Contributed by Info Guru Lindsay Shugerman

Summer is winding down, and autumn is just around the corner. It’s time for hot cider, hayrides, and carving pumpkins. It’s also time for taking care of your garden. In areas where winter is next on the seasonal list, your gardens need some extra TLC in the fall so everything will be ready and healthy when spring comes around again. Here are some simple autumn gardening tips to get your yard ready for the most colorful season of the year.

10. Prepare your garden for a spring layout

The first autumn gardening tip is to plan and design a garden layout. The time to plan what will be planted where isn’t at the start of spring. It’s now. Measure your gardens, and draw out your plans now. That way you’ll have the right seeds, plants, and bulbs ready when winter comes to an end.

9. Plant spring bulbs

Once you have your plan laid out, fall is the time to start planting. Spring flower bulbs need to go in the ground now, before the first frost.

8. Give hedges a final trim

Taking a look at your hedges and border shrubs is one of the best autumn gardening tips to consider. Do they need a final haircut before the snow falls? If you wait until it’s really cold, a trim could be deadly to your landscaping. Don’t over trim — now is not the time for anything major — that needs to wait until spring when the plants will have a chance to recover from more drastic shaping.

7. Plant fruit trees

You might not think of autumn as a time to plant trees, but when it comes to fruit trees, it is prime time. You want your new trees to be well established when spring comes and they need to bloom. Do make sure your young trees are sheltered from strong autumn or winter winds, and keep them clear of heavy snow loads.

6. Keep up with leaves

Autumn leaves are so pretty, even when they’re on your lawn or in your garden. But did you know that leaving too many leaves in your flower beds, on your grass, or around your trees can actually kill some of your plants? That’s why it’s important to keep up with your raking until the leaves have stopped falling.

Make piles, jump in them and have fun stepping on crunchy leaves, but do make sure that they end up bagged, shredded, or added to your mulch pile.

5. Create or add to your mulch pile

Don’t let all those fall leaves go to waste! Create a compost pile, or add to an existing one. You can build your own mulch bin or buy a ready-to-use compost bin to make creating richer garden soil faster and easier.

4. Sow winter vegetables

Autumn is also a wonderful time to plant vegetables. Yes, you read that right. Most people think of spring as planting time, but the cooler weather is perfect for planting fast-growing leafy greens or hardy winter vegetables like cabbage, kale, beets, and turnips. Check with your local agricultural extension service to find out when to plant a winter harvest garden in your area.

3. Deal with those weeds

It would be nice if winter killed off all those annoying, invasive weeds. But sadly, it just doesn’t work that way. The weeds you leave in your garden and lawn will just go dormant as the weather gets colder, then come back strong when the temps warm up. That’s why you need to stay on top of weeding until the ground freezes. The more you pull now, even from empty flower and garden beds means less work in spring.

2. Fill out the lawn

Your lawn should also get some special TLC in autumn. As the weather cools down, consider one of the autumn gardening tips which is to add some grass seed to those bare patches. Keep it moist, and let it fill in before the snow falls and you’ll be rewarded with a lush, green lawn in the spring.

1. Mulch tender perrenials

Finally, the last autumn gardening tip is to consider putting mulch to tender perennials. Just because a plant is a perennial doesn’t mean it doesn’t need some attention. Keep your tender perennials snug and safe all winter long with a healthy layer of mulch around their base. Wrap delicate plants to prevent damage when the snow and ice arrive, too.

A great spring and summer garden starts with what you do in the autumn. Don’t miss your chance to build the garden of your dreams.