist, and trim them when the time is right based on your US hardiness zone and local seasonal climate.

Whether it is this month, next month, or late winter, it is better to wait and do it correctly rather than rush out with the pruning tools and risk losing them to cold.

1. Fall-bearing raspberries

By now, you should have pruned summer-fruiting raspberries, which is a job for fall. Come December, you can prune fall-fruiting raspberries, which, as the name suggests, will have been providing you with delicious raspberry harvests throughout fall.

Once the harvests stop, and the canes go dormant, this raspberry pruning is a quick and simple job to get out of the way in winter. Simply take a pair of sharp pruning shears and cut all the canes back to the ground. As fall-bearing raspberries produce fruit on new growth, the plant will send up canes in spring to carry next year’s goodies.

A quality pair of pruning shears is perfect for this task, and for years I’ve used a trusty pair of Felco pruners. You can get Felco F2 pruning shears at Amazon, and a real bonus to these strong tools is that every part is replaceable, so they can last you for many years to come.

2. Fig trees

When you grow a fig tree, it is pruned during dormancy. Many gardeners wait until late winter to prune fig trees, but it can be done in December in milder climates, provided it is sheltered, and there are no harsh frosts predicted.

If your fig tree is protected by being trained against a wall, for example, it opens up the possibility to prune that bit earlier. Indeed, in one historic garden I worked in, which was in zone 8, we annually pruned our wall-trained fig trees in December or January. Those in colder climates are best to wait until later to trim, but get it done before they start actively growing, as figs bleed sap when cut out of dormancy.

As for how to prune a fig tree in winter, focus on removing dead, diseased, or damaged branches and thinning congested areas to boost air and light penetration into the center of the tree.

Always use the right pruning tool for the task. When branches are wider than half an inch thick, that is too wide for pruning shears. Instead, use a pair of loppers, such as these heavy-duty loppers at Walmart that can cut branches up to two inches thick.

3. Barberry

Barberry, or berberis, offer color and interest throughout the year, and deciduous varieties make some of the best shrubs for fall berries and vibrant seasonal color. It is the deciduous types you can prune in December, but leave evergreen varieties until summer.

Winter dormancy offers a valuable opportunity to revamp and renovate barberry shrubs. As they can form thickets, a bit of TLC rewards you with a healthier plant and a fantastic display of blooms.

Before doing any pruning, though, make sure to have the correct safety gear. Barberry shrubs have sharp spines, which makes thornproof gardening gloves (such as these heavy-duty gardening gauntlets at Amazon) and eye protection crucially important.

To prune barberry in winter, remove any dead, diseased or damaged wood, along with any that are crossing or rubbing. To renovate the shrub, you can remove a few of the oldest stems to open up the center and encourage new shoots. It is also advisable to remove any suckers at the base.

4. Rambling roses

Many gardeners, even experienced ones, find rose pruning intimidating. Even though it can be daunting, regular pruning is essential for shapely and attractive roses. Proper pruning is potentially the most vital job when you grow and care for roses.

When it comes to rambling roses, in particular, they can get out of control if left unmanaged. And an ideal time to deal with any unruly ones is in December, especially as the heavy pruning can be made easier when you can see what you're doing once all the leaves have dropped.

To prune rambling roses that have gotten overgrown and need a heavier hand, don’t be afraid. They are resilient climbing plants that will bounce back once they start growing in spring.

Remove dead, damaged, and diseased stems, and identify around six healthy, vigorous stems you wish to keep. Cut all the others to the base, and then any side shoots from the remaining chosen stems can be shortened by up to a half to encourage bushy growth.

5. Apple trees

Free-standing apple trees are pruned during dormancy, and this forms a vital part of keeping trees healthy and productive.

Regular apple tree pruning means more productive wood and fruiting buds, and a canopy that gets more light and air circulation to reduce the risk of diseases and help ripen the fruit. An unpruned tree will be congested, diseased, and can grow to a size which makes picking apples more difficult.

You may need pruning shears, loppers, and a pruning saw to prune an apple tree. A pruning saw, such as Fiskars folding pruning saw at Amazon, is essential for cleanly pruning larger tree branches. Have a clear shape and intention in mind before pruning, and carefully think about each cut.

Remove dead, damaged, diseased, and crossing branches, along with any growing inwards towards the trunk and branches growing downwards from the center. Remove any weak or spindly stems, then cut back last year’s growth by a third to encourage the development of more spurs to carry fruit.

Avoid the fruit tree pruning mistake of removing more than 20% of the canopy. It can be counter-productive to be too heavy-handed, as it may encourage the growth of lots of watershoots.

6. Grapes

When you grow grapes, pruning is important to guarantee the best harvest. They fruit on one-year-old wood, so it means, when established, pruning ensures you have productive wood and a sustainable number of grapes to ripen. It also stops the fast-growing flowering vine from getting out of control.

Knowing when to prune grape vines depends on where they are growing. You prune grape vines during dormancy, as they profusely bleed sap when actively growing, and that can weaken the vine as a whole as well as attract pests and diseases.

If you grow grapes indoors, such as in a greenhouse, they will start growing earlier than outdoor vines. So it makes earlier pruning in December highly recommended. Younger vines are trained and shaped over several years, while mature grape vines are pruned by cutting the dormant canes back to two or three buds.

Sharp tools are essential to good pruning, so consider carrying a pocket-sized sharpening tool like this one on Amazon to keep pruning shears or loppers sharp ahead of any trimming.

7. Wisteria

Wisteria are rampant plants that require pruning to keep them under control and flowering at their best. Best practise is to prune wisteria twice a year, once in summer and once in winter. The winter prune helps to see the framework once the leaves drop, when you can shape and thin the flowering climber.

Thankfully, winter wisteria pruning is a very simple task. Remove dead, diseased, or damaged shoots, prune shoots to two or three buds, and take this opportunity to reshape the shrub. It is also a good time to train and tie in new stems.

Older wisteria that need a bit of renovation can have longer branches cut back or pruned out completely to aid congestion.

Before you head out to do any pruning this month, be aware that not all plants are suitable for trimming in winter. Check this guide to plants to never prune in December to see if any plants in your yard are featured. In particular, spring-flowering shrubs and trees that are known to bleed sap in winter rank among the worst plants to trim during December.

A greenhouse is a wonderfully valuable space for gardeners, and come late fall, it becomes a haven to protect plants for winter and do late sowings of cold-hardy crops. Even an unheated greenhouse can be 10-30°F warmer during the day, and several degrees warmer at night, providing an ideal, protected environment for plants.

I worked in several gardens with greenhouses, including one with two large restored Victorian glasshouses. They were a great space to overwinter plants indoors. I've also grown microgreens in there year-round, and propagated plants indoors in late fall. November isn't just a time for fun jobs like propagating, though. I also found it an ideal time to prepare for winter and spring by cleaning and sorting the space.

For this list of greenhouse jobs for November, there is a mix of routine (but still highly useful) and enjoyable tasks. These greenhouse ideas for the month include sowing, propagating, and plant care, as well as some clearing, cleaning, and prepping.

7 greenhouse jobs for November to remember

Your fall gardening checklist is likely chock-full of jobs to do this month. However, if there is inclement weather, this provides an ideal opportunity to take shelter in the greenhouse and complete some of these greenhouse jobs for November.

1. Clean the greenhouse

Cleaning and maintaining the structure is an important part of winterizing a greenhouse, and this month is an ideal time to make a head start on it. Trust me, any plants in there for winter will thank you, and a clean greenhouse gets you off to a great start for the next gardening year.

Start with the glass. If you used shading paint earlier in the year, remove it to maximize the light levels reaching the plants. Give any greenhouse panes a good clean, inside and outside, to ensure plants receive the most light possible during the winter months, when levels are naturally at their lowest.

Give the floors and benches a sweep, and clean any greenhouse staging and frames with disinfectant (such as this Hydrogen Peroxide All Purpose Cleaner at The Home Depot) to combat any lingering pests or diseases.

It is also a great time to remove leaves from your gutters, so they don't get clogged. This is especially important if you are harvesting rainwater and storing it in a rain barrel to water plants.

2. Install insulation

Keeping a greenhouse warm expands the potential range of uses over the colder months of the year. If your greenhouse isn't currently heated, there are measures you can put in place this month to keep it warmer over winter to fit any budget.

A fan heater, such as this greenhouse heater with a thermostat at Amazon, can make it warm enough to overwinter tender plants and grow plants from seed through the colder months, with the added assistance of a heated propagation mat (like this seedling heat mat at Walmart).

But if you are just looking to overwinter cold-tolerant vegetables or ornamental plants, you don't always need expensive heaters. This month is an ideal time to attach bubble wrap to the inside of the glass to insulate the wall and roof of the greenhouse.

Using bubble wrap protects plants from frost and reduces heat loss. Rather than wrap the entire structure, a simpler alternative is to use horticultural fleece to cover plants if you merely want to insulate them from the cold.

3. Do final sowings

A greenhouse can extend the growing season for vegetables and herbs, and also offer the opportunity to start flower seeds indoors for earlier blooms next year.

The likes of lettuce, spinach, arugula, and Asian leaves such as mizuna, bok choy, and mustards can thrive in cooler fall temperatures and make great vegetables to grow in a greenhouse in the fall.

In terms of flowers, hardy annuals, including sweet peas, cornflowers, larkspur, California poppy, and marigolds, can all be sown in November to overwinter in a greenhouse and flower in spring.

All seedlings need warmth to germinate and survive, so you may need to insulate or heat a greenhouse to ensure the minimum greenhouse temperature stays above 45°F for seedlings to grow during winter.

A greenhouse thermometer (such as this bluetooth digital hygrometer at Amazon) can help you track the temperatures during the day and night to keep them at safe levels for seedlings.

4. Take cuttings

You can take plant cuttings this month to overwinter in the greenhouse, as they don't need especially warm temperatures, just a protected, frost-free place to start developing roots.

You can propagate plants in November in two ways. Shrubs are suitable for hardwood cuttings, while you can propagate perennials from root cuttings.

Root cuttings are great for perennials with fleshy roots, such as phlox, verbascum, and hardy geraniums, and you can propagate many new plants from one parent. To do this, carefully dig up plants and cut 3-4 inch sections of healthy roots with a sharp knife.

Thinner roots can be laid on the surface of compost and covered with a thin layer of grit. For perennials with thicker roots, slice them with a horizontal cut at the top and an angled cut at the bottom and place them into pots with the top end flush with the soil surface.

5. Clear out old crops

If you haven't gotten around to it yet, now is the time to remove any old summer crops from the greenhouse, whether you grow them in beds, raised beds, pots, or grow bags.

Heat-loving crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and peppers are often grown in greenhouses in cooler climates, but they are likely to have stopped producing harvests come November. If you do have any fruits left on your tomato plants, it is better to ripen green tomatoes with a banana in a paper bag, rather than stubbornly leaving them on the plant.

Remove the summer crops and use them to make compost, provided they show no signs of pests or diseases.

The resulting space in greenhouse beds or raised beds can be used to sow some fast-growing vegetables like arugula, lettuce, or spinach for winter crops, or you can cover the beds with mulch and let them settle until spring.

6. Wash pots and trays

It may not be a glamorous task, but washing all your empty pots and trays keeps the greenhouse pest and disease-free. And it ensures they are all ready to use again come spring.

Bacteria, viruses, and fungi can all live and overwinter in any old soil left in your pots and trays. An annual winter clean prevents them from building up and also removes any pests loitering around, as aphids, spider mites, fungus gnats, and more can thrive in the greenhouse over the colder months and continue to breed and trouble plants.

To clean flower pots, start with a heavy-duty brush to remove any old soil or debris from the inside of the pot or tray. Then make a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water, and soak your containers in it for around half an hour.

Let the pots and trays dry naturally and then neatly store them away in the greenhouse. It is an under-estimated way to prepare for seed sowing, but it means your containers are ready for when you start sowing seeds indoors come spring.

7. Ventilate on dry days

When you think of greenhouse ventilation, you probably imagine hot summer days where you need doors and vents open to cool down your plants.

However, the importance of ventilating a greenhouse in fall and winter is often underestimated. But it is something to bear in mind this month, to reduce the risk of diseases.

Air circulation is crucial for disease prevention. It reduces humidity, and moist air can leave plants susceptible to fungal diseases. You can ensure good circulation by opening vents, opening doors, or using a fan on dry and sunny fall days.

Close the doors or vents again in the afternoon to trap the last of the day's heat in the greenhouse, so that warmth can be conserved into the evening.

Plants will need watering in late fall and winter in greenhouses, but do so carefully. They need a careful approach to avoid overwatering plants, which increases the risk of root rot during the colder months.

Water deeply only when essential, and use a soil moisture meter to judge when to water plants in containers. Also, when you water plants, avoid wetting the foliage, as soaking wet leaves are more at risk of fungal diseases.

Caladiums are bright plants that always dazzle. The lush, heart-shaped foliage comes in shades of red, pink, white, and green, making a big impression as they sit atop long stalks. However, they are frost-tender plants that require some attention to successfully overwinter, which varies depending on where you live or how you grow your plants.

If you live in warmer climates and plant caladium bulbs, you can leave the tropical plants in the ground for winter. Any gardeners with colder winters aren't so fortunate, so they need to know how to overwinter caladiums indoors. This can be achieved by lifting and storing the bulbs or relocating plants in pots indoors.

This in-depth guide to how to overwinter caladiums looks at the three ways of doing so. It includes simple steps to follow, whether you need to mulch plants outdoors or lift, cure and store bulbs indoors over the winter.

How to overwinter caladiums – a word of caution

Always wear gloves when handling caladiums, as the plant produces a sap that can irritate the skin. Don't forget gloves when planting, pruning, and digging up bulbs as part of overwintering caladium plants.

How to overwinter caladiums outdoors in warmer zones

Caladiums can be grown as perennials in US hardiness zones 9 to 11. They can be left in the ground to survive over winter in many circumstances, but will still benefit from protection.

After the caladium foliage dies back, place a thick layer of mulch over the plants to insulate them from the cold. A three-inch layer of compost, straw, shredded leaves, or wood chips (such as this premium organic mulch available at Amazon) will retain moisture in the ground and protect the bulbs throughout winter.

If you have wet winters or a heavy soil type that holds onto moisture, it is better to lift and store caladium bulbs, as they risk rotting in sodden ground over winter otherwise.

How to overwinter caladiums indoors in colder climates

If you live in climates with cold winters, including US hardiness zones 8 and below, you need to overwinter plants indoors by lifting and storing the bulbs.

This process begins once soil temperatures drop to around 60°F, which you can check with a soil moisture meter like this one available on Amazon. This occurs in late October or November, depending on your climate.

Once the temperatures reach this point, carefully dig up the caladium bulbs. You want to keep the foliage attached, rather than cut the leaves down at this point. Knock large clumps of soil off the bulbs, but don't worry about removing all the dirt. Then put them in a cool, dry location for two weeks to dry and cure.

After the curing period, once the leaves have shrivelled up and the bulb feels dry, cut off the foliage an inch above the bulbs, trim the roots, and brush off any soil remaining. Place the bulbs in a cardboard box on a thin layer of sand, sawdust, vermiculite or sphagnum moss, and then cover them with a few inches of the same medium.

Place the box in a cool, dry location where it will get temperatures of 55-60°F through winter, such as a shed, garage, or porch. Check the bulbs at least once a month, and remove any that show signs of rotting. If they appear to be drying out too much, lightly spray the packing material with water.

The overwintered caladium bulbs can be removed from storage and planted outdoors after the last spring frosts.

How to overwinter caladiums in pots

If you grow them in pots as a tropical patio plant in a container garden, you can overwinter caladiums in their pots rather than lift and store the bulbs.

It is not a perennial to grow as a houseplant over winter, as you still let the bulb go dormant. But overwintering caladiums in pots is a quick and easy way to overwinter the tender plant indoors.

Stop regularly watering come fall, and then move the container indoors once the temperatures start to drop below 60°F. Cut down the foliage once it wilts with a pair of clean, sharp pruning shears.

Place the pot in a cool, dry, and dark environment for winter, such as a garage, outbuilding, or cupboard, and keep a close eye to ensure the soil remains slightly damp, which prevents the bulb from drying out.

Come spring, top up the pot with a quality soil for container gardening (such as this organic potting mix at Burpee) and move the plant back outdoors to start growing again for the new season.

FAQs

What temperature is too cold for caladiums?

When temperatures consistently drop below 60°F, it is getting too cold for caladiums. This is the stage to start taking measures to overwinter caladiums. A frost is capable of destroying the bulb.

What month do caladiums go dormant?

Caladium bulbs start to go dormant in the fall. Stop watering or feeding plants at this stage, and allow the foliage to die back naturally before mulching the plants or lifting the bulbs.

Caladiums do make great shade plants as they can tolerate as little as four hours of sunlight a day. They can bring a tropical garden vibe even to the darker corners of your yard. Other great plants to brighten up such difficult shady areas include heuchera (coral bells), dicentra (bleeding heart), and hellebores (columbine).

November may be late in the gardening calendar, but there is still time to plant vegetables. Do not underestimate the power of late-season sowings, which can provide quick pickings, despite the cold, and also earlier harvests next year.

This month allows for late sowings of fast-growing vegetables, but pay close attention to their days to maturity to choose the best varieties. November also offers a chance to plant cold-hardy crops that can overwinter in the vegetable garden without issue for harvests come spring or summer.

Many of the vegetables to plant in November that I discuss here require protection in colder climates. Whether you grow them indoors, in a cold frame, or build tunnels or hoop houses, providing them with some protection will be crucial for success in late fall and early winter.

7 Vegetables to Plant in November

Building a small winter hoop house is a great way to protect plants from frost and help you to overwinter vegetables successfully.

They do not have to be large and can be simple to make, using garden hoops (like this set of six fiberglass hoops at Amazon) that you cover with blanket row covers (such as this 10 ft x 30 ft floating row cover also at Amazon).

Such a mini DIY hoop house can be used on vegetable beds or raised beds to help seedlings get off to a great start in a protected environment.

Quick-Cropping Vegetables to Plant in November

1. Red-Leaf Lettuce

There is a great selection of cold-hardy red-leafed lettuces that can provide attractive harvests of leaves throughout the colder months. Another reason to consider red-leaved lettuces is that they have a milder, nuttier, and slightly more bitter taste than usual green-leaved lettuce varieties.

When picking lettuce varieties for November, the two key considerations are ensuring they are cold-hardy and mature quickly. A range of around 25-45 days means fast cut-and-come-again harvests. But there will still be time to harvest lettuce heads if you desire.

Some of the best cold-hardy red-leaf lettuce varieties include 'New Red Fire', 'Merlot', and 'Red Sails'. Despite their tolerance for colder temperatures, they still prefer growing in an unheated greenhouse, under a hoop tunnel, or in a cold frame in colder climates, just to protect them from prolonged freezes.

Buy Lettuce 'New Red Fire' seeds at True Leaf Market

Buy Lettuce 'Red Sails' seeds at True Leaf Market

Buy Lettuce 'Merlot' seeds at Amazon

2. Mustards

Winter mustards make ideal vegetables to plant in November for peppery harvests of leaves to spice up cold-weather plates, whether enjoyed raw or cooked. There are a plethora of hardy mustards you can sow this month directly into the vegetable garden, with some even capable of surviving frosts and snow.

Some of the best mustards to sow in November include the very hardy 'Ruby Streaks', 'Green Wave', and 'Red Giant'. Mustards are fast-growing vegetables that can be harvested as a cut-and-come-again crop in only 25 days from sowing, while it takes only 45-50 days for the plants to reach maturity.

Sow seeds a quarter-inch deep in rows spaced 18 inches apart. While they are tolerant of cold, growing them under row covers or tunnels helps to prevent damage from pests, including birds that may peck at the leaves when food is scarce during the winter.

Buy Mustard 'Ruby Streaks' seeds at True Leaf Market

Buy Mustard 'Red Giant' seeds at True Leaf Market

Buy Mustard 'Green Wave' seeds at Amazon

3. Corn Salad

A fantastic and often under-appreciated crop for winter, corn salad is a mild-tasting salad leaf with a buttery texture and a slightly nutty flavor. Also known as lamb's lettuce or mache, it can be used in salads, either alone or mixed with other leaves for a tasty mix, or used as a garnish on winter dishes.

Corn salad is very cold-hardy and can survive frosts and snow to provide pickings even deep into winter. You can sow corn salad under cover in many climates in November, while those with very cold winters should see it as a vegetable to grow in a greenhouse in the fall.

Sow seeds outdoors directly into their growing position in fertile, well-draining soil. They only need to be covered with a light layer of soil and kept moist, without being waterlogged.

Harvest corn salad as a cut-and-come-again crop, which can start around a month after sowing the seeds. Simply snip leaves from the plant with a pair of garden snips or scissors as and when required, and you should get many harvests throughout winter and into spring.

You can get corn salad seeds at Amazon to sow this month.

4. Spinach

Spinach leaves are packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, and you can get great harvests of this nutritious vegetable by sowing seeds this month.

If you want to grow spinach this month, look for cold-hardy varieties that have a fast days to maturity. The likes of 'Giant Winter' and 'Perpetual' are renowned for their hardiness and thrive in cooler temperatures of 30-60°F. Such varieties can provide harvests of baby leaves within a few weeks, or take 45-50 days to reach full maturity.

Spinach can grow in beds, raised garden beds, or you can even grow spinach in pots indoors during the colder months. Sow seeds around an inch deep and cover lightly. Thin the seedlings as they appear to around four inches apart, and keep the soil moist.

Start harvesting spinach once the leaves get large enough to use. Regularly picking the largest, outer leaves allows younger ones to grow on and promotes the development of new leaves for future harvests.

Get Spinach 'Winter Giant' seeds at True Leaf Market

Get Perpetual Spinach seeds at Amazon

Longer-Term Vegetables to Plant in November

5. Garlic

Garlic is one of the easiest and best vegetables to plant in November; planting garlic is as simple as pushing the cloves into the soil. Indeed, the main thing to remember is that you plant it the right way up (hint: the pointy end should be upwards).

You can plant hardneck or softneck garlic in the fall, though hardneck varieties are hardier and most suited to the coldest winters. Hardneck garlic does need exposure to the winter cold for the bulb to split, and you can’t plant it in spring like softneck can be. Consider your climate when picking the best type of garlic for you.

To grow garlic, the crop wants a sunny spot with well-draining soil, with compost or well-rotted manure added before planting. Separate the head of garlic into individual cloves and plant each one six inches apart, with the tip just showing above the soil surface.

Garlic can take 8-10 months from planting in the fall to harvesting in the summer. But the wait is well worth it, so try to resist harvesting garlic until the leaves turn yellow and die back naturally.

Shop garlic bulbs to plant at Burpee

Shop garlic bulbs to plant at True Leaf Market

Shop garlic bulbs to plant at Amazon

Shop garlic bulbs to plant at Walmart

6. Fava Beans

Fava beans, or broad beans, are not always the most popular crop, but a staple in many a vegetable garden. I have certainly grown them every year, and you can plant fava beans in the fall or spring for an earlier harvest of mild, nutty, and earthy beans in spring.

Whether you start growing fava beans in the fall often depends on soil type and whether your garden gets many visitors during the winter. Sowing is not ideal in heavy soils, as the beans can rot in sodden ground, while rodents can eat the beans as they search for food in winter.

However, if you can provide good conditions for fava beans, pick a variety suited to fall sowings. And the undisputed top pick for that is 'Aquadulce', a cold-hardy variety that you can rely on for great fava bean harvests come spring.

Sow the beans into two-inch deep drills, sowing them on their edge to reduce the risk of them rotting due to water sitting on the beans in the ground.

You can get 'Aquadulce' fava beans at Amazon to plant this month.

7. Overwintering Onions

There is still time to plant onions at the start of November, and these overwintering crops can provide an early harvest next year compared to spring-planted onions. By planting a combination of both, you can get a great and long crop of onions to enjoy.

Not all types of onions are suitable for overwintering, so look out for varieties marked as ideal for fall planting. Hardy varieties like 'Radar', 'Red Baron', 'Yellow Stuttgarter' or 'Senshu Yellow' are classic overwintering onions to choose from, and ones I have all grown successfully from fall plantings in the past.

Push the sets into the soil with the flat root end down and the pointed end facing up. It is advisable to cover the onions with row covers or horticultural fleece until the crop has developed roots. This is because birds are known to pull newly-planted onion sets out of the ground.

Get 'Red Baron' onion sets for planting at Amazon

Get 'Yellow Stuttgarter' onion sets for planting at Amazon

If you also want to grow fruit as well as vegetables in your productive garden, November can be a time to plant fruit trees. Our guide to some of the best fruit trees to plant in fall highlights seven different types you can plant in fall, when you can choose between planting container-grown or bare-root plants in your yard.

Shop Products to Protect Vegetable Seedlings

Sometimes you just desire more for your garden, whether it is more blooms, more movement, or more drama. If your simple wish is for more plants, November is an ideal time to propagate plants and reward yourself with new shrubs and perennials to enhance your flowering displays for years to come.

Most people only think of hardwood cuttings in late fall. True, it is an ideal time to use this convenient and low-maintenance method to propagate new shrubs for your yard. However, you can also take root cuttings of herbaceous perennials to bolster flower beds and containers next year.

This guide to plants to propagate in November includes both hardwood cuttings and root cuttings. It includes simple steps to follow to take plant cuttings successfully, and you can reap the rewards of your hard work. There is no reason not to add taking cuttings to your fall gardening checklist if you want more plants, plus you get these new additions for free.

1. Currants

November is an ideal time to take hardwood cuttings of currant bushes, which can include blackcurrants, redcurrants, and whitecurrants. When you grow currants, they need pruning during dormancy, from November onwards, and it is also a perfect time to grow more plants to boost your future harvests.

Pick healthy one-year-old shoots and trim off the soft tips as you process the stems into sections, each 12 inches long. Make a sloping cut at the top, above a bud, and a horizontal one at the bottom, below a bud.

You can dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone to increase the success rate, but this is not always essential, as currants root easily. One example of such a product to use is this rooting hormone powder at Amazon.

Insert the cuttings into a deep pot filled with well-draining potting soil, or into a slit trench in the soil. Cuttings in pots are kept in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse and kept moist, ensuring the soil doesn't dry out.

2. Dogwood

If you aspire for more glowing stems to brighten up any winter garden, add dogwood to your plants to propagate in November. Growing dogwoods is a great way to enjoy vibrant stems in shades of red, orange, or yellow during the colder months.

You can take softwood cuttings of dogwoods in summer, or hardwood cuttings in November. The latter may be slower than softwood or semi-ripe cuttings, but they don't need as much attention. If you do wonder what to do with dogwoods in the fall, propagating is well worth considering, along with mulching them.

Choose pencil-thick stems that are firm but not hard, and cut them into 6-12-inch sections, with a slanting cut at the top and a straight one at the bottom.

Dogwood cuttings can be put into containers, but they are tough shrubs that will root well in an outside trench a little shallower than the depth of the cutting. Adding some horticultural grit or coarse sand (like this horticultural sand on Walmart) to the base of the trench helps prevent water from accumulating around the cuttings.

Space each cutting at least four inches apart and with only a few inches above the ground. Keep them moist in dry weather, and leave them until next fall.

3. Roses

If you ask around, it appears that all gardeners love growing and caring for roses. It is easy to understand why, as there are so many types of cultivars of roses that there can be one out there for any taste.

When you do find a rose variety that you adore, the best way to get an exact clone of it is to take rose cuttings and have more plants to enjoy for free. As roses are so versatile, you can take softwood cuttings in late spring or early summer or hardwood cuttings in fall. As mentioned above, hardwood cuttings take longer but make an ideal method if you didn't propagate your roses earlier in the season.

It is advisable to only take cuttings of healthy, vigorous roses, as opposed to spindly ones that show signs of struggling with pests or diseases. Select a healthy stem with the thickness of a pencil, and cut it into 6-8-inch sections.

After trimming the cutting at the top and bottom, while always remembering to cut above and below a bud, dip the bottom of the cutting in rooting hormone powder or gel. Then place the cutting into a trench, with a third of it above the soil, with sand or grit to boost drainage. And keep each cutting at least six inches apart.

Not all the cuttings will survive to planting out in a year. To give them the best chance of success, keep the area weed-free and occasionally water the cuttings to prevent the soil from drying out. A soil moisture meter (you can get a soil moisture meter at Amazon to give quick, accurate results) can be beneficial for checking moisture levels and ensuring the soil stays moist during summer.

4. Mock Orange

A mock orange (also known as philadelphus) is so-called for the glorious citrus aroma of the plant's blossom, and the tall shrub is one of the best fragrant flowers you can add to a space. The majority of mock orange varieties produce white flowers in late spring and early summer, and you get ones with different tints on the petals.

As they are cold-hardy, dependable, and wonderfully scented, it is understandable if you want more than one for your backyard ideas. And a great way to do that and get more, without having to pay for a new plant, is to take hardwood cuttings during dormancy.

Just as with other plants on this list, pick healthy pencil-thick shoots and cut them horizontally at the bottom and slanted at the top. With philadelphus, it is advisable to put the cutting into a container filled with compost for cuttings, pushing it two-thirds down into the compost. An ideal mix is something like this premium potting mix at Amazon, formulated for seedlings and cuttings.

This container can be kept in a cold frame until next fall. Just remember to closely monitor the cutting to keep it well-watered and prevent it from drying out.

5. Phlox

Phlox is a popular herbaceous perennial plant for bringing color and joy to flower beds in the summer. It is also a great plant for pollinators, with butterflies and bees attracted to its vibrant blooms.

If you grow phlox and want more plants, they are suitable for propagation in the late fall using a technique of taking root cuttings. This method is ideal for plants with fleshy roots, and allows gardeners to take many cuttings from one plant.

The first step is to carefully dig the plant up when it is dormant and wash the soil from the roots. Phlox has thinner roots, but cut a long section of healthy root and then, with a sharp knife, slice these into 3-5 inch sections.

Fill a seed tray with cutting compost. Lay the sections of roots horizontally on the surface and push them down to make good contact with the soil. Cover the compost with a thin layer of grit and place the tray in a water bath to soak up water without disturbing the surface of the tray.

Continue to keep the soil moist by sitting it in a water bath, and pot up individual cuttings once they start developing a few sets of leaves.

6. Verbascum

Verbascum, also known as mullein, is adored for bright spikes of blooms in summer. You can also propagate verbascum varieties from root cuttings, but the method differs slightly from above. This is because verbascum has a thicker root than phlox.

For starters, dig up the plant and clean as much soil as possible from around the rootball. Then, for this technique, you select some fleshy roots to act as cutting material. Like hardwood cuttings, aim for them to be around the thickness of a pencil, and cut them back close to the crown of the plant.

Cut the length of the root into sections 2-4 inches long, with a horizontal cut at the top and an angled cut at the bottom (which is opposite to hardwood cuttings). At this point, be very careful with your cuttings, as you need to make sure the horizontal cut is at the end of the root section that was closest to the crown of the parent plant.

Insert the roots into pots filled with cutting compost, so the angled cut is at the bottom and the top end is flush with the surface. Again, it is vital to get them the right way up; otherwise, the cutting won't sprout.

Cover the compost with a thin layer of grit, and keep the soil moist to encourage the cutting to develop leaves.

7. Hardy Geraniums

Hardy geraniums are one of the best plants to propagate in November. They're vigorous plants that grow quickly and profusely. They are reliable, low-maintenance, and long-flowering perennials to have in borders. Indeed, the biggest issue with hardy geraniums (or cranesbills as they are also known) is that they sometimes need regular cutting back to control them.

When you grow hardy geraniums and want more, there are various ways to do this. You can divide hardy geraniums, take stem cuttings in spring or summer, or opt for root cuttings in the fall. Taking root cuttings is suitable for any hardy geranium varieties, and you follow the same method as verbascum, as they have thicker, fleshier roots than phlox.

Use a sharp knife to cut roots into 2-4 inch pieces, cutting them horizontally at the top and angled at the bottom as outlined above. The sections can be put in containers filled with compost, or you can use module trays, like these nursery module trays at Walmart, which can make potting up cuttings after they sprout a bit less fiddly.

The cuttings should develop a good root system by next fall, enabling them to be planted outdoors, and the resulting plants will start flowering the following year.

If you still have that burning desire to be proactive with planning next year's borders, there are flowers you can plant in November to bolster your beds with more blooms in spring and summer next year.

Popular favorites like sweet peas and lupines can be started from seed this month indoors, while spring bulbs such as tulips and alliums can be planted for glorious displays.

If you have space and inclination to start flower seeds indoors in the fall, the reward will be strong plants come spring and earlier displays of blooms.

November marks the end of the fall and is a transitional period into winter. It is a month when many gardens get the first frosts, which kill back summer-flowering plants, and deciduous trees and shrubs enter dormancy. As with any month in the gardening calendar, there is work to do, so let's take a look at some plants to prune in November.

There is no rush to get out with the pruning tools and get all the winter pruning done straight away, though. Many perennials curtailed by frosts offer benefits to wildlife, or can still provide beauty in a winter garden, while lots of shrubs are best pruned in late winter or early spring.

Then there are those plants that actively benefit from being pruned this month – those are the ones I focus on here, and you should add them to a fall gardening checklist. The list includes fruit bushes that reward your TLC with bumper crops, shrubs that require protection through trimming, and perennials that need pruning in November to stay healthy.

Plants to Prune in November

I spent many years working in large historic public and private gardens. November was a stunning month, as the garden displayed real beauty with the changing seasons, but it was always a busy time with lots of clearing, tidying, and trimming on the to-do list. The plants here were on those lists as flower beds, vegetable gardens, kitchen gardens, and glasshouses were given some TLC.

1. Blueberries

Blueberries are a fantastic soft fruit bush to grow, and one I have grown for many years, both in productive gardens I worked in and at home, where I grow blueberries in pots. Not only are the plants an easy superfood to grow, but once established and happy, they can give bumper harvests of fruits rich in vitamins and antioxidants.

Correct pruning is one of the key aspects to get right for a blueberry bush to fruit successfully, along with growing in ericaceous soil and fertilizing annually. Thankfully, knowing how and when to prune blueberries is not daunting.

Blueberries are pruned during dormancy, and the window to trim opens in November and runs until March.

As for how to prune blueberries, they fruit on old wood that peaks at two or three years old, and then their productivity fades. Remove dead, diseased, or damaged branches, then focus on trimming out a third of the oldest stems – these will be darker in color than younger, more productive branches.

To keep bushes happy, fertilize blueberries with a feed especially designed for acid-loving plants in the spring, such as this acid mix all-natural fertilizer, available at Amazon.

2. Currants

There are different types of currants to grow, including blackcurrants, whitecurrants, redcurrants, and more. While it may sound complicated, as there are different pruning techniques for certain types, they are all pruned during their dormancy, from November until late winter.

I have pruned many types of currants over the years, and am confident in telling you the pruning methods are simple, so I will outline the basic principles and differences below:

• For all currant bushes, start by removing any dead, diseased, or damaged branches, along with any that cross or rub with a pair of clean, sharp pruning shears or loppers
• To prune blackcurrants, the focus is on removing a third of the oldest wood each year, which will have the darkest bark, as well as any weak stems.
• To prune redcurrants and whitecurrants, it is similar to pruning gooseberries. Remove any branches older than three years, and then trim all side-shoots from the rest of the stems back to two buds.

3. Roses

Hold fire, this isn't a call to arms to head out and properly prune roses. Instead, it is a note to lightly trim shrub and bush roses to prevent wind rock if you have roses growing in windy or exposed sites.

What is wind rock? It is a term used to describe how strong winds can damage roots and even dislodge plants from the soil by causing them to rock back and forth repeatedly. Pruning to prevent wind rock is advisable for any newly planted roses, tall shrubs, and those likely to be subjected to winter gales.

From someone who worked in one particular exposed northern garden that was hit with strong winds and featured many roses, this form of trimming comes highly recommended.

It can be quick and simple to keep roses safe. Just head out with your pruning tools after flowering and cut all the stems back by between a third and a half. That is all required; then wait to do your routine pruning in late winter or early spring.

4. Peonies

Herbaceous peonies should be cut back after the first fall frosts to keep them healthy and ensure they put on a spectacular display of big, blousy blooms again next year. Depending on your climate, the first frosts will hit the foliage and cause it to die back in October or November, so it is time to cut back peonies.

You cut back peonies in the fall to prevent diseases that commonly occur when growing peonies, which are capable of overwintering on plant debris to strike again come spring. Cutting back and clearing all the old foliage removes any bacteria or infections, so nothing will impact your peonies when they regrow once the temperatures warm.

It is as simple as cutting your herbaceous peonies down to an inch above the ground and clearing away the old material. Disease-free foliage can be used to make compost, but any showing signs of powdery mildew, blight, or mold should be bagged up and disposed of.

This method of trimming is only for herbaceous peonies. If you are growing tree peonies, as they should be pruned in the spring.

5. Grapes

When you grow grapes, heavy winter pruning helps control and rejuvenate the vines, giving you a solid harvest the following year rather than a mass of smaller, unripe fruits. You prune grape vines during their dormancy period, which starts in November, and it needs to be done before the sap starts flowing.

If you grow grape vines indoors, such as in a greenhouse, it is a task best done sooner rather than later once the vines drop the last of their leaves and enter dormancy. I grew grapes in a greenhouse and a large orangery in a historic garden, and November was when we did the pruning each year.

Training grape vines is a very detailed job. However, to prune established grape vines, remove any diseased or damaged stems, and cut the side shoots off the main canes down to two or three strong buds.

It might feel excessive to prune so hard, but grapes are fast-growing climbing vines, and they produce fruit on the new growth prompted by the winter trimming.

6. Blackberry Lily

The blackberry lily (Iris domestica) is also known as the leopard lily or leopard flower, and, despite the name, it is a species of iris rather than a lily. It is a spectacular perennial, with its bowl-shaped orange blooms covered in red spots, but it has a few major issues, making it a perennial you want to cut back in the fall.

The first is to maintain its health. Like many irises, it is susceptible to iris borers, which feed on the rhizomes and overwinter on the plant's foliage. It is also very susceptible to fungal diseases, and those spores will also overwinter on any material left standing over the colder months.

Also, the blackberry lily is an invasive plant in the northern and eastern areas of the US. As a renowned self-seeding flower, cutting any plants you have growing back prevents them from spreading outside the confines of your garden and troubling native species.

7. Hostas

If you haven't already, take some time to cut back your hostas this month. It's a quick and straightforward task that provides two major benefits.

Simply put, hostas don't look attractive once the frost kills their foliage. The once lush green leaves, which hostas are grown for, turn yellow and slimy; they are certainly not visually appealing in flower beds or containers.

I worked in one large garden where masses of hostas were growing, and cutting them back in the fall helped avoid the unsightly view of a blanket of slimy foliage covering the soil.

Another reason to prune them this month is that dying foliage can become a breeding ground for pests and diseases. Slugs and snails are common problems when growing hostas, and they can overwinter their eggs in the foliage left on the ground over winter.

Decaying fungi can also overwinter bacteria and fungal spores, which can infect new growth in spring and spread diseases throughout the garden.

Shop Pruning Tools

I also previously highlighted a selection of fruit trees, shrubs, and perennials that may need pruning in November in another piece 12 months ago. All of the inclusions in that first article on plants to prune in November still deserve a place on your to-do list of fall gardening jobs, alongside these popular garden favorites that need pruning before winter arrives. Don't forget to add all these plants to your gardening plans.

Just because the plants in your garden are slowing down in fall, it doesn't mean it's time to retreat indoors, shut the door, and neglect garden wildlife until spring. That's why I've been searching for ways to continue helping birds over the next few months, including hunting down the best bird feeders for fall and winter.

There are lots of ways to help garden birds in winter, but providing the right vessel for them to eat from is key. Some bird feeders aren't built to withstand the harshest weather, and birds won't have much luck using them during the coldest months. Luckily, I've discovered some of the best bird feeders for this time of year.

Not only are they practical and will help feed birds during fall and winter, but they are also incredibly charming and make for great additions to your seasonal decor. Here, I've compiled my top six finds for you to explore and add to your winter wildlife garden.

6 Charming Bird Feeders for Fall and Winter

All of these bird feeders will help to feed birds in winter while looking great hanging from bare tree branches in your yard. They're practical for colder days and have seasonal designs that add interest to the fall garden and winter landscape.

Bird feeders for fall and winter aren't the only way to support feathered friends during the coldest months. You should also keep on top of bird bath winter care, including stopping your bird bath freezing and keeping it clean.

As we head into the coldest months, my mind is focused on getting my yard ready for winter to ensure all my plants are prepared for frosty temperatures. One of the biggest jobs is overwintering plants, including bringing some indoors, like rosemary.

You can grow rosemary in a range of regions, though it thrives best across US hardiness zones 8 to zone 11. It's fairly frost-tolerant, but not completely. In the coldest zones, rosemary is less likely to survive in an outdoor setting and is best overwintered indoors until spring. In milder climates, you can get away with leaving rosemary outdoors with some frost protection.

Either way, you should take steps to overwinter rosemary in fall before the first frost. To help you do it correctly, I've outlined the three easy steps I follow to bring my rosemary indoors for winter, plus tips on protecting it from frost in an outdoor setting.

3 Steps to Overwinter Rosemary Indoors

You should consider overwintering rosemary indoors if you live in US hardiness zone 7 or below. This is most convenient when growing rosemary in pots. However, it is possible to pot up planted out rosemary to bring inside.

1. Water Your Rosemary Plant Well

The first step to overwintering rosemary indoors is watering the plant well. This helps to prepare it for the change of location.

I tend to give my rosemary a deep watering a couple of days before moving it indoors. This provides time for the roots to soak up moisture, but also dry out just enough so handling the roots and soil isn't too tricky.

Of course, you should make sure you're not overwatering your rosemary. I always use this soil moisture meter from Amazon to identify if it's time to water my plants.

This is also a good time to do some light rosemary pruning in preparation for overwintering rosemary.

Use these pruning snips from Amazon to remove any leggy and damaged growth. This will set your rosemary up for new growth indoors.

2. Pot Up Your Rosemary Plant

If you plant rosemary in a border, it can gradually become a big shrub, sometimes reaching up to four feet in height.

A mature rosemary shrub is much more difficult to pot up to overwinter indoors. At this stage, you should turn to techniques to protect plants from frost. In mild climates, you may even find your mature rosemary is a herb you don't need to winterize.

However, smaller ground-planted rosemary plants can be potted up to overwinter. When doing so, use tools like this garden trowel from Amazon and ensure as much of the root ball as possible remains intact.

When potting it up, use a well-draining soil type. You can even purchase a specific herb potting mix from Amazon.

3. Place Your Rosemary In a Bright Spot

To overwinter rosemary successfully, it needs a location with lots of light. These herbs are native to the Mediterranean after all.

I find my rosemary plant is happiest when placed on my sunniest, south-facing windowsill. In fact, this is where I grow other drought-tolerant herbs, so it makes it easy to incorporate rosemary into my indoor herb garden for winter.

You can also place your rosemary in a well-lit conservatory or a greenhouse.

Ideally, your rosemary plant should get six to eight hours of sunlight daily. If you're struggling to provide this, use a grow light for houseplants. This grow light from Amazon has a timer function.

At the same time, your rosemary should be kept at a temperature between 55-65°F, which will keep it productive. You can use a heat mat (from Amazon) if you need to boost warmth levels.

Don't forget to also check your rosemary for any pests before bringing it indoors, so they don't spread to other herbs or houseplants.

Tips For Overwintering Rosemary Outdoors

You may consider leaving rosemary outdoors in winter if you live in US hardiness zones 8 or above, or if your rosemary is a substantial shrub too tricky to lift and move indoors.

In this case, it's important to put some frost protection in place to help your rosemary get through the harshest months.

This includes pruning to remove leggy and damaged growth, mulching at the base of the plant, and even using a frost cover (from Amazon) over it.

For potted rosemary plants you are keeping outdoors, consider wrapping the containers with burlap (from Amazon) for extra root insulation.

You should also consider moving potted rosemary to a more protected location, such as against a wall or under a shelter like a pergola.

FAQs

When Can I Move Rosemary Outdoors?

If you overwintered rosemary indoors, you can move it back outdoors in spring after the last frost. When doing so, you should expose your rosemary plant to the colder outdoor conditions gradually to acclimatize it and ensure a smooth transition.

With your rosemary settled indoors for winter, you can follow the same guidance as growing rosemary indoors. Bear in mind it will dry out more slowly during the colder months, and watering should be adjusted accordingly. Likewise, you should maintain good air circulation to keep it pest and disease-free.

Shop Indoor Herb Garden Accessories:

October is a prime time to give your lawn some attention, but it is not a standard approach across the country. The best way to plan your October lawn care will depend on your location and the type of grass you have.

Warm-season grasses are suited to hotter climates, while cool-season grasses prefer (yes, you guessed it) cooler temperatures found in northern regions. Then you also have a transition zone in the middle, where both types of grasses can be planted. The growth cycle of different grass types will affect your fall lawn care.

When planning your lawn care tasks for October, understanding the makeup of your lawn is crucial. It dictates which tasks you should do, and what you shouldn't. Here we look at October lawn care across the different zones, including which jobs are a must for all gardeners this month and those that differ based on your grass.

October lawn care in focus – let’s start with 1 essential task for all

Wherever you live, collecting leaves from a lawn is a prerequisite. When the leaves fall in the fall, they block sunlight when left on a lawn, causing bare patches while also trapping moisture and inviting lawn diseases.

Whatever your preferred method for getting rid of leaves, whether a leaf blower or a rake for a more physical workout, always collect leaves and use them to make leaf mold or compost.

Leaf collecting is a must, no matter where you live or the type of grass. But other aspects of October lawn care do differ depending on those factors. So, let's look at the crucial October lawn care jobs for warmer and cooler zones.

October lawn care – What to do in warmer zones

Warm-season grasses, such as zoysia grass or Bermuda grass, go dormant when the soil temperatures consistently drop below 55-60°F in the fall. Your October lawn care is designed to help the grass as it winds down for the season and stops growing during this month or next, depending on your climate and location.

• Mow – Keep mowing the lawn until it stops growing. The growth of warm-season grasses will slow when temperatures are in the 60s, but not stop completely until it goes under the 60°F mark. Monitor your grass and local weather forecasts to gauge when to give the lawn its final mow of the year, which can be as late as November. To maintain the health of your lawn, raise the cutting height in the fall and don't mow wet grass. Raise the cutting deck to 2.5 to 3 inches to leave longer grass blades that can insulate the roots during winter. This tactic also helps combat the risk of winter fungal diseases, including snow mold.
• Weed – Fall can be an efficient time to kill weeds and prevent future ones. Removing weeds before they seed prevents their spread, and they will compete with the grass as it begins to grow in spring. The best way to kill weeds but not grass is to remove them by hand. It may not sound appealing, but it is effective. It need not be back-breaking, though, as a weed puller tool like this one on Amazon allows you to remove weeds without bending or kneeling. To stop cool-season annuals like henbit, chickweed, and poa annua, you can apply pre-emergent herbicides in October. Such products prevent winter annual weeds from sprouting.
• Water – Depending on your climate and the local weather patterns, you may need to continue watering the lawn into fall. Warm-season grasses need 1-1.5 inches of water per week during this time of year. If this cannot be achieved thanks to natural rainfall, you may need to use your irrigation system or head out with a garden hose to keep your lawn hydrated. Giving the grass the moisture it craves helps it recover from the stress of hot summers. It also helps to repair any patches in the lawn, and means the grass stores enough energy in its roots to survive winter. A soil moisture meter like this one on Amazon can quickly provide key information on soil temperature and moisture levels. It will help gauge when to water grass and also give you an idea of when the grass will start to go dormant when the soil temperatures drop. Avoid overwatering the lawn (a common lawn watering mistake) as the cooler temperatures of fall reduce evaporation. And keep an eye on the forecasts to stop watering the lawn in fall ahead of the first hard freeze.
• Overseed with ryegrass – If you have bare patches in the grass, you can overseed warm-season lawns in the early weeks of October. Doing it earlier is required as the soil temperature needs to be at least 65°F for strong germination. Warm-season grasses are suited to seeding in spring, but to provide year-round color, you can overseed with ryegrass in the fall. This fast-growing grass seed germinates quickly and can add winter color to lawns in southern climates. It is a short-lived grass, but it can provide that desirable green over winter before dying back when the rest of the lawn comes back to life. You can get bags of annual ryegrass seed at Walmart to overseed your lawn in the fall. Plant the seeds using a spreader or by hand six weeks before your first frost and water frequently until it is established.

October lawn care – What to do in cooler zones

Cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, fine fescue, and perennial ryegrass are more suited to cooler northern climates. These grasses go dormant when the soil temperatures fall below 45°F. Good October lawn care for cool-season grasses helps it recover from the summer usage and develop strong roots to keep the grass stronger for next year.

Mowing, weeding, and watering as required are also essential October lawn care jobs for cool-season grasses. However, there are also other tasks to add to your fall gardening checklist when dealing with these grasses.

• Fertilize – October is a crucial time to fertilize a lawn and strengthen your cool-season grasses. Applying a tailored feed in the fall encourages strong root growth, preparing the lawn for the incoming winter. The key is to use the right type of fertilizer, which is a feed higher in potassium and phosphorus. These essential plant nutrients help support root development and provide the strength needed to survive winter and grow strongly come spring. An example of one such product is this winter survival fall lawn food at Walmart. If you wonder how often you should fertilize a lawn, feeding 3-4 times a year is the maximum, and a fall feed is the last of the year. Cool-season grasses want this fall feed, while August or September is the best window for a final feed of warm-season grasses. Avoid using summer lawn feeds that are high in nitrogen in the fall. This encourages fresh, lush growth that will be damaged by the winter cold.
• Aerate – Cool-season grasses can benefit from aerating in the fall to reduce compaction and boost root growth, as the holes in the lawn created by aeration allow for improved air, water, and nutrient penetration. It is a useful task to do before other tasks, as there are benefits that come with aerating a lawn before fertilizing or seeding. As for how to aerate a lawn, it can depend on the size of your space. A small lawn can be aerated easily with a garden form, while a mechanized lawn aeration machine may be needed for large lawns. A good time to aerate is when the soil is damp (which makes it easier for the spikes to penetrate), but not when it is waterlogged or frozen (both of which will make a mess and damage the grass).
• Overseed with cool-season grass seed – Early to mid-October offers the opportunity to overseed with cool-season grasses as the soil is warm from summer, and there is often good seasonal moisture to aid germination. Sowing this month is dependent on warmer falls as the seeds want at least 4-6 weeks until the first heavy frost. Plant grass seed earlier in the month and keep it moist until the frosts arrive. You can cover the newly-seeded area with horticultural fleece or germination sheets to retain warmth and stop birds from eating grass seed. Get it right and the new grass can develop roots before the winter frosts arrive. This helps the lawn withstand winter weather and be strong enough to cope with hot, dry spells next summer.

October lawn care – What to do in transition zones

The transition zone is an area where you can grow either warm-season or cool-season grass. Before making plans for October lawn care, understand the types of grass you have in your lawn, and tailor your approach accordingly.

As mentioned earlier, for both types, you should mow, water, weed, and remove leaves. However, only fertilize and aerate if you are dealing with cool-season grasses.

Potentially, the trickiest aspect comes when lawns in this zone are a mix of grasses, such as a warm-season base overseeded with cool-season grasses. The safest way to approach this is to keep mowing at a higher height, water as required, and remove weeds and leaves. But avoid fertilizing until spring and leave other maintenance tactics like scarifying and aerating until then, too.

Once the grass goes dormant, it should be left alone for the rest of the fall and winter. There are many winter lawn care mistakes to avoid making during the coldest season, but maybe the biggest is walking on frozen grass. Many people will do this without thinking about the consequences, but treading on a frozen lawn can damage the grass blades, cause bare patches, and compact the soil.

Shop tools for October lawn care

Watching the plants in my yard change color ignites an excitement for the cozy fall days ahead. One of the greatest joys is spotting a plant in beautiful fiery and bronze hues that I didn't expect to see, previously disguised with luscious green leaves and neutral blooms.

These unexpected plants for fall color are some real gems to have in your fall garden. Not only do they dazzle with their bright foliage in the latter half of the year, they also provide interest earlier in the year, too, often with spring and summer blooms.

Alongside the best plants for fall color, these unexpected plants for fall color can create a vibrant garden landscape for this chillier season. Here, I take a look at five top choices, plus reveal some expert tips on growing them successfully.

5 unexpected plants for fall color

Unexpected plants for fall color can be found in all corners of the garden, from towering trees to fall flowers for pots, and even grasses. All of them go through a magnificent transition as summer ends, turning red, orange, yellow, and bronze.

1. Sassafras

With yellow-green leaves through spring and summer, you would never assume sassafras would turn into a mixture of orange, red, and even purple colors by the time fall comes around.

It's distinctive lobed leaves and lemon-scented spring blooms also make it attractive in the warmer months. By late fall, this tree even turns into one of the best trees and shrubs for fall berries, with dark blue berries emerging.

It's best to grow sassafras across US hardiness zone 4 to zone 9 where it enjoys full sun to partial shade.

'A well-draining, clay, slightly acidic soil type is recommended,' says Plantum plant expert Marina Prokaten.

'The sassafras can grow multiple trunks, so if that doesn’t suit you, you can reduce it to one by pruning in the early stages of its life,' she adds.

Do this by using essential pruning tools (like these bypass pruning shears Amazon) to remove suckers at the base of the tree during early spring.

You can find a young sassafras tree to plant from Amazon.

2. Japanese forest grass

One of the best ornamental grasses for winter, Japanese forest grass goes through a beautiful phase in fall before reaching its golden brown look for winter.

In summer, the mounding clumps of grass are yellow-green and often have creamy variegation. As fall settles in, the blades of the grass turn bright yellow and orange, with sprays of pale green flowers.

When growing Japanese forest grass, choose a partial shade position and maintain evenly moist soil. They are best suited to US hardiness zone 5 to zone 9.

Hold off on pruning until early spring to make the most of the bronze foliage through fall and winter. You can then use tools like these loppers from Amazon to cut it right back to the base.

Shop for Japanese forest grass at Nature Hills.

3. Spirea

If you're looking to fill in gaps of your fall borders, consider adding spirea (suited to US hardiness zone 3 to zone 9). These shrubs are popular not only for the beautiful fiery shades they turn in fall, but also the blooms that appear in summer.

'You can get blooms in shades of white, pink, and red, and they are all very popular with pollinators,' says Drew Swainston, Homes & Gardens' Gardens Content Editor.

'Some spirea varieties also have glorious fall color. The likes of Bridal Wreath Spirea (Spiraea prunifolia), Birchleaf Spirea (Spiraea betulifolia), and Japanese Spirea (Spiraea japonica) all turn stunning shades of yellow, red, or orange come the fall,' he adds.

Explore the spirea varieties available on Amazon.

Drew notes these shrubs are low-maintenance and easy to care for once established in your yard.

'Give spirea a good mulch in the fall with organic material like compost, wood chips, or pine needles,' Drew advises. 'This 2-3 inch layer will retain moisture in the soil, suppress weeds, and insulate the roots against the winter frosts.'

4. Arkansas blue star

With dainty blue star-shaped flowers on show from late spring to summer, Arkansas blue star is certainly one of the best unexpected plants for fall color.

It's wispy foliage transitions from vivid green to bright yellow and orange in fall, appearing like a fuzzy sponge from a distance.

It's best to grow Arkansas blue star across US hardiness zones 4 to 9. It prefers a well-draining soil, even growing well in sand and loam soil types.

They tend to stop flowering by early summer, which is when you should prune Arkansas blue star by six to eight inches. This will boost foliage growth through the rest of summer, creating a bushier habit for fall and winter.

Find an Arkansas blue star live plant from Amazon.

5. Blue leadwort

When blue leadwort (plumbargo) blooms first appear in summer, they sit against a background of green foliage. But, as the colder temperatures arrive, the leaves become a marbled red-green.

What's particularly remarkable about the look of blue leadwort in fall is the fact its blue flowers remain right through October. This creates a striking contrast to the red foliage that turns richer as the weeks progress.

This long flowering period makes blue leadwort one of the best flowering shrubs, along with its low-maintenance nature. It doesn't even need deadheading, as the flowers are self-cleaning and drop off once spent.

To achieve the best fall color, plant blue leadwort in well-draining soil. Too-wet can cause rot, resulting in the foliage drooping, curling, and falling off before it has a chance to turn red.

Find a blue leadwort plant from Amazon.

FAQs

Is October a good time to plant trees and shrubs?

Yes, October is a great month to add new trees and shrubs to your yard. This is because the soil is still warm and workable, encouraging root establishment ahead of frostier temperatures. For immediate impact, consider planting shrubs and trees for fall color this month.

One of the best things about adding new plants to your yard is watching how they change throughout the year, surprising you with different colors in different seasons.

For an extra hit of fall foliage galore, check out our report on the Farmers' Almanac peak fall foliage map to find out where to go to see the best colors this season.

The mindset of many gardeners turns to tidying up their space in the fall. While pruning and cutting back can make a difference, there are some plants I advise not trimming this month, as they are best left until spring.

In a nutshell, October is not the month to prune spring-flowering shrubs or cut back some of the best perennials for providing food for birds throughout the winter months. Pruning shrubs that flower on wood developed the previous year means you miss out on spring blooms, and cutting back plants like coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and globe thistle impacts wildlife at times when food is scarce.

Understanding when to prune shrubs prevents you from making any mistakes you'll live to regret. To stop this from happening, we reveal seven plants to never prune in October. It includes hugely popular shrubs you don't want to touch this month, and some perennials to leave standing over winter for the benefit of wildlife.

Plants to never prune in October - you should leave these over winter

Some plants do want pruning this month. So, if you are looking for jobs to add to your fall gardening checklist, see our guide to plants to prune in October that will benefit from some TLC this month. But steer well clear of the following plants:

1. Forsythia

The sight of the bright yellow blooms of forsythia is a sign that spring has arrived. Don't rob yourself of that satisfaction by pruning forsythia in October. As the spring-flowering shrub blooms on old wood that has developed the previous year, pruning in fall means you cut away all next year's buds.

The right time to trim is after the flowers have faded, from April to June, depending on your US hardiness zone. If you have not touched the shrub yet this year, it is too late to prune forsythia, and you should steer well clear until after next year's blooms have ended.

2. Viburnum

Viburnums are a versatile and popular species of shrubs that you should not prune in October. Whether you have a deciduous or evergreen variety, viburnums are another shrub that produces flowers on wood that grew and developed the previous year.

You usually don't need to do lots of pruning with these low-maintenance shrubs. When the time comes and they need trimming and tidying, it is a task to do after they have flowered. Prune viburnums in October, and you won't get any display to enjoy next year.

So, what can you do with viburnums in the fall?

Keep them well-watered, especially in drier years, and give plants a good mulch to protect the roots in winter. The latter job is particularly beneficial in colder climates, and an organic mulch, such as this pine bark mulch from Walmart, is a good option.

3. Mock orange

Mock orange, also known as philadelphus, is adored for its fragrant white flowers in early summer. There are many mock orange varieties to choose from, ranging from tall specimens that can stand proud towards the back of flower beds to dwarf varieties for smaller spaces. Wherever you plant a mock orange, you can often smell the glorious shrub before you see it.

If you grow a mock orange, understanding when to prune it is vital to ensure you get those intoxicating flowers to enjoy. The shrub flowers on wood produced the previous year, and needs trimming after flowering. Prune a mock orange in October and you will be removing the wood to carry next year's flowers.

4. Black-eyed Susan

Many gardeners rush to cut perennials back in the fall. Holding fire can offer multiple benefits, so don't head out too fast with your pruning tools to prune everything back.

A case in point is black-eyed Susans. Also known as rudbeckias, they brighten up any flower bed in the summer, but there are also great reasons to delay pruning them until the spring.

The seed heads provide vital food for birds, including American goldfinches, sparrows, and cardinals, during the colder months. If you want to help wildlife during winter, it might be time to reconsider when to cut back black-eyed Susans.

On top of that, the old stems provide structure through winter and look particularly fetching tinged with a frost. If you want to grow more black-eyed Susans, leaving the seed heads over winter will mean the plant self-seeds around the garden. This may be appealing to some gardeners, but not all.

5. Coneflower

Just as with black-eyed Susans, don't rush too quickly to cut back coneflowers once the first frosts arrive. The dried seed heads of most coneflower varieties provide valuable food for birds, and they do this at a time when food is scarce.

But what if you are growing a hybrid sterile variety of coneflowers that don't produce seeds? Well, it is still worth saving the cutting back to spring, because the stems can protect the perennial's crown from the worst of the winter weather.

6. Ornamental grasses

Low maintenance and high impact are two great ways to describe ornamental grasses. They can give height, texture, and movement to borders, or you can landscape with ornamental grasses for privacy.

When you grow ornamental grasses, they don't need pruning in the fall. Both evergreen and deciduous types of grasses can provide structure and beauty in a winter garden, especially when they are touched by frost. The grasses can also provide shelter for wildlife and be a food source for birds when left untouched for winter.

Hold off on cutting back ornamental grasses until early next year. Late winter or early spring is the best time to cut the old growth of deciduous grasses back to the base and remove dead leaves from evergreen grasses.

7. Loropetalum

Loropetalum is a genus of four shrub species in the witch-hazel (Hamamelidaceae) family. It has the same slender strap-shaped petals as a witch-hazel.

These bright blooms appear in late winter and early spring, but what makes loropetalum more unique is that it is one of the best shrubs with dark foliage. This evergreen foliage comes in shades of pink, red, or purple. The bold shades make it a dramatic shrub for borders, or you can grow loropetalum as an alternative hedging plant.

As loropetalum blooms on old wood, pruning in the fall robs you of the flowers, which come in shades of red, pink, white, or yellow, and with a light fragrance. Loropetalum often needs little pruning. When it needs tidying, the correct time to prune the shrub is after flowering in spring or early summer.

Now you know plants to never prune in October, that may free up some time in your gardening diary for the month. So why not do some planting this month? Our guides to vegetables to plant in October and flowers to sow in October are full of great ideas to inspire you to get out planting over the coming weeks.

Shop pruning tools

Fall is a busy time for us gardeners as we work hard to get our yards ready for winter and prepared for spring. One of the most vital things to get done in October is planting all your spring bulbs, ahead of the first frost.

Bulb planting earns its place at the top of the fall gardening checklist for a good reason. Getting your bulbs in the ground now gives them a crucial cold period, setting them up for strong root establishment and bright blooms. Careful planning around which bulbs to plant in October will reward you with a spring garden exploding with vibrant color.

From yellow daffodils to purple hyacinths and a rainbow range of tulips, there are so many possibilities for a spring display. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the choice, look no further. Here, I've compiled the best bulbs to plant in October for spring color, with tips from experts on how to get the most out of them.

7 bulbs to plant in October for spring color

Many of these bulbs are perennial bulbs to plant in fall, meaning they will provide you with returning blooms each year. Just take care to consider your US hardiness zone when choosing from the spring bulbs below, to ensure you plant ones that are suited to your local climate.

1. Crocus

• US hardiness zone: 3-8
• Flowering time: January-March

Crocus is one of the most versatile 'bulbs' (technically corms) to plant in October. As pictured above, these typically purple and white blooms are impactful when planted en masse on a lawn as a bulb for naturalizing, but they can also work well in borders and pots.

'Crocuses tend to do well in cold climates, and many multiply well. As long as winter has regular cool nights and cool days, crocus should perform well,' says master gardener Mary Jane Duford from Home for the Harvest

'In warm winter climates (US hardiness zone 9–10 and above), crocuses struggle because they require winter chilling. If your area doesn't drop below about 40°F for a month or two, you'll need to pre-chill crocus corms for reliable blooms,' Mary advises.

When planting crocus bulbs, plant them 3-4 inches deep and close together. You can use this bulb planting tool with a depth marker from Amazon to help with this.

Find crocus bulbs at Burpee.

Find crocus bulbs at Amazon.

Find crocus bulbs at True Leaf Market.

2. Daffodils

• US hardiness zone: 3-8
• Flowering time: January-May

Daffodils are some of the most classic spring bulbs and for many, they're the first sign of spring as they emerge early in the season.

'Daffodils are a fantastic choice for a perennial garden as they reliably return year after year and are naturally deer-resistant,' says Laura Janney, CEO of The Inspired Garden.

'For an appealing garden layout, plant daffodil bulbs about a third of the way back in your garden beds rather than along the border. This allows other plants to hide their fading foliage,' she advises.

While the iconic yellow varieties bring lots of color, there are other varieties of narcissi bulbs to consider, too.

For example, these Replete Daffodil Bulbs from Burpee are a beautiful white variety with ruffled petals and a peach center.

To enhance your display, pair them with plants that complement daffodils, such as monkey grass and irises.

Find daffodil bulbs at Burpee.

Find daffodil bulbs at Amazon.

Find daffodil bulbs at True Leaf Market.

3. Tulips

• US hardiness zone: 3-8
• Flowering time: March-May

Tulips are the ultimate spring flower and one of the best bulbs to plant in October for spring color because they come in an endless number of hues, variegations, and even shapes – just take a look at our guide to the different types of tulips. Some of the most eye-catching are fringed tulips.

'Tulips are a delightful way to bring vibrant color to your spring garden. However, they tend to have a shorter bloom time compared to other bulbs. To extend the display, mix different tulip varieties with varying bloom times,' Laura suggests

'Since tulips typically last only a year or two, we often treat them as annuals and replant them each season,' she adds.

For this reason, after tulips bloom and their foliage has died back, you should lift them and store them over the summer until it's time to replant in the fall.

They work particularly well in containers as some of the easiest spring bulbs to grow in pots. Just take care to plant tulip bulbs correctly, with the pointed tip facing upwards.

Find tulip bulbs at Burpee.

Find tulip bulbs at Amazon.

Find tulip bulbs at True Leaf Market.

4. Camassia

• US hardiness zone: 4-9
• Flowering time: April-June

Alongside the classic yellows and pinks of spring bulbs, consider adding some blue flowers into the mix. Camassia is a great option for this, and it also comes in hues of creamy white and pale pink.

To grow camassia, plant the bulbs 3–4 inches deep. They can reach a height of three feet heigh, making them a good addition to the back of displays.

For this reason, camassia are on the list of bulbs to never plant in pots, though they do perform well in sunny borders and adapt well to partial shade.

Find camassia bulbs at Burpee.

Find camassia bulbs at Amazon.

5. Hyacinths

• US hardiness zone: 4-8
• Flowering time: March-April

For pastel spring hues, choose hyacinth varieties. These are particularly impressive when you grow hyacinth bulbs in containers packed closely together.

'Hyacinth bulbs are a bit smaller than large tulips or daffodils, but still substantial. Plant hyacinth bulbs about 4–6 inches deep and space them a minimum of 4–6 inches apart,' Mary advises.

'You should use gloves (like these floral gardening gloves from Amazon) when handling hyacinth bulbs, as they contain oxalic acid that can cause minor skin irritation for some people,' she warns.

These bulbs produce clusters of charming blooms in all colors, from pink, purple, white and even yellow. They're great for filling in gaps between taller bulbs, too, as they typically reach between 6–12 inches tall.

Find hyacinth bulbs at Burpee.

Find hyacinth bulbs at Amazon.

Find hyacinth bulbs at True Leaf Market.

6. Alliums

• US hardiness zone: 3-9
• Flowering time: May-July

If your aim is to create a pollinator garden for spring, then add alliums to your list of bulbs to plant in October. These spherical blooms are bee and butterfly magnets.

The most common colors of alliums are purple and white, with 'Purple Sensation' (bulbs from Amazon) being one of the most popular varieties, thanks to its large flowerheads and staggering height of three feet.

Other varieties of alliums are much smaller. 'Ping Pong' (bulbs from Amazon), for example, reaches just 24 inches in height.

Plant allium bulbs at a depth of two or three times the height of the bulb. You can use this garden bulb trowel with a depth marker from Amazon to help with the measurements.

Find allium bulbs from Burpee.

Find allium bulbs at Amazon.

Find allium bulbs at True Leaf Market.

7. Snake's head fritillary

• US hardiness zone: 3-8
• Flowering time: April-May

One of the most unusual bulbs to plant in fall delivers a unique purple bloom with a checkered pattern. Snake's head fritillary is an eye-catching flower that is popular for planting in lawns, borders, and pots.

As well as the classic purple variety, these bulbs also come in white.

To grow snake's head fritillary, plant bulbs at a depth of 3-5 inches in the fall. Make sure to choose a partial shade position, where they tend to perform best.

It's also key to let them naturally die back after flowering, allowing green foliage to stay for as long as possible to conserve energy in the bulb for next year's growth.

Find snake's head fritillary bulbs at Burpee.

Find snake's head fritillary bulbs at Amazon.

FAQs

Is it too late to plant spring bulbs in November?

November is not necessarily too late to plant spring bulbs, especially if planting bulbs in containers undercover (like in a greenhouse) for earlier blooming. But many regions will already be experiencing frost by November. Once frost arrives, it can be very difficult to work with the ground to plant bulbs. Instead, aim to plant bulbs before frost, which will also give them a sufficient amount of cold exposure through fall and winter before starting root development.

Choosing a number of these bulbs to plant in October is guaranteed to put on a colorful display in your yard come spring. For more tips on planting this season, check out our guide to planting bulbs in fall.

Shop bulb planting tools:

Composting in fall can seem quite daunting, as the colder temperatures work against decomposition. However, many gardeners actually see fall as the best time of year for composting, with an abundance of organic materials to add to your heap. There's one particular ingredient experts claim is the ultimate fall compost boost: holiday leftovers.

Vegetable scraps, bread, and plant-based foods are all valuable when it comes to making your own compost, and it's a super simple way to practice sustainable gardening this season. They add plenty of 'green' materials, essential for keeping a compost pile active by infusing lots of nitrogen in the heap. This is especially beneficial in fall to balance out the large quantity of 'brown' materials found in garden waste at this time of year.

It isn't as easy as throwing food waste in your compost bin, though. There are some composting mistakes you need to be aware of when using this ingredient. Here, composting experts explain why holiday leftovers are the ultimate fall compost boost and how to compost them correctly this season.

Why are fall holiday leftovers good for compost?

'Holiday meal leftovers are one of the best materials you can add to your compost pile in the fall,' says Lauren Click, founder of Let's Go Compost.

'They tend to be rich in nitrogen and provide the 'green' boost your compost needs to balance against the abundance of dry fall compost additions (like leaves, sticks, and any other plants that have died in the cold weather),' she explains.

While ticking essential tasks off your fall gardening checklist, you're likely to do a lot of hardwood pruning that leaves you with a large amount of carbon-rich materials. Food scraps then add a sufficient amount of nitrogen-rich material for active microbial activity to take place.

'When layered correctly with shredded leaves or paper, these scraps heat up the pile, keeping decomposition active even as temperatures drop,' Lauren explains.

It's the easiest fall and winter composting hack, maintaining temperatures needed for decomposition (which you can monitor with this compost thermometer from Amazon).

And not only will these leftovers speed up composting during fall, they will also leave you with a compost full of essential plant nutrients to support healthy growth.

'The variety of vegetables, bread, and other plant-based foods typically left over from big holiday gatherings in fall adds valuable diversity to the compost, which leads to healthier, more nutrient-rich soil in the spring,' Lauren explains.

How to compost holiday leftovers

It isn't as easy as just throwing your leftovers in your compost bin. Some careful consideration needs to go into choosing which leftovers to use.

This is because there are some things to never add to your compost bin, such as walnuts and shells which can sometimes contain toxins that can harm plant growth, and oil, dairy, and meat, which could attract rats to your yard and hinder the quality of your compost.

Instead, choose fruit and vegetable scraps, bread, pasta, and grains. You can also compost the contents of tea bags and coffee grounds.

You should cut up larger scraps into smaller pieces, which will help them break down more quickly.

As for layering, it's key to get the 3:1 brown-green ratio right for composting to be successful. You want three parts brown to one part green, which is easy to achieve at this time of year when using the mixture of browns from the garden and the fall compost boost of leftovers for greens.

'Straw bales, pine cones, acorns, natural wreaths, and paper decorations are all sources of brown materials for composting in fall, too,' Lauren notes.

'Fall is a great time to supercharge your compost with shredded leaves,' adds Colleen Falicki, founder of Back to Earth Compost.

Once you collect fallen leaves, use a garden shredder (from Amazon) or your lawn mower to shred them up and add them into your compost as a brown material.

FAQs

Can you compost sauces and gravy?

It's generally best not to compost sauces and gravy as part of the food scraps going in your compost bin. This is because they likely contain fats and oils that can attract pests to your yard and hinder the quality of your compost. If you have vegetable scraps with residue of sauces on them, give them a rinse before adding them to your compost heap.

There are lots of other sources of compost materials during fall. For example, you can compost pumpkins and gourds after using them as decorations (so long as they don't have plastic embellishments or things like glitter and paint on them).

When we later transition into winter, you may find our guide to stop compost freezing in winter helpful. The below composting accessories can also help during this time of year:

One of the busiest gardening seasons is upon us: fall. It's a time when us gardeners are getting spring bulbs in the ground, taking hardwood cuttings, and preparing our yard for the incoming harsh winter conditions. In the midst of getting everything done, there are a few common fall gardening mistakes that need to be avoided.

It can feel like a rush to tick off everything on your fall gardening checklist, but it's important to take your time to ensure tasks are properly and without error. Making fall gardening mistakes can hinder what you garden looks like come spring. Damaged lawn, bulbs that don't bloom, and diseased plants are just a few of the consequences of making common errors this season.

The good news, however, is that it's easy to avoid these mistakes once you're aware of them. Here, I outline some of the most common mistakes to avoid in the fall garden, with insights from gardening experts.

7 fall gardening mistakes to avoid

Avoiding these fall gardening mistakes will ensure your spring garden is colorful, abundant, and healthy. It will also help overwinter your garden ready for the coldest season.

1. Stop watering too early

It can be easy to assume you need to stop watering when the fall season hits, as colder temperatures bring slower plant growth. But, generally speaking, you should keep watering plants until the first frost, just make sure to adjust the frequency of watering.

This is especially true when it comes to fall lawn care and knowing when to to stop watering a lawn in fall.

'Cooler temperatures mean less water is being lost from the blades due to evaporation or transpiration, so your grass doesn’t need as much water as it does during the summer,' explains Don Chouinard, expert from Irrigreen.

'It is vital to keep watering your lawn through the fall, because it needs this time to recover and repair itself after the scorching summer heat, and to survive the upcoming winter season,' he adds.

The same goes for watering your plants in fall, although you should pay attention to the specific needs of specific plants. Use a soil moisture meter (from Amazon) to see if your plants' soil has sufficiently dried and monitor rainfall to identify if they need a top up of water.

This will be less frequent than summer, but warmer fall spells can still dehydrate plants. Keeping your plants watered will ensure their roots stay healthy and hydrated through winter, ready for another vibrant spring season.

2. Not winterizing your sprinkler

Once watering has come to an end in fall and frost is approaching, don't forget to protect your sprinkler by winterizing it.

'Not winterizing a sprinkler system, backflow device, or spigot can cause costly repairs come spring,' says Chris Rigby from Rain Bird.

'Most systems are not designed to have positive drainage, so the system needs help to stay healthy. The cost of replacing a backflow or fixing a flooded basement due to a frozen or broken pipe can cost thousands of dollars,' he warns.

To winterize a sprinkler system, you need to follow a few essential steps. This includes turning off the water supply, draining the system (and blowing out a sprinkler system), and insulating above ground components (using these insulation bags from Amazon).

3. Not removing diseased and damaged plants

Fall is an optimal time for plant pests and diseases to spread, especially those that favor wetter conditions, like the powdery mildew pictured above. Leaving damaged and diseased plants in the yard at this time of year is therefore a fall gardening mistake.

Fungal spores thrive from from warm days and cool nights of the fall season and will spread rapidly among plants growing close together.

Not only this, but leaving diseased and damaged plants in the ground can actually result in overwintering pests and diseases. When spring then comes around, your planting can be wiped out by these problems.

So, fall is an excellent time to check in with the health of your plants. Use essential pruning tools (like these bypass pruning shears from Amazon) to remove any damaged plant material, and consider fully removing and disposing of plants that have a severe issue to best protect surrounding plants.

4. Removing fallen leaves

While it can be tempting to reach for the garden rake when you spot lots of leaves on your lawn, there are actually lots of things you can do with fallen leaves.

As well as collecting them to make leaf mulch, it's important to not get rid of all of the leaves from the ground. It can benefit both your planting and garden wildlife.

This is because fallen leaves can help retain moisture and provide insulation for plants during the coldest months, acting as a mulch. They also provide shelter for a wide range of small mammals, insects, and invertebrates.

If you want to make the most of these benefits but want a tidier look, use this leaf collector from Amazon to rake up the leaves and then place piles of them more neatly around your yard, in borders, and in wildlife garden corners.

5. Cutting back all perennials

Deadheading and cutting back perennials for winter is a key task on the fall gardening checklist, but it would actually be a fall gardening mistake to cut back absolutely everything.

Not only will it leave your yard looking bare, it will also hinder your ability to attract wildlife to your yard in fall. Seed heads are a key food source for birds and insects during the fall months, while dying plants offer shelter during this time.

Plus, fading blooms can prove to be quite architectural in the winter garden, especially when they become frost-tipped.

An added bonus is that allowing perennials to rot down naturally will enrich your soil health, as all the essential plant nutrients in the plant matter decomposes back into the soil.

So, as long as the plants are diseased or experiencing a pest issue, consider letting them hang around for a while longer in fall.

6. Not cleaning gardening tools

Cleaning gardening tools should be on your checklist for all seasons, but fall is a particularly important time. With so many pests and diseases thriving during this wetter season, tools can be the perfect vehicle for them to spread.

Likewise, it's important to properly clean tools for storing in winter, to ensure your plants are off to a healthy start when you use them again in spring.

'You should also take steps like checking oil, removing batteries or gas to ensure garden machinery is ready to work in spring,' says George Reister from Husqvarna.

If you don't already have garden tool storage, consider investing in something like this gardening tool rack from Amazon to store gardening tools properly in fall.

7. Planting bulbs too late

There are lots of spring bulbs to plant in fall, but getting the timing right is key to a successful spring display.

Waiting too long to plant bulbs can lead you to a number of problems.

If you wait until the ground is frozen, it will be very hard to work with and you will likely struggle to physically plant them. Likewise, only getting bulbs in the ground in late fall can mean there isn't sufficient time for the plants to establish roots over winter, resulting in a poorer show in spring.

To avoid bulb planting mistakes, aim to get everything planted weeks ahead of the first frost in your local region. Pay attention to specific instructions for the bulbs you're planting, too, as some can be planted a lot later than others.

FAQs

Should you fertilize your lawn in fall?

Fertilizing your lawn in fall provides essential plant nutrients to support healthy root growth through winter, resulting in a vibrant green carpet in spring. You should aim to use a high phosphorus and potassium fertilizer to encourage root growth and nutrient storage over winter. This Scotts Turf lawn fertilizer for fall from Amazon is a good choice. It's best to fertilize your lawn before frost.

Don't forget to incorporate plenty of interest in your fall garden, too. Check out our guides to fall raised garden bed ideas and how to transition summer hanging baskets to fall for inspiration.

Shop gardening accessories

Tender or borderline hardy plants won’t appreciate being left outdoors in your flower beds all winter. Abandoning them to the elements risks certain death, but rather than lifting them to bring them indoors, you can cover them with the protection of mulch. This can be enough to ensure these tender plants live to see another season.

Some gardeners will routinely lift their tender plants in the fall. However, that is not always a possibility. There are those without the space to store large numbers of plants indoors, while big clumps can be tricky to move. That is where you need to look for an alternative way to overwinter tender plants in a garden.

A thick layer of mulch, such as compost, straw, or bark chippings, can protect overwintering borderline hardy plants, potentially even more tender ones. This guide features seven potentially tender plants to mulch in October, including popular perennials, tubers, and bulbs.

Plants to mulch in October

Whether or not mulching the following plants in October is suitable for you will depend on your climate and US hardiness zone.

The cooler the climate, and the milder the winter, the higher the chance of success. Mulching tender plants to overwinter a garden is not advisable in very cold climates with extreme winters, or in gardens with heavy soil types that are prone to winter waterlogging.

Dahlias

Many gardeners annually lift their tubers and overwinter dahlias indoors in the fall, and may be nervous about the prospect of leaving their precious dahlias outdoors through winter. But, if you grow dahlias in US hardiness zones 7 to 10, you can overwinter them in the ground – with some protection, of course.

I worked at Hidcote Manor Garden in the Cotswolds for several years, and they now routinely leave their dahlias in the ground over winter rather than rigorously lifting and storing them.

Cut back the foliage after it has been blackened by frost, and place at least four inches of mulch over the plants. This can be a layer of compost, bark, straw, or horticultural fleece - or wool, as Hidcote does it.

If you opt for straw, fleece, or wool, it is advisable to cover it with a wire cloche to keep the material in place. For example, you could use these wire cloche plant covers at Amazon, secured to the floor with landscape staples to keep it all in place.

Canna lilies

Cannas are great for bringing a tropical garden vibe to any bed, with their bold and bright blooms that can last right up until the first frost. If you don’t want to lift and overwinter canna bulbs, the rhizomes are potentially more cold-hardy than you expect and can tolerate temperatures down to 15°F.

That opens up the possibility for leaving canna bulbs in the ground over winter in US hardiness zones 7 and up. Cutting the foliage down and piling a thick layer of mulch over the rhizomes can be enough to protect them from winter.

However, if temperatures drop very low or you have a prolonged wet winter, the bulbs risk being damaged. Keep an eye on the conditions with a soil moisture meter that also records soil temperature, such as this 4-in-1 soil moisture meter at Amazon. If the conditions look risky, you can lift the bulbs to mitigate any losses.

Verbena

Verbena is a gorgeous perennial, typically topped with tall stems and purple blooms, but you can also get white or blue verbena varieties to enjoy. There are hardy and half-hardy varieties, with most perennial varieties hardy down to US hardiness zone 4.

All types of verbena will benefit from a good layer of mulch over winter, with half-hardy ones certainly welcoming of that protective layer to see them survive the cold. The best types of mulch for this are dry ones, such as straw, pine needles, or shredded leaves.

One of the advantages of growing verbena is that the plants are easily propagated by seed or cuttings. So, if you want to hedge your bets, you can take verbena cuttings or grow verbena from seed to cover any potential losses from extreme cold or wet winters.

Begonias

Before planning overwintering begonias, it is important to understand the type you are growing. This is because there are several different types of begonias.

Tuberous begonias and waxy begonias are typically used for summer displays, while it is the hardy begonias that can remain outdoors all winter, albeit with a covering of mulch.

These hardy begonia varieties can survive temperatures down to 32°F and remain in the soil throughout winter in US hardiness zones 6-9. To do this, cut the foliage back once it turns yellow, and then add a four-inch layer of organic mulch over the plant.

Half-hardy tuberous begonias need lifting to store the tubers, while waxy begonias can be treated as indoor plants during the colder months.

Gladioli

Gladioli are guaranteed to brighten up any summer borders, coming in a range of shapes and colors. These splendid plants originate from warm climates, and the traditional way to overwinter gladioli is to dig up the corms in the fall and store them for winter. However, they can be left in the ground.

Cutting back gladioli and covering the corms with 3-4 inches of mulch in the fall can provide enough protection to overwinter most types of gladioli successfully down to US hardiness zone 4. In colder climates, or if you grow gladioli in pots, then you’re safer to lift and store the corms.

Agapanthus

When you grow agapanthus, it will be one of two types. Hardy deciduous agapanthus varieties will die back in winter and can tolerate cold conditions down to 14°F, while evergreen types are more tender and likely to be damaged by frosts. Different approaches are best for each type.

Deciduous agapanthus in flower beds can overwinter in the ground, covered with three or four inches of mulch to insulate them against the worst of the winter colds. This layer can be compost, straw, or leaves, but needs to be removed in the spring to allow new growth to come through.

The more tender evergreen agapanthus, including those growing in pots, are best brought indoors for winter, as they are more vulnerable to damage from cold weather. If your beds are prone to waterlogging during winter, it is advisable to lift any agapanthus to avoid them rotting in the soil.

Fuchsias

There are different types of fuchsias to care for; you need to know your plants before thinking about overwintering them.

Tender fuchsias are compact plants typically grown in containers or hanging baskets. These need to be brought indoors ahead of any frosts anywhere below US hardiness zones 10+. However, many people enjoy them as annuals and don’t overwinter them, or take fuchsia cuttings to have new plants the following year.

Hardy fuchsias are suitable for zones 6-10, but their exact hardiness will depend on the variety. Even though they’re known as hardy types, it can still help to take steps to overwinter fuchsia.

If you have cold winters and fuchsia growing in the ground, it is beneficial to mulch around your hardy fuchsias with a good layer of compost, bark, or straw. The plants may die back in winter, but, with protection to insulate the roots, they can start to shoot again from the base in spring.

If you have hardy fuchsias in pots, you could cover the containers ahead of winter to keep the plants insulated. For example, these plant pot covers at Amazon snugly fit around the containers to shield the roots from winter colds.

Shop mulch

There are potentially other plants to mulch in October on top of tender ones in your flower beds. Mulching also plays a useful role in overwintering vegetables. It not only helps with soil health, but mulching the vegetable garden in the fall can protect root vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips. The layer of mulch insulates the soil and the roots against the cold, allowing you to keep crops outside for longer and making it easier to harvest them.

October is a magical time of year in the garden, when the colors change and temperatures drop. The first frosts of the year hit, leaves drop from the trees, and borders begin to fall from their summer heights.

There are still fall-flowering, hardy perennials that can stand in full bloom in fall, while many shrubs put on spectacular displays to enjoy. Don't just stand and admire that seasonal glory, though, as October is the perfect time to prune certain hedges, shrubs, and perennials.

I spent years working as a professional gardener in large, historic gardens, and October was always a busy month. Primarily, this is the month to prune shrubs and prepare them for winter, tidy up your hedges, and cut back perennials that bloomed during summer but now look a shadow of their former glory. With all that in mind, I highlight seven plants to prune in October and give some trimming tips to keep them healthy.

Plants to prune in October

Not all shrubs and perennial plants need to be trimmed this month. Many can offer attractive seedheads during winter, which will provide food and shelter in a wildlife garden, and should be left until spring.

In addition, some plants should never be pruned in October. The likes of rhododendrons, lilacs, fruit trees, and Japanese maples shouldn't be touched; it would be a pruning mistake to trim them this month.

However, the following seven are definitely plants to prune in October and will actively benefit from some TLC this month:

1. Deciduous hedges

Many deciduous hedges require pruning twice a year, especially if you want to keep them neat and uniform. The likes of beech, hornbeam, and hawthorn are fast-growing hedges that do benefit from a trim in both spring and fall.

Fall can be a good time to prune hedges made of deciduous hedging plants when you live in a cooler climate, where the plants can get at least four weeks to recover before the first winter frosts hit. The trimmed hedges will look neat and give a strong structure to the garden during winter.

It is important to clean and sharpen your hedge trimmer blades before cutting. This needs to be done carefully by securing the blades and sharpening them with a flat file, such as this 10-inch steel file at Amazon. This should be followed up by removing any burrs with a whetstone, such as this whetstone at Walmart.

Cleaning and spraying your trimmers with a lubricating spray after any use can help extend the life of your machine.

2. Early-flowering hellebores

Pruning is a key maintenance task when you grow hellebores, and it is vital both to keep plants neat and to prevent the spread of hellebore leaf spot.

Hellebore leaf spot is a fungal issue that affects the leaves, stems, and flowers of most hellebore types. Pruning hellebores and removing the older stems in the fall is a recommended way to reduce the chances of the disease spreading to new growth.

Early-flowering hellebores can bloom as early as December, such as the popular Helleborus niger or Helleborus orientalis. It is practical to prune these in October or November to remove old brown plant material before the new growth appears.

Always wear gardening gloves when working with hellebores, as all parts of the plants can irritate the skin. Use a pair of clean, sharp pruning shears or garden snips to trim old growth right down to the base.

3. Yew

Yew (Taxus baccata) is a robust and versatile evergreen bush that can be grown as a hedge or as topiary. It featured as a plant for topiary and also large, formal hedges in historic gardens I worked as a gardener. I spent many days and weeks over the years cutting yew, and October was a prime month for doing so.

Yew hedges or topiary can stay neat with just one trim per year, and October represents the end of the window to do this. Regular trimming results in dense growth – perfect for hedges or topiary – and the sharp edges will remain throughout winter and early spring.

You can prune yew hard, and it is recommended to taper the shapes of hedges so that light can reach the lower branches. However, do not cut back into the woody growth, as yew takes a while to resprout from the old wood, and you'll be left with holes in your hedge.

4. Santolina

Santolina, also known as Lavender Cotton, is a fragrant evergreen perennial with gloriously aromatic foliage and pompom-like yellow flowers. It likes a hot, sunny space in a yard and offers a lot as a drought-tolerant flowering perennial in warm climates.

The plant only reaches around two feet tall, but when it does get too tall, the clump can split open. When this happens as a result of being too straggly, the wooden center shows, and admittedly looks unsightly.

While hard pruning is left till spring, santolina also benefits from being cut back in the fall after flowering. You can quickly trim back old flowers and tall shoots in October with a pair of shears to maintain the shape and keep it neat.

You can keep your hedge shears sharp ahead of doing any trimming with this pocket-sized sharpening tool, available at Amazon, which can also be used to sharpen pruning shears or garden scissors.

5. Bearded Iris

When you are growing irises, pruning them in September or October is essential to keep them healthy for the following year. Bearded irises may have a fleeting blooming season of just a few weeks in late spring, but they make a spectacular impact even in that short period.

There are many bearded iris varieties to add to your yard for a display, in a range of different colors from yellow to deep purple. While the foliage wants to be kept in place after the irises bloom, to store energy for next year, the time to cut back irises comes in the fall.

Pruning is important when growing bearded irises, as pests and diseases can strike if it is not done. If you haven't got around to it yet, add cutting back irises to your fall gardening checklist for the month.

It is crucial as diseases like leaf blight, botrytis, leaf spot, and ink spot can all overwinter on old leaf debris. And the eggs of the iris borer can overwinter, too, and hatch to eat the plant next year. A quick prune to cut down the old foliage keeps irises healthy and guarantees a great display next year.

6. Lavatera

Lavatera, or tree mallow, is a classic English garden plant, and the flowering shrub is covered in white or pink blooms from early summer into fall. There are smaller types; however, the varieties to prune in October are the large, shrubby ones that can reach over six feet tall, and this is to keep them protected and healthy.

Proper pruning and shaping of Lavatera should always be done in the spring. However, it is beneficial to head out with the pruning tools to trim those taller varieties this month to prevent wind rock.

Strong winds can cause the shrub to move in the soil, and the roots are susceptible to damage. Tall shrubs can rock back and forth, or, in the worst-case scenario, the whole plant can be toppled in extreme weather.

To prevent issues from wind rock, cut the tall stems back by up to 50% in the fall. As well as Lavatera, you should cut back buddleia, dogwood, or abutilon to protect them from high winds.

7. Bee balm

Bee balm is, as the name suggests, a great plant for pollinators as its flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds during the season. Unfortunately, it is also highly susceptible to powdery mildew, and that is why it features here among the plants to prune in October.

Powdery mildew is a fungal issue that is a common problem when growing bee balm. It shows itself as a white coating on leaves, and its spores can overwinter in any living or dead plant material.

While bee balm can provide winter protection for many garden insects, if your plant succumbs to powdery mildew, it can also protect the spores, which will infect new growth come spring.

It is safer to cut back bee balm stems in the fall and, if your plants do show signs of powdery mildew, to bin the material and never use it to make compost.

Shop essential pruning tools

If you are after more inspiration for what you can and can't trim this month, we're here to help. We have guides on trees to prune in October and perennials to cut back in the fall to help you have a pruning plan for the month. It means you can head out with your pruning tools with confidence.

I take pride in my hanging baskets. It's a feature that decorates my front door and its the first thing you see as you approach my home. Although it's a smaller gardening space, hanging baskets are the optimal place to put on seasonal displays that wow visitors and bring joy every time you pass them.

As summer comes to an end, your hanging baskets might be looking a little worse for wear. But, it doesn't mean it's time to retire them for the year. There is so much you can do to refresh and spruce up summer hanging baskets for fall.

Whether it's switching out the entire thing for fiery colored plants for hanging baskets, or doing a little bit of pruning and adding in playful embellishments for the fall season. Here, I ask gardening experts to share their favorite ways to transition summer hanging baskets for fall impact.

5 stunning ways to switch up your hanging baskets for fall

When deciding what to do with your fall hanging basket, consider fall planter ideas. Many of these can be recreated in a hanging basket, too, though there may need to be some adjustments based on growing habits of plants and the size of your baskets.

1. Plant fall blooms for instant impact

This is something I've done to transition summer hanging baskets for fall: remove everything an start over with the best fall flowers for pots. It's the easiest way to get instant fall impact.

'Summer's heat-loving blooms are often spent by early fall. By completely replanting with cold-hardy flowers, you get a vibrant, fresh display of seasonal color,' says Amy Enfield, senior horticulturist at ScottsMiracle-Gro.

Top choices include growing chrysanthemums (view the mums collection available at Walmart) and violas, both of which bloom throughout fall while offering the most beautiful orange, pink, yellow, pink and purple hues.

When doing this, you may be wondering if you can reuse potting soil. The answer is yes, if none of your spring or summer plants had any pests or disease issues. However, to give you fall plants the best chance, mix in some fresh compost for a boost of essential plant nutrients.

2. Refresh your baskets with some TLC

If your hanging baskets are still flourishing, there's no need to completely remove all the blooms. But, fall provides the opportunity to do some tidying up and freshen up your baskets for the season.

The best late summer flowers will continue blooming into fall and by deadheading, you can extend their season.

'Regular deadheading prevents a plant from making seeds and entering its dormant phase, thus tricking it into continuing to bloom,' explains gardening expert Caroline Ervin. 'Keep deadheading into early fall so the plant delays going into dormancy,' she says.

You can use essential pruning tools to do this, for example with these pruning snips from Amazon, or pinch smaller blooms off with your fingertips.

Something I also did when sprucing up my summer hanging baskets for fall is take cuttings. More specifically, I took pelargonium cuttings (using bypass pruning shears, like these from Amazon) to propagate and overwinter in my greenhouse, ready for planting in my hanging baskets again in spring.

Doing this with tender perennials, as well as saving seeds from annuals in your baskets, means you can propagate your plants and grow them again next year for free.

3. Add foliage to your hanging basket

When you think of the best plants for fall color, lots of bronze colored foliage likely comes to mind. This doesn't have to be limited to borders and beds, as you can spruce up summer hanging baskets for fall by adding vibrant vines and plants for foliage interest.

'By focusing on plants with interesting leaves in shades of silver, bronze, purple, and deep green, you can create a modern, high-impact basket that provides lasting visual interest well into the cooler months,' Amy says.

In between your blooms, add plants like dusty miller (starter plants from Amazon)and coleus (starter plants from Amazon). This will brighten up your baskets will fall color instantly.

4. Plant herbs for fall fragrance

Fall is an important harvesting season for gardeners, so why not incorporate this in your hanging baskets? Using the best aromatic herbs, you can turn your hanging baskets into a sensory display, giving off delicious scents as you wander past.

Choose hardy herbs for this, so they last well into the frosty season. Rosemary (plant from Walmart), thyme (plant from Walmart), and oregano (plant from Walmart) are all good choices.

As well as smelling great, these herbs also provide interesting leaf shapes for your hanging basket, boosting the fall-feel of them.

Plus, it offers a unique take on herb planter ideas, so you can harvest fresh herbs from your hanging baskets throughout fall and into winter.

You can even add some salad crops and microgreens into the mix to turn your hanging basket into a true feast. This microgreen seeds pack from Amazon offers a wide variety.

5. Add seasonal embellishments

For a fun twist and to embrace both cozy and spooky season, add some fall embellishments to your hanging baskets.

There are lots of outdoor fall décor ideas you can take on board for this. For example, this fall decoration kit from Amazon comes with pumpkins, pinecones, and acorns that can make sweet additions to your hanging basket.

Or, for something more subtle, swap out your hanging planter for planters made earthy materials. Think wicker baskets (like this set of six wicker hanging baskets from Amazon), which contribute to the fall color palette.

I particularly like the use of dried flowers and foliage in the wicker baskets here. You could even add in some of the best plants for seedheads to embrace the change in seasons in your hanging planters.

FAQs

How do you overwinter a hanging basket?

To overwinter a hanging basket, you need to take note of what the plants in your basket need. If they are tender, it's a good idea to provide extra insulation for plant roots. You can do this by mulching and even moving the basket somewhere warmer, such as in a greenhouse. Alternatively, consider switching out your plants for a winter hanging basket idea, with hardy plants that can tolerate frosty conditions.

After you spruce up summer hanging baskets for fall, don't forget to tick other things off your fall gardening checklist. This includes collecting fallen leaves and making leaf mulch, a valuable resource for the winter garden.

Shop for fall hanging planters

You may have noticed some of the classic signs of fall in your garden in recent weeks, with leaves browning and dropping from trees, shrubs and hedges taking on a redder or orange tinge, and fall berries ripening.

It may conjure images of cosy fall nights, a seasonal wardrobe change, and pumpkin spiced lattes, but the temperatures can revert quickly to summer levels. This is because many of us are experiencing a phenomenon known as a 'false fall', which may be a temporary shift before the final weeks of warmth.

Just like a false spring, where there is a period of unusually warm weather before the temperatures drop again to wintery levels, such fluctuations due to a false fall can confuse gardeners and pose problems for plants. So, exactly what is a false fall, and are there any steps we can take to help the plants in our yard?

What is a false fall?

A false fall is a period of cooler temperatures that occurs in late August or early September, but this can be followed by a few more weeks of summer before the weather truly settles into the expected norm for fall.

The stress from extreme summer temperatures causes trees and plants to display the tell-tale signs of seasonal change when the temperatures fall, even if for a short period. Plants notice the shift in temperatures and adapt accordingly, plus any leaf drop can be accelerated if the plants are suffering from a lack of moisture.

As climate change makes extreme heat more commonplace, a false fall is becoming more frequent. Premature leaf drop may indicate that trees are stressed, which can worsen if temperatures return to summer levels for a few weeks before settling into normal fall conditions.

The signs of a false fall you'll definitely notice

It may be welcomed and look attractive, but a false fall is an illusion, as it appears like a true fall has occurred. The temperatures will feel cooler and crisper, and it can feel like a nice break from the warmer days of summer.

The trees in your yard will start changing color, showing those glorious fall hues of red, yellow, or bronze, and there may be fallen leaves strewn on your lawns and borders. Along with trees, your garden hedges may also begin showing those fall signs, such as color changes and berry ripening.

While these colorful fall shades may look stunning as a backdrop to fall-flowering perennials in beds or fall-blooming native plants in containers, they may indicate stressed plants that can struggle if temperatures increase again after the onset of this false fall.

What can gardeners do to help plants during a false fall?

A false fall, followed by a few final weeks of summer-like temperatures, will further stress trees and plants already struggling after intense periods of heat and drought. But there are a couple of measures gardeners can add to their early fall gardening checklist to help:

Watering plants deeply during periods of drought and warmth ensures that moisture reaches the roots, where the plants need it most.

At the end of a dry summer, soil can become compacted, and any rainfall may struggle to penetrate. Watering deeply and using drip irrigation or soaker hoses helps the water penetrate deeper into the soil and reach the root zone.

Mulching plants in early fall will also lock moisture into the soil, making it available to plants for a longer period rather than being lost to evaporation in warmer temperatures.

There are many plants to mulch in September, including trees, shrubs, and perennials, and the best types of mulch to use include compost and bark. On top of locking moisture into the soil, it also reduces stress by protecting roots from winter weather.

It may be tempting to fertilize trees or shrubs in early fall if they look stressed. However, this would be a fertilizing mistake.

It won’t simply give plants energy to recover before winter, but also encourage a new flush of late growth that will be damaged by the winter colds, leaving the plant more susceptible to pests and diseases.

To prepare for fall, check long-range weather predictions to see if you should expect any extreme cold during the season. This allows you to get ahead of any early snow, heavy rainfall, or hard frosts.

For example, the Farmer's Almanac Fall Forecast 2025 warns of thunderstorms, along with early snow in October for some regions. You want to be proactive and prepared to protect plants from frost if you live in affected areas.

In the midst of preparing your yard for the coldest seasons, don't neglect the garden wildlife that is still seeking food, shelter, and safety in your outdoor space. In fact, fall and winter are arguably the most important seasons to support wildlife, where resources are otherwise scarce.

As well as adding essential planting and pruning on your fall gardening checklist, consider the wildlife garden ideas that need to be put into action at this time of year. From providing energizing foods to creating shelter from adverse weather, there's lots that can be done in the coming weeks for wildlife.

Not only will you feel good to know you're helping garden wildlife during a challenging season, you'll also take delight in the sight of life in your yard where planting is otherwise slowing down for the year. Here are five easy things you can do to attract wildlife to your yard in fall.

5 ways to attract wildlife to your yard in fall

Attracting wildlife to your yard in fall isn't just about knowing how to feed birds in winter, it's also providing resources for pollinators and other creatures you wish to welcome to your yard this season, including small mammals and other insects. Here are five simple ideas to get you started:

1. Leave seedheads for birds

When it comes to feeding birds, one of the best things you can do when the fall months come around is leave plants for seedheads.

Rather than deadheading and removing spent blooms, allow your late-summer flowers to go to seed. The seedheads and seed pods will not only provide architectural plant interest for your fall and winter garden, but it can also be a valuable food resource for birds.

Just like seed and grain mixes for birds (like this pack from Amazon),the seedheads in your yard are full of nutritious seeds for birds to consume.

2. Create a log pile

Another way to attract wildlife to your yard in fall is by providing shelter. During the colder months in particular, insects and small mammals seeks somewhere safe and warm to retreat to.

It works much the same as bug hotels (from Amazon), where log piles create small pockets for wildlife to escape to.

It's as simple as collecting logs, sticks, branches, and other woody plant matter. You can then pile them up in a quiet corner for wildlife to find shelter in.

Try adding things like plants for pollinators alongside your log pile, as well as water sources (like this bird bath from Amazon) to make this area of your yard even more attractive to wildlife.

3. Provide energy-rich food

As the temperatures start to drop, animals will need more energy to stay warm and get through the gruelling gloomier days. That's why choosing particularly energy-rich foods is a great way to attract wildlife.

The best way to do this is by making a bird buffet full of human foods. For example, you can feed birds potato and put pasta in a bird feeders, both of which are rich in carbohydrates, providing nutrition and energy for birds in the colder months.

Using a tray bird feeder (from Amazon) is the best option for this kind of set-up, allowing you to place a wide range of foods for birds. Place a water source nearby, too, so they have somewhere to drink and bathe.

Just remember that human treats should only be occasional for birds. Their diets require more balance, which bird mixes (like this bird feed from Amazon), provide.

4. Paint your fence for pollinators

It's true that you can choose fence colors for pollinators; those hues that particularly attract them – and this doesn't just stop working after summer.

Consider giving your fence a fresh look by painting your fence a bright color, such as yellow, orange, or purple. At the same time, lighter neutral colors, like white and cream, can also attract pollinators by making planting stand out – like in the image above.

Fall pollinators that will be drawn in by this include different types of bees, butterflies, and hoverflies. Pair your new fence color with plants for fall pollinators and watch your fall garden turn into a haven for insects.

Just make sure to use specific outdoor fence paint to ensure it stays in good condition. See the range of fence paint at Walmart.

5. Grow a wild grass patch

This is an easy way to attract wildlife to your yard in fall: letting some of your grass grow wild. Long grass provides shelter for a range of small mammals, and fall wildflowers that crop up will support pollinators.

You can do this in a couple of ways. Either choose to miss the last mow in fall for an area of your lawn, allowing it to stay long, or landscape with some ornamental grasses.

Ornamental grasses for fall include switch grass (from Nature Hills) and zebra grass (from Nature Hills).

To make your fall wild patch even more attractive to wildlife, consider inserting these pollinator watering stations (from Amazon).

FAQs

How do you help wildlife in freezing weather?

To help garden wildlife in freezing weather, continue providing nutritious food sources, water, and shelter. It's most important to regularly check water sources to ensure they haven't frozen over. You can use methods to stop a bird bath freezing in winter, for example. Our guide to feeding wildlife in winter may also be useful.

These are just a handful ideas to attract wildlife to your yard in fall. You can also reduce outdoor lighting to not scare wildlife away. Likewise, there are lots of perennials not to cut back in fall to help wildlife at this time of year.

When the weather quickly takes a turn and we say goodbye to the long sunny days of summer, it can be tempting to put the garden to bed and accept the growing season is over for another year. But, this doesn't have to be the case. Raised garden beds, for example, offer plenty of potential for fall. In fact, it can offer a transitional space in your yard, keeping your garden alive through to winter.

There are so many raised bed garden ideas, but many of them are focussed on spring and summer. However, maximizing the use of your raised bed in fall can allow you to keep your garden productive for longer and bring interest to the fall garden to enjoy.

Whether you're looking for a low-maintenance option, like leaving seedheads for some structure, or want to be more ambitious and swap out summer blooms for fall flowers, there are plenty of fall raised garden bed ideas to choose from. Here, garden experts share their favorite ways to make used of raised beds in fall.

5 ways to use your raised garden beds in fall

Transitioning your raised beds from summer to fall should be high up on your fall gardening checklist to ensure you can make the most of this feature before frosty winter temperatures arrive. If you're feeling unsure with where to start, consider one of these beautiful fall raised garden bed ideas:

1. Grow cool-weather crops

Just because the temperatures have dropped, it doesn't mean you can't still get a bumper harvest. In fact, there are plenty of vegetables to plant in September to get a fall and winter harvest.

'You can keep growing in your raised beds in the fall,' says Lindsay Chastain, experienced homesteader and founder at The Waddle and Cluck.

'The soil in a raised bed will warm faster than in the ground. So, you can plant your cool-weather crops and use row covers or cold frames until the end of the season,' she explains.

Cold frames and row covers (like these from Amazon) will help provide sufficient warmth for your crops and protect them from winter garden pests. But, it is important to choose cool-weather crops that can cope with the conditions of fall, otherwise you won't end up with a harvest.

For example, try planting radishes (with radish seeds from Burpee), or grow kale (with kale seeds from Burpee).

2. Plant bulbs ready for spring

Fall is the optimal time to plant spring bulbs, getting them in soil before the frostiest weather arrives. A fall raised garden bed is the perfect spot to get planting, setting it up for a fabulous spring display.

'Fall is the prime time for planting bulbs like hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and muscari. They need a cold rest period, also known as cold stratification, to establish roots and bloom fully in spring,' explains Nastya Vasylchyshyna, botany expert at Plantum.

'This is where raised beds prove useful, as they offer higher-quality and better-draining soil compared to regular garden plots,' she adds.

To enhance your spring display, try creating a bulb lasagne. This will provide you with successional blooming through the spring months.

Just make sure to avoid bulb planting mistakes that may hinder their ability to bloom. Tools like this bulb planter (from Amazon) can help, with a depth marker to ensure you're planting deep enough into your raised bed.

You can get your spring bulb order in now, just take a look at the spring bulbs available at Burpee.

3. Leave seedheads for structural interest

I created a cut flower patch in my raised garden bed this spring and summer, and I'm already seeing some seedheads appear. I'm holding back on removing them, rather allowing them to stick around for some architectural plant interest.

Not only do the best plants for seedheads provide some stunning shapes and silhouettes in the fall and winter garden, they're also a valuable resource for feeding birds in winter.

Plus, allowing seedheads to dry out entirely and turn brown will later provide you with a source to collect seeds and save them for planting in spring.

Later on, you can also collect seedheads for dried floral arrangements. Just use sharp scissors or pruners (from Amazon) to carefully cut stems.

4. Plant fall blooms for a splash of color

There are plenty of fall blooms that can offer a magnificent display in the cooler months. Consider clearing your raised garden bed of fading summer flowers and replace them with those guaranteed to provide blooms through the next few months.

From the best fall-flowering bulbs to the best perennials to plant in fall, there are lots of blooms to have on display in your raised garden bed this season.

'If you want to enjoy vibrant fall colors in your raised garden beds, consider planting pansies, violas, marigolds, and snapdragons,' Nastya suggests.

Growing violas is a good option, as these cool-weather plants and reliable fall bloomers. Likewise, winter pansies will infuse color into your raised garden beds right through winter, and even up to early-spring.

Find viola seeds for your yard at Burpee, which can be planted in late summer for a fall display. Or, plant out viola seedlings straight into your fall raised garden bed for a late-fall and winter display.

5. Create an in-situ compost pile

While spring is often the best time to start a compost heap, your fall raised garden bed also provides a suitable vessel.

'This method lets you dispose of organic waste while improving the soil quality,' explains Nastya.

It works much the same as lazy composting and layering rather than turning composting. You essentially pile up organic waste to breakdown into usable compost.

'Start by layering the soil surface with quickly decomposing materials such as vegetable and fruit scraps, chopped banana peels, and coffee grounds,' Nastya advises. Don't forget to also add in your brown materials (like paper and woody stems) required for making compost.

'Spread these materials evenly, then scatter a thin layer of well-rotted garden compost or manure on top. To speed up the composting process, introduce a handful of composting worms (which you can purchase from Amazon) to your raised bed,' she continues.

Make sure to avoid composting mistakes when doing this and use methods to stop compost freezing in winter, like covering your raised garden bed with this tarp from Amazon.

The result will leave you with a rich, organic compost in your raised garden bed, ready for planting into by the time spring comes around.

FAQs

How do I clear out of my raised garden bed?

To clear your raised garden bed, you need to cut back any fading plants, get rid of weeds, and ensure all roots are removed. You can reuse the compost in your raised garden bed, but it will be beneficial to add some fresh compost and soil amendments to ensure there are plenty essential plant nutrients available for the new plants going in your raised garden bed.

It's not just your raised beds that can bring fall interest to the yard this season, you can also create stunning fall planters with the best fall flowers for pots. Alongside planting, consider incorporating some of the best outdoor fall decorating ideas.

The start of September always seems to take me by surprise. It's the time of year us gardeners get ready for another important growing season: fall. Not only is it time to get seeds and bulbs in the ground for next spring, there are also things to sow for results later in fall and even winter.

That's why here on the Gardens team at Homes & Gardens, we're getting ahead with seeds to order in September. This is an optimal month to get your seed shopping done, so they arrive in time for the planting on your fall gardening checklist. Whether it's spring blooms that benefit from overwintering in the ground, or cool-season crops that should be sown soon for a winter harvest, there are plenty of seeds to get together this month.

A bonus is many of the best flowers to sow in the fall only require purchasing seeds once. By harvesting seeds after they bloom, you'll have more ready for planting this time next year, for free.

7 seeds to order in September

As well as getting these seeds to order in September, don't forget to check out our list of what to plant in September. There is plenty to get in the ground this month, including perennials to plant in September.

1. Calendulas

At the top of Gardens Content Editor Thomas Rutter's list is calendula seeds.

'I will be ordering and sowing my calendula seeds this month. Starting seeds indoors in September or October will result in an earlier flowering period next spring, usually from May to July,' he explains.

There are lots of calendula varieties to choose from, so you can choose a bright orange or yellow daisy-like bloom for your yard.

'I love the 'Indian Prince' calendula variety, which has pale orange blooms that are edible, with a delicious peppery taste,' Thomas says.

'I also have my eye on this 'Apricot Beauty' variety (from Amazon), which had large blooms and sturdy stems, ideal for cut flowers in a vase,' he adds.

Calendulas also make bright additions to a wildflower garden, and you can successfully grow them by sprinkling seeds in a wildflower patch in spring.

Once calendulas stop flowering in late summer, harvest calendula seeds for sowing next fall.

Discover the full range of calendula seeds at True Leaf Market.

2. Nigella

Nigella is one of my favorite spring blooms, especially for a cut flower garden. Just like calendulas, this is one of the seeds to order in September to sow in fall for earlier blooms next spring.

You can grow nigella by planting in spring, but this is likely to give you a later blooming period. By getting ahead and sowing nigella seeds indoors or in a greenhouse in fall, you'll spot nigella seedlings sooner, ready to plant out in spring (after the risk of late frost).

You can then expect to spot blooms as early as May, compared to spring-sown seeds which tend to bloom in June or July.

As cut-and-come-again flowers, you can expect repeat blooms throughout spring and summer with nigella. Just use essential pruning tools (like these pruning snips from Amazon) to harvest them regularly.

Nigella also makes the list of one of the best plants for seedheads, providing fall interest after blooming. Plus, you can collect nigella seeds from the seedpods for next year's sowing.

I personally love the blue varieties of nigella (seeds from Amazon), which provide a pop of color in my flower beds. You can also get a mix of white, blue, and pink nigella seeds (from Amazon).

3. Radishes

It isn't just about flowers when it comes to seeds to order in September, you should also get together your seeds for vegetables to plant in September. One that will give you a fall and winter harvest is radishes.

More specifically, growing radishes in fall requires winter radish varieties; those that are hardier than summer varieties. These Salad Rose Radish Seeds from Burpee are a good option, for example.

As cool-season crops, you can sow your radish seeds directly outdoors in early fall. They tend to grow quickly, so you can expect a harvest in as little as eight weeks.

Unlike summer radishes, you can harvest radishes in fall and early winter as you need them because they're more robust and can stay in the ground for longer. Just make sure to get them out the ground before the harshest winter weather, which can cause them to soften.

Discover the full range of radish seeds at Burpee.

Discover the full range of radish seeds at True Leaf Market.

4. Hollyhocks

This is a seed I left too late to order last year, so I'm getting ahead with it this year. Sowing hollyhock seeds in fall (indoors) allows the plants to develop a robust root system, ready for planting out in spring.

Growing hollyhocks is a rewarding plant to include in your garden, especially for cottage garden schemes. It has tall spires of elegant blooms which can reach five-to-six-feet tall. I plan to add them to the back or my border for some height.

A bonus: hollyhocks are self-seeding flowers, so it's likely they will reappear the following year after flowering, saving you money on having to buy seeds again.

Alternatively, if you want a more controlled approach to growing hollyhocks in your garden again, harvest hollyhock seeds after flowering for replanting.

These stunning blooms come in a wide range of colors. For example, pinks like 'Queeny Purple' (seeds from True Leaf Market) and even blacks like these 'Jet Black' hollyhock seeds from Amazon.

5. Ammi majus

If you love incorporating umbellifer plants to your borders to fill gaps and attract pollinators, Homes & Gardens' UK Editor, Sophia Pouget, suggests ordering Ammi majus seeds this month.

'Ammi majus (seeds from Amazon) is the best white filler foliage plant you can grow and tolerates pretty much any soil type, any weather conditions and bees and butterflies are passionate about it,' says Sophia.

'I sow these plants direct in September and it overwinters marvellously well for an abundance of flowers by late spring. Sowing Ammi in fall makes for much more prolific blooms than if you were to sow it in spring,' she explains.

This is a great flower for a fairy garden plant and it will bloom from June to September, offering interest throughout the summer months.

6. Carrots

Another seed to get your hands on if you're keen to get more out of your kitchen garden before winter: carrots. There's still time to plant carrot seeds for a late harvest.

To grow carrots in early fall, it's best to choose fast-growing, cold-resistant varieties for late season harvests. For example, 'Autumn King' (seeds from Amazon) is a carrot variety favored for planting at this time of year.

For best results, grow carrots undercover in fall. You can either use a greenhouse or these vegetable plant covers (from Amazon) to protect them from frost. If you grow carrots in containers, it's easy to move them under shelter when the frostiest weather comes along.

You should harvest carrots sown in early fall later in the season and early winter, when the carrot shoulder (at surface level) is around an inch in diameter, depending on the variety.

Discover the full range of carrot varieties at Burpee.

Discover the full range of carrot varieties at True Leaf Market.

7. Sweet peas

If you're planning a fragrant garden for your yard next year, now is the time to get your order of sweet pea seeds in. Perfect for cut flowers, filling cottage garden border spots, and even making a sweet pea teepee, this is a versatile bloom to grow in your yard.

'I grow sweet peas every year without having to repurchase seeds,' says Homes & Gardens' Head of Gardens, Rachel Bull. 'It's easy to harvest sweet pea seeds by picking the dried seed pods. These are usually ready by late summer into fall, so I'm harvesting mine in the coming days,' she adds.

There are actually lots of sweet pea varieties to choose from, and by deadheading sweet peas regularly, you'll have a continuous supply of these sweet-smelling flowers throughout spring and summer.

Start sowing sweet pea seeds indoors in fall for earlier blooms in spring.

Discover the full range of sweet pea seeds at True Leaf Market.

Discover the full range of sweet pea seeds at Amazon.

FAQs

Where can I sow seeds in fall if I don't have a greenhouse?

If you don't have a greenhouse, consider sowing seeds indoors and keeping them on a warm, bright windowsill during the winter months. You can use tools like a heat mat (from Amazon) and even an indoor greenhouse (from Amazon) to aid seed germination, ready for planting out in spring.

With your seeds ordered, you can get started with sowing them. Just make sure to avoid common seed sowing mistakes that could hinder the success of germination.

Shop seed sowing accessories:

As the weather starts to turn and we transition from summer to fall, many look eagerly outdoors to watch the trees change color. According to the Farmers' Almanac, it's going to be another magical landscape of orange, red, and yellow leaves this fall across the US.

While you start to prioritize things on your fall gardening checklist, don't forget to pay attention to the Farmers' Almanac peak fall foliage report – a map dating when fall color will be its brightest in different locations across the US this year.

Divided by state, the report lists exactly when you can expect to see trees for fall color at their best in your local area. Not only this, but it also suggests the best destinations to see fall foliage in these regions.

Fall foliage in the West and Midwest

For those located in West and Midwest states, peak fall foliage is expected for mid-October.

The Farmers' Almanac notes northern parts of states like Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri will have the most vibrant fall leaves between 5-12 October, with southern regions gaining their bright foliage by 12-28 October.

Within the Midwest, the Farmers' Almanac suggests taking a visit to the Lake Geneva area in Wisconsin:

'Wisconsin’s farmlands, lakes, streams, and rivers, combined with an abundance of oak, maple and hickory trees, make it a popular destination for viewing fall leaves,' it notes.

If you have trees in your own yard that are expected to turn during this time, consider making leaf mulch once your leaves have fallen.

Fall foliage in the Northeast

New England is known for its picturesque fall landscape, and this year the Farmers' Almanac peak fall foliage prediction says it will start to come to life as early as the end of September.

The states of New Hampshire and Vermont are expected to have their fall foliage appear in the last week of September, although displays will last up until mid-October.

'For fall foliage, New England can’t be beat. And anyone who has visited Maine knows that Acadia National Park, and the coastal towns along the ocean, provide everything a leaf peeper could ask for,' the Farmers' Almanac says.

'Move inland a bit and you’ll find that Rangeley, in the Western part of the state, offers the perfect mix of brilliant colors; the reds and greens embedded in the mountains provide a perfect backdrop to the contrasting deep blue of the lakes, creating a truly breathtaking fall foliage experience,' it continues.

Fall foliage in the Southwest

For Southwest states, including Arizona and Colorado, fall colors will be on display from October 5, with peak fall foliage lasting almost until the end of the month.

However, for some states in this region, notably Texas, peak fall color is expected later on. The Farmers' Almanac says Texas, Oklahoma, and California will be painted fall hues from the end of October to mid-November.

If this is the case for you, it could mean you'll only be collecting leaves in late-November. This may pose challenges such as winter garden pest presence, so take care not to transfer them between plants when picking up fallen leaves.

'The Logan Canyon Byway has been called 'the byway of all seasons,' although this stretch of US Highway 89 that leads to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, is particularly stunning in the fall,' the Farmers' Almanac report suggests visiting.

Fall foliage in the Southeast

The Southeast states will get their peak fall foliage in November, providing some late season color ahead of the cold winter weather the Farmers' Almanac winter forecast 2025 predicts.

According to the Farmers' Almanac, the likes of Arkansas and Mississippi will see vivid fall colors from late October into November, while further south in Florida, fall foliage will be its best from November 4-11.

'You’d be hard-pressed to find any terrain more perfectly orchestrated for fall color viewing than the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee,' the Farmers' Almanac says.

'Lots of sumac adds to the brilliant reds but the Park boasts an amazing diversity of trees and terrain that add to the color spectrum - some 100 species of native trees live in the Smokies,' it continues.

FAQs

How long does peak fall foliage last?

Typically speaking, peak fall foliage lasts anywhere from a week to 10 days. After this period, it's common to spot leaves fading and falling from trees, leaving them looking more dull and bare.

As well as planning your trip to view peak fall foliage this year, don't forget to to get to grips with the Farmers' Almanac fall forecast 2025. This will help you prepare your yard for the expected weather, so you can get your plants through the harsher months.

Shop your fall gardening kit: