Once the first hard frost of the season hits, it’s time to wrap up your garden for the year. There’re many things that need to be dealt with, such as putting tools and hoses away, winterizing your irrigation pipes, removing dead plants, and raking leaves.

The last thing you think about in the fall is preparing your garden for next year. But there are things you can do now to get a head start on your garden for the next growing season. I know we’re in a time crunch… the holidays are looming. But if you take time for these seven things now, you’ll thank yourself next spring.

7 Ways to Prepare for Next Year’s Garden…

Assess This Year’s Garden

It’s important to know where you’re headed in the garden. Right now, this information is fresh in your mind. But come March, you might not remember all the details of this year’s garden. So take some time to assess what worked and what didn’t work.

Here are a few things to ask yourself:

• What’s your #1 goal for your garden?
• What did you love and want to grow again?
• What was a flop and should be eliminated?
• Are there any new plants you want to grow?
• Did you struggle with any pest problems?
• What flowers do you want to plant in your containers?
• How can you rotate your vegetables?
• Do you need to add in more herbs to your garden?
• Are there any garden projects to complete?
• How can you simplify your garden?

You don’t need to complete a detailed plan to prepare for next year’s garden. All you need to do is jot down your thoughts so that come January you’ll have a reminder to help with garden decisions.

Plant Spring Blooming Bulbs

If you want spring flowers such as tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, then now is the time to plant them. As long as the ground hasn’t frozen, you can still get your bulbs planted. The bulbs need a certain amount of time to experience cold weather, so they need to go in soon.

If it’s too cold for you to be outdoors planting bulbs in the ground, you can plant them in containers. Then next spring, you’ll have beautiful pots of flowers to enjoy.

Here’s a quick rundown on planting bulbs in containers:

1. Follow the directions on the package for planting depth. Even if you’re planting in containers, you still need to bury the bulbs deep enough. It’s okay, however, to plant the bulbs closer together in a container since they won’t be growing there permanently.
2. Use a loose potting mix instead of garden dirt in your containers to make it easier to move the pots around.
3. After planting, water the containers. This gets the bulbs started rooting into the soil.
4. You can store your pots any place that will be exposed to cold temperatures such as a garden shed. You can also leave the containers outdoors, however, cover the pots so they won’t get saturated with water. Too much moisture can fill the container and freeze, which could then lead to your bulbs rotting.
5. In the spring, once the plants emerge, uncover them or move them out of your shed.

READ… Now Is the Time to Plant Spring Blooming Bulbs

Save Plants to Regrow Next Year

There are a variety of ways to save plants over the winter. These techniques offer an opportunity to expand your plants or get them blooming sooner in the spring.

Move hardier plants to a garage, basement or greenhouse to give a little extra protection. Potted containers of geraniums, canna lilies, and begonias can winter over in an unheated space. However, the space shouldn’t go below freezing or you could lose your plants.

Take cuttings of your favorite plants and place them in a container of water on a sunny windowsill. The stems will then grow roots you can plant outdoors in the spring. Coleus, geraniums, and even hydrangeas can be grown with this technique.

You can also save geraniums by bare-rooting them and storing the plants in a cardboard box in your garage. The beauty of this is that each year, your geraniums grow larger.

Follow these steps to save your geraniums:

1. Once the weather has turned cold and the leaves are dying back, it’s time to prepare them. Begin by removing any dead branches and browned leaves. Keep the green leaves on the plant. I also like to cut off any flowers and bring them inside to enjoy.
2. Next, remove the plant from its pot and shake the dirt off the roots.
3. Place your geranium in a cardboard box or a brown paper bag.
4. Close up the box and store in an area that will not freeze over the winter but remains cool, such as your garage or basement.
5. Next spring when the weather warms and the threat of frost is past, repot your geraniums and water the plants. I like to soak the roots in water before I pot them up. Within a few weeks, you’ll begin to see fresh growth on your plant stems.

With this technique you can save and regrow most of your geraniums. While you might lose a few plants over the winter, this is a great way to get larger geraniums without having to spend any money.

Spread Seeds in Garden Beds

Fall is a good time to spread seeds for next spring. Flowers, herbs and even some seed grown vegetables can winter over and sprout early next spring. Some great flowers to ‘fall seed’ are cosmos, marigolds, coleus, poppies, larkspur, bachelor’s buttons, sunflowers, ammi, calendula, yarrow, and feverfew.

For vegetables, try fall-seeding carrots, peas, lettuce, spinach and kale. For herbs, you can spread seeds of parsley, basil, chamomile, and cilantro.

While you can start many of these plants in early fall and they’ll winter over, we are past that window of opportunity. What I am suggesting is that you sprinkle the seeds to mimic the natural process of plants dropping their seeds for growth next spring.

Prepare Your Garden Beds

As you’re wrapping up the garden for fall, it’s a good idea to get your garden beds ready to go for next season. There are many reasons to prepare your soil now. Not only will it save you time in the spring, but you’ll be improving the health of your soil, which gives your spring plants a good start.

First, remove the dead plant material. If it’s disease free, you can chop the plants up and leave them in the beds to breakdown over the winter. This helps move nutrients back into the soil. Be cautious with this chop and drop method to make sure your plants are disease free. Squash, tomatoes, peonies, and zinnias often harbor powdery mildew and should never be left behind.

Next top your beds with a layer of compost or well-aged manure. This top dressing is another way to add valuable nutrients to your soil.

Finish your preparation by adding a layer of mulch on top of your compost. There are many options for mulch. One of the easiest in the fall is to cover with a layer of leaves from your yard. But you could also use straw, wood chips, or even shredded paper.

If it’s still warm enough during the day, you might even consider growing a cover crop in your beds to overwinter. Adding a cover crop can help suppress weeds, prevent loss of soil, and reduces compaction.

For a deeper look at soil preparation, get more information on this article.

Order Supplies

Now is a good time to think about what tools and supplies you’ll need for next year. As you put away your tools, determine if any need to be replaced. What other supplies might you be running short of… garden gloves, twine, fertilizer, or seeds?

Then keep an eye out for closeouts from garden centers or online stores. Watch for early sales. Seed companies often sell seeds early, some with free shipping. This is another reason to know what you want to grow to prepare for next year’s garden.

Dig, Divide and Transplant

If you want more plants in your garden for next year, autumn is a good time to divide and replant perennials. As long as the ground hasn’t frozen, you should be able to dig up and divide these plants. Here are some perennials that do well when divided…

• Peonies
• Day Lilies
• Hostas
• Oriental Poppies
• Bearded Iris
• Phlox
• Lilies
• Salvia
• Veronica
• Yarrow
• Ferns
• Shata Daisy
• Coneflower
• Black-Eyed Susan
• Sedum
• Astilbe

Creating a beautiful and successful garden begins in the autumn. Incorporate these seven techniques for your best garden ever. By doing a little pre-work, you’ll set the stage for the garden you dream of.

In late fall, we want to wrap up the garden and move indoors. But taking the time now to prepare for next year’s garden will give you a head start in the spring. So keep going just a bit longer. You’ll be glad you did next spring.