Autumn is not the end of the gardening year — it’s the beginning of the next one. What you do in your garden this autumn will directly impact how well everything grows next spring. This is the season I love most for working the soil, planting for the future, and setting everything up for success.
Here is everything you need to do to prepare your garden for autumn, simply and naturally.
1. Harvest Everything That’s Left
Before the first frost arrives, do a final harvest of everything still growing in your garden. Even unripe tomatoes can be brought indoors to ripen on a windowsill. Don’t let your hard work go to waste.
🍂 Tip: Green tomatoes left on the vine will be damaged by frost — bring them inside and they’ll ripen beautifully over the following weeks.
2. Clear Out Summer Crops
Once you’ve harvested, remove spent plants from your beds. Clear away old stems, roots, and foliage. This reduces the risk of disease carrying over into next season and keeps your garden looking clean and tidy.
🍂 Tip: Healthy plant material can go straight onto your compost heap. Avoid composting anything that showed signs of disease.
3. Feed Your Soil with Compost
Autumn is the perfect time to add a thick layer of compost to all your beds. Over winter, it will break down and work its way into the soil, improving structure and fertility ready for spring planting.
🍂 Tip: Don’t dig compost in — simply spread it on the surface and let the worms do the work for you.
4. Plant Spring Bulbs
Autumn is the time to plant the bulbs that will bring joy to your garden next spring. Tulips, daffodils, alliums, and crocuses all need to go in the ground in autumn to flower the following year.
🍂 Tip: Plant bulbs at a depth of roughly two to three times their own diameter for the best results.
5. Protect Tender Plants
Some plants need protection from winter frosts. Move tender plants in containers to a sheltered spot or indoors. Cover borderline hardy plants with fleece, straw, or a thick layer of mulch.
🍂 Tip: A thick mulch of straw or bark chips around the base of tender perennials insulates the roots and helps them survive even a hard winter.
6. Plant Garlic
Autumn is the perfect time to plant garlic. It needs a cold period to develop properly and will be ready to harvest the following summer. Garlic is one of the easiest and most rewarding crops you can grow.
🍂 Tip: Plant individual cloves pointed end up, about 10cm deep and 15cm apart, in well-drained soil.
7. Build or Turn Your Compost Heap
Autumn generates a huge amount of organic material — fallen leaves, spent plants, and garden debris. Use all of it to build up your compost heap. By spring, you’ll have beautiful homemade compost ready to use.
🍂 Tip: A mix of brown material (leaves, cardboard) and green material (fresh clippings, vegetable scraps) creates the best compost.
8. Clean and Store Your Tools
As the gardening season winds down, take time to clean, sharpen, and store your tools properly. Clean tools last longer, work better, and are a pleasure to use next season.
🍂 Tip: Rub a little linseed oil onto wooden handles after cleaning to prevent them from drying out and cracking over winter.
Ava’s Autumn Tip
I always take a few photos of my garden in autumn — what grew well, where the gaps were, what I want to change. Those photos are pure gold when I’m planning next year’s garden in the middle of winter.
Conclusion
A little work in autumn pays enormous dividends in spring. Take care of your soil, protect your plants, and use this quieter season to plan and prepare. Your future self will thank you for every hour you invest in your garden this autumn.
Happy autumn gardening! 🍂 — Ava
