How to Prepare Your Garden for This Autumn

Tending to a garden is a year-round responsibility. Often, people miss out on opportunities during the cool months to make the best out of their yields. However, with just a few tips, you can better understand how to prepare your garden for this autumn, so you get a head start for next year.

Why It’s Important To Grow Food

Living a sustainable lifestyle weaves together a web of daily choices. One of the best ways to be more connected with Earth is to learn how to grow your own food. Even just a tiny bit matters! With incremental steps, you can integrate this lifestyle and normalize self-sufficiency. Providing your own way to eat helps you cut down on waste, eliminate manufacturing and production costs, and helps control what goes in your body.

Work With All the Seasons

Producing food at home can be a year-round activity. Each season has its own qualities and specifications. Autumn is nature’s time to reap all the rewards from this year’s work and begin to slow down for the “death” of winter. Learning to work with these cycles will help you be more connected to your body and Earth.

Finish Summer out Strong

When wrapping up summer, you’ll want to continue to harvest everything that has ripened. If there is too much food to eat before it goes bad, give some away to friends, leave some in a box at the end of the driveway near the road for others to take, or learn how to can food! Canning is a fantastic way to preserve fruits and vegetables so you can fully enjoy all your hard work into the colder months.

If you have any plants in pots, move these to a warmer area in the yard or even inside. Clear away weeds before they have a chance to seed. Clear away everything that’s already finished so that disease and pests can’t take up residence in your garden.

Think Ahead for Winter and Spring

Even though it seems far away, it’s time to plan for the upcoming seasons. Learning how to prepare your garden for winter is necessary to get a head start for next year. Consider rotating plants to maintain long-term soil health. Other ways to revitalize the soil ecosystem are breaking up any compacted earth, preparing the garden beds with fresh mulch, and adding soil amendments.

Learning how to prepare your garden for this autumn is simple and will get you closer to a more sustainable and healthier lifestyle.