Fall Harvest Tips for Home Gardeners

Critter-Repellent.com Staff • September 12, 2020

Autumn Can Be the most delicious time of the year for the home gardner!

Have you noticed a temperature drop in the last couple of weeks? Or that thunderstorms don’t seem to be packing the same punch as their summertime brethren? Autumn is on your doorstep and with it comes brand new challenges and potential successes in your garden. Whether you focus on vegetable gardening or floral, the fall is a vital time of the year for harvesting a healthy bounty. As hot peppers and alliums slow their production, hearty greens and tubers grow alongside perennials – but maintaining the health of your garden can become additionally difficult. Gardeners new and seasons should be aware of these few harvest tips to get the most of their autumn harvests:

Buy or build cold frames - Cold frames are essentially miniature greenhouses for your young seedlings. In areas where night-time temperatures dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, seeds and young plants may suffer fatal damage overnight. In order to better protect those young plants against damage, you can seal together plastic or glass panes in a fitted size that covers the seed bed. Cold frames take the place of the traditional plastic tarp strategy in an efficient and cost-effective way without risking soil compaction over your autumn seeds.

Utilize a composting process - Growing in popularity among small-harvest gardeners, compost is an Earth-friendly way to keep your soil happy and healthy. Especially in urban environments, composting takes your kitchen scraps and non-dyed paper products and naturally recycles waste into a natural fertilizer for your garden. As you harvest summer vegetables which will not refruit or summer flowers which do not regrow the preceding year, treat the used soil to a layer of compost. The waste product will revitalize dirt with nitrogen and minerals so that your next crops will grow with added nutrients.
Continue to weed - While weeds are especially prevalent in the spring and summer months, autumn brings a new range of undesirable plants to the lawn and garden. Many weeds are harmless to your vegetable and flower beds, but the roots of these wild plants will sap water and nutrients from your planted flora, causing both soil degradation and root weakening of the vegetation that you’ve planted. Be sure to stay on top of your weeding process as winter approaches.

Double check your garden’s positioning - Especially when considering the placement of your vegetable garden, sunlight is a vital component of a successful harvest. Autumn fruits and hearty roots require the most sunlight, while kale and other deep greens generally do well with indirect sunlight. If any new structures or trees have arisen in the vicinity of your garden make sure that the lower angle of the autumn sun will still treat your plants to adequate light.

Protect against pests - Autumn is foraging time for many rodents – don’t let them ruin your garden in the pursuit of spring recoveries. While fences and sound deterrents may aid in the repulsion of pests, consider Critter-Repellent products to safely and effectively deter pests from your garden. Using animals’ keen olfactory sense, Critter-Repellent utilizes the scent of pest animals’ natural predators in order to push them away. 

For more information about which Critter-Repellent product is the right fit for your garden, please visit our homepage and navigate to the “solution finder”. We’re sure to have the right product to keep your harvest happy!

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