Top 5 Reasons fall is for planting

Top 5 Reasons fall is for planting

Most of the time you think of spring when planning to plant. Yet fall is truly the best time to plant. With the warm soil temperatures (from summer) , cooler air and more rainfalls, conditions are prime for planting success!

  1. Get a Jump Start on Spring Growth

Planting perennials and shrubs in the fall gives them a head start on growth the following spring. Root systems will start to grow once the ground thaws, long before the soil can be worked by human hands and any new plants can be put in. This early start means first-season plants can actually show their flowers!

  1. The Cool weather

If the hot, sweaty weather isn’t for you, try gardening in the fall. The crisp, cool air makes for an enjoyable, leisurely experience working in the garden. P.S. the plants love it too, the warm soil from summer encourages lots of root growth.

 

 

  1. Crucial Support for pollinators

With earlier blooms comes earlier nectar sources for pollinators, who struggle to find food at the end and beginning of gardening season. Anytime you can provide early-spring (and autumn) food supply for birds, bees, and butterflies, you’ll be doing your part to protect the human food supply! We rely on pollinators to help us put food on our own dinner tables!

  1. Less water

The cooler weather helps to eliminate evaporation and shorter days mean that photosynthesis actually slows down, resulting in your new plants requiring less water than if planted in spring.

  1. Camouflage early spring blooming bulb foliage

By partnering fall planting, spring blooming bulbs with perennials, the dying bulb foliage will be engulfed by the perennial and allow them to naturally die back to provide strength for next year’s bloom. When most fall bulbs are blooming, perennials are in their dormant stage. As the bulb nears the end of its bloom time, the perennial will start to grow, and subsequently cover the bulb tops when the bloom is gone. It also saves time by digging a hole once and getting 2 seasons of color.