Savvy Gardening

Feeding your garden soil: 12 creative ways to use fall leaves

I could waste your time and wax poetic about the joys of autumn in the garden. I could talk about the lovely colors, the cooler temperatures, and the fall harvest. I could tell you how thankful I am for such a successful gardening season. I could go on and on about what a beautiful time of year it is. But I’m not going to, because – let’s talk frankly here – fall can be a gigantic pain in the butt. Especially when it comes to finding a use for all the leaves you’re raking. But, by using the following inspiring ideas, those leaves can be put to work feeding your garden soil in some pretty creative ways.

When it comes to plants, what does overwintering mean?

Written by Tara Nolan

As the garden winds down in the fall, there are measures you can take to keep some of your tender plants alive, rather than letting them succumb to winter. In the gardening world, this is called overwintering. There are different ways to overwinter plants. Some can simply be placed in a cool area until spring, while others can be enjoyed as houseplants. There are also tubers that can be lifted and protected, and vegetable plants that can be stored.
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Six reasons to NOT clean up the garden this fall

Written by Jessica Walliser

Twenty-some years ago, fresh out of college with a horticulture degree in-hand, I started teaching adult education classes at a local botanic garden. For many years, I taught a class called Preparing Your Garden for the Winter. It was all about how to clean up the garden every fall. I would show slides (remember those?) of how well-kept gardens should look in January. In the images, every plant was cut to the nub, except for the ornamental grasses and butterfly bushes, and the whole garden was snug under a thick layer of mushroom soil mulch. The roses were neatly trimmed to two feet and wrapped in a blanket of burlap, folded and stapled closed to keep them protected from freezing winds. There was nary a fallen leaf in sight; everything was raked up and hauled off.
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Winter garden upgrade: metal mini hoops

Written by Niki Jabbour

For years, I’ve relied on my PVC mini hoop tunnels to shelter the crops in my winter garden. Typically, my beds are filled with hardy veggies like kale, tatsoi, spinach, mizuna, and leeks. The PVC hoops have worked well, but after last winter’s snowmageddon, when my garden had more than 8-feet of snow, I worried that the plastic hoops would flatten like pancakes. Amazingly, most came through unscathed, but it reminded me that I should continue to test and trial other types of structures to make sure that my winter garden has the best possible protection. Therefore, I spent the weekend making metal hoops using my new Johnny’s Quick Hoops™ Bender.

5 late-blooming pollinator-friendly plants

Written by Jessica Walliser

I’ve been working hard over the past few years to incorporate as many late-blooming pollinator friendly plants into my landscape as possible. Not only do I enjoy the punch of color they provide from September until November, I also love seeing the diversity of pollinators they attract and support.
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Growing American groundnuts

Written by Jessica Walliser

If you’re up for an adventure, you may want to consider growing American groundnuts, or potato beans, in your garden next year. This beautiful, perennial vine bears the botanical name Apios americana, indicating that it is indigenous to the Americas. Its native range extends from Northeastern Canada down to Florida and west to Texas and the Dakotas.
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