Fall Is For Soil Care
Top Fall Soil Care Tips: Nourish Your Garden for Next Season
As autumn leaves begin to fall and temperatures cool, it's time to prepare your garden's foundation for the seasons ahead. Whether your growing space consists of a traditional garden, raised beds, or a few cherished containers on a balcony, fall soil care is essential for a thriving garden next year!
Learning from Nature
Take a walk through any natural landscape in fall, and you'll witness nature's own soil-building process in action. Nature covers her soil with plant debris from annuals and frost-tender perennials that die back, along with a plethora of fallen leaves. This isn't just debris – it's the beginning of a cycle that nourishes and protects the complex web of life beneath the surface.
We can mirror this process in our gardens and adapt it to any scale or setting by providing a thick layer of cover to protect the soil and its inhabitants (worms, microorganisms, nesting insects & pollinators) during the harsh winter.
Top Dressing Your Soil for Fall
The easiest way to nourish your soil this fall is to top dress it – a simple act that involves adding a layer of organic matter to your growing spaces. In a container garden, this might mean incorporating an inch of rich compost around your plants. For raised beds or in-ground gardens, you can be more generous, layering several inches of organic goodness across the soil surface. Apply as much as you have space to add.
Top dressing your pots and planters is a great way to prep them for the upcoming growing season and to help them recover nutrients that were used or leached during the previous growing season. This process not only protects the soil through the winter, but makes it more resilient, more fertile, and better able to support the health of your plants next Spring.
What you use for top dressing can be as unique as your garden. Some ideal sources of organic matter for the small-scale garden are:
Mulched leaves: Mulched leaves are a perfect and free source of organic matter. They help cover the soil and feed the microorganisms working to improve it. Just rip/shred them before applying to help them break down.
Organic Compost (either homemade or store-bought): One of the best ways to boost your fall soil care routine. It enriches the soil with necessary nutrients and helps retain moisture (especially useful for sandy or nutrient-poor soils). Homemade compost from kitchen scraps and yard clippings works wonderfully. Just make sure it is fully decomposed before adding it.
Vermicompost (worm castings): Lucky for you, with the Planted membership, you get a fresh supply of worm castings in each shipment. If you are running low or want to apply an extra this month as we head into the winter months, you can order more worm castings here .
A combination of all of the above!
Other Fall Soil Care Practices
In addition to top dressing, there are other ways to nourish and protect your soil this fall.
Plant Cover Crops : For those with a bit more space and ambition, consider the age-old practice of cover cropping. Cover crops like clover, rye, or oats can be sown in the fall to protect the soil over the winter effectively creating a living mulch that protects and enriches your soil.
Add Mycorrhizal Fungi : Mycorrhizal fungi form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, increasing the root's ability to absorb water and nutrients. Adding this to your fall soil care regimen can give your plants an extra boost in spring. This is a great step to add for vegetable gardens and perennial plants.
Test Your Soil : Fall is a great time to test your soil for nutrient deficiencies. Based on the results, you can adjust your fall soil care routine to ensure you are providing exactly what your garden needs.
The Final Step: Preparing for Winter
Once you've completed your fall soil care tasks, don't forget a few other essential steps to prepare your garden for winter and ensure that your hard work pays off next season.
Mulch Heavily : Think of mulch as a blanket for your soil, shielding it from the harsh extremes of winter. After you've top-dressed and planted any cover crops, make sure to mulch your beds heavily. This will insulate the soil from freezing temperatures and keep it moist during dry winter months.
Prune and Clear : While fall soil care focuses on the soil , don’t forget to clear away any dead plants or prune back perennials. Removing plant debris helps prevent diseases and pests from overwintering in your garden.
Plan Ahead for Spring : Finally, use the downtime during winter to plan your garden for next year. With your fall soil care completed, you will have a healthy, nutrient-rich garden bed waiting for you in spring.
Why Fall Soil Care Matters
Fall soil preparation sets the stage for garden success next spring. By taking a few simple steps now, you create a foundation for vibrant growth that will:
Increased Nutrient Retention : Top dressing your garden with organic matter ensures that the soil absorbs and retains nutrients essential for plant health, especially during the initial stages of growth. By adding compost or worm castings, you introduce a slow-release nutrient source that will benefit plants for months.
Improved Soil Structure : When you add compost or other organic materials, you improve the underlying structure of your soil . Clay soils become less compacted and sandy soils gain structure, allowing for better root penetration, aeration, and drainage.
Improved Water Management Organic matter acts like a sponge, helping soil hold moisture during dry spells and drain better in wet periods. Your spring garden will need less watering, saving you time and resources.
Protection from Erosion : Fall's protective layer of organic matter shields your soil from erosion by wind, rain, and frost. By adding a layer of mulch, you ensure your soil stays intact and healthy.
Start your fall soil care today! Try some of our soil and soil amendments to start growing regeneratively. Whether you're preparing a single pot or full raised bed, your efforts this fall will be rewarded with a healthy and resilient garden in the seasons to come.