Why You Should Start Planning Your Fall Gardening Now
Although Mother’s Day is traditionally celebrated with tomatoes and other heat-loving plants being dug into the ground in many areas of the United States, promotional emails from all gardening companies are already talking about fall. Light bulb catalogs have started arriving in my mailbox, and it’s perfect timing because, believe it or not, right now, amid the summer garden decorating madness, you need to be planning your fall gardening projects.
The flowers you see now were planted in the fall.
I believe that gardening is a throwback. If you want to plant sunflowers in July and they take six weeks to grow, you need to sow them in early May. If you want colorful tulips next spring, you’ll need to get those bulbs in the ground this fall, and to have the widest selection, you’ll need to shop now. By the time fall rolls around, you’re unlikely to remember which bulbs you need or which spots to plant because they’ve been blooming for so long. Now, while the bulbs are still blooming or have just finished blooming, is the time to take note of what you’ll need, combine it with what’s available for fall planting, and place your orders.
Start keeping track all spring and summer
I have advocated garden journaling in many ways. I have a tattered notebook in which I write down observations, plans and sketches of the garden, but I also keep a visual journal of my garden about once a week. No matter what kind of learner you are, there is a method that will work for you, whether it’s voice notes or making a list. The idea is to keep a record of changes in the garden so that you have notes to refer back to long after the season has changed. Your garden is an ever-changing landscape.
For example, although I have hundreds of tulips in the ground at home, we had an unusually harsh winter this year and many of them did not return. The ice also caused many colored tulips to return to normal, a process in which tulips that had been bred from red or yellow to wilder colors would revert to standard red and yellow colors. I will be adding and replacing a few bulbs this year, but since they will die back by September, it is important to have photos of the areas I want to replant with the bulbs in bloom. Otherwise in the fall I will be flying blind. Even if I can find the bulbs in the ground, without these photos I won’t know what color the flowers are on each one. This photography process to help you plant in the fall is really important for empty spaces you want to fill. Although they seem obvious now, they will be gone in the fall as they fill with summer flowers.
Create earlier flowering
Spring is the time when bulbs – irises, tulips and daffodils – begin to bloom. To extend the season longer, start planting bulbs that bloom earlier until late winter. Here you can plant a magnificent array of crocuses in purple, blue, orange and yellow. Snowdrops may seem ordinary, but any sign of life is welcome at the end of winter. This is soon followed by anemones with flowers like low poppies, followed by a parade of daffodils. If daffodils seem too ordinary, you should check out the new varieties, which range in shades from pale pink to orange and have double flowers with all sorts of distinctive characteristics. Use a flowering bulb calendar to start flowering as early as possible.
Determine the color stripe for your garden
For a long time, I didn’t think twice about choosing a color and indiscriminately threw flowers into the ground. If you do this, you will notice that your garden is dominated by white, pink and purple flowers. Over the past few years I have developed a rule that white flowers are no longer allowed. More specifically, I only plant bright colors: orange, red, yellow, violet, blue and purple. When I choose light bulbs, I ensure they are within my palette and try to keep them spread out in a way that works: ombre in the front yard or a solid line of purple and red along the driveway. This can only be achieved by keeping a record of everything blooming year after year. For example, as much as I love that my yard is currently filled with irises, they are always purple flowers. This fall I will pull out about two-thirds of them and replace them with blue, red and yellow irises for more variety. I arranged to trade some of my pink peonies for the yellow and red versions that gardeners near me have.
Add flower pots to help carry color around the yard.
Bulbs like tulips and peonies usually appear when the rest of your yard is still dormant from winter and looking empty. This color helps liven up the yard, but only where the bulbs are planted. A planter can help fill space with color where there is no planting bed. Now take a look around your yard where a pop of color will help your yard look more vibrant. Grab a colorful ceramic pot on sale this summer and plant it with bulbs using the lasagna method this fall.
Bulbs will still be available in late summer and fall, even if some varieties sell out. You don’t need to rush to place your order right now. What you really need to do is stop and look around every week or two – literally stop and smell the roses. Take photos and notes, enough reference material that you can refer back to in the fall when you’re ready to plan and place orders. The spring benefits are worth it.