Your Cape Cod Fall Garden Checklist
Fall is not the end of the gardening season. A few well-timed tasks can improve your soil, protect your plants and make next spring easier.
Not everything needs to be cut back or cleaned up. Here is what to focus on in your Cape Cod yard and garden over the next several weeks.
Test Your Soil
Fall is a good time to test your soil. The results can help you understand what your lawn or garden needs before you apply lime or fertilizer.
Wait six to eight weeks after applying lime or fertilizer before collecting a soil sample.
The Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Horticulture Clinic offers free soil pH testing. This test measures how acidic or alkaline your soil is.
For a more complete analysis of nutrients and other soil conditions, send a sample to the UMass Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Laboratory.
- Learn about testing through the UMass Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Laboratory
- Read the UMass instructions for collecting a soil sample
Give Your Lawn a Strong Start for Next Year
Fall and spring are the most important growing periods for the cool-season grasses commonly found on Cape Cod.
Late summer and early fall are good times to:
- Aerate compacted soil
- Overseed thin or bare areas
- Apply fertilizer or lime if a soil test shows it is needed
These steps support strong root growth and can improve the overall health of your lawn.
Read the UMass guide to lawn renovation and overseeding.
Prepare Your Vegetable Garden
Empty garden space does not need to remain bare. Planting a cover crop can add organic matter to the soil, recycle nutrients and help crowd out weeds.
Oats are a simple cover crop option. A mixture of oats, winter peas and daikon radish can also work well when planted in late summer.
Other fall vegetable garden tasks include:
- Sow spinach for a cool-season crop.
- Plan to plant garlic in late October or early November.
- Remove tomato, squash and other crop debris after the harvest. Old plant material can shelter insects and diseases that may return next year.
- Store harvested vegetables under the right conditions to help them last longer.
Find more information:
- Fall tasks in the vegetable garden
- How to get started growing garlic
- Garlic growing tips
- How to store vegetable crops
- Cover crop growing tips
Refresh Your Container Gardens
Replace tired summer plants with flowers and foliage that can handle cooler weather. Pansies, chrysanthemums, asters and flowering cabbage can add color well into the fall.
Bring tropical plants indoors when nighttime temperatures regularly fall into the 50s.
Before bringing plants inside:
- Check the leaves, stems and soil for aphids, whiteflies and other pests.
- Slowly reduce watering.
- Cut back on fertilizer as plant growth begins to slow.
Care for Ornamental Garden Beds
Fall cleanup does not mean cutting down every plant.
Leave healthy seed heads on asters, coneflowers, goldenrods and ornamental grasses. They can provide food and shelter for birds and other wildlife while adding interest to the winter garden.
You can also:
- Divide spring-blooming plants such as peonies and bearded iris.
- Continue removing weeds before they produce and spread more seeds.
- Remove fallen leaves and other material from plants that showed signs of disease.
- Wait until plants are dormant before doing major pruning.
Plant for Spring and Beyond
Fall is a good time to plant spring-blooming bulbs such as crocuses, daffodils and tulips.
Deciduous trees and shrubs can generally be planted through early to mid-October while the soil is still warm enough for roots to grow. Avoid planting evergreens such as arborvitae in mid- to late fall, evergreens planted at this time frequently suffer winter injury.
Tender summer bulbs, including dahlias, cannas and caladiums, should be dug up when their foliage begins to die back or immediately after the first frost.
A Little Work Now Makes Spring Easier
You do not need to finish everything in one weekend. Start with the most time-sensitive jobs, such as planting, moving tropical plants indoors and removing diseased material. The rest can be handled a little at a time as the season changes.
For help with a lawn, garden, plant or insect question, contact the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Horticulture Clinic at [email protected] or 508-375-6700.
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