With the leaves turning from green to fiery red and vibrant orange, and cool, crisp air on its way, it’s the perfect time to get your garden ready for the fall. This season, it’s easy to maintain a sustainable garden with a new line of natural and organic garden care products from The Dirt On Dirt™- ARBORChar™, AzaSol™, NutriRoot®, Eco-Mite Plus® and Eco-PM®.
“Now that the summer growing season is over, many “GIY’ers” (that’s “grow it yourself-ers”) are looking for advice on how to transition their gardens and maintain nourishment through the fall,” said Kristin Nikodemski, “Dirty Girl Gardener” (and Marketing Manager for Arborjet and The Dirt On Dirt™.) “At The Dirt On Dirt we’re offering tips and ideas around what you can do now – like composting weeds, adding mulch, and checking the pH level in the soil – to ensure a healthy garden that survives through the autumn and winter, and thrives next spring.”
If you’re a garden enthusiast who enjoys sharing your knowledge, and gardening stories and photos, you’re invited to do that on The Dirt On Dirt™! A community with a passionate group of gardening enthusiasts at its foundation, The Dirt on Dirt’s new website educates, empowers, and motivates everyone to cultivate your gardens sustainability, provide food for your families, and of course, get dirty!
Transitioning to Fall Gardening Tips:
- Compost any weeds, vegetables that have stopped fruiting, and decaying leaves that have accumulated in your planting beds. Take care not to put weeds that have turned to seed into your compost, or weeds will sprout! If you are growing heirloom plants, consider saving the seeds from these plants in a cool, dry place for next season.
- Apply NutriRoot Liquid Soil Applied Fertilizer at planting or to mature landscapes to increase water absorption into roots and to enhance root growth. It may be applied monthly throughout the growing season, particularly in hot, dry months to alleviate water stress in trees and landscape plants. In northern regions, also apply in the fall before the onset of winter.
- Add mulch around the sprouts of cool-season vegetables to provide moisture. Lettuce for instance loves moisture, without it, it can be bitter.
- Check your soil pH to ensure the success of your crops. Most vegetables like a slightly acidic soil pH. The ideal range is between 6.3 and 6.9 (on a scale from 1 to 14). If your soil has a pH below this range, add lime to your soil this fall. If the soil is too alkaline (above 7.5), you could add elemental sulfur to your beds to lower the pH.
- When fall arrives, shorter days mean fewer hours of sunlight for veggies. For new veggies, choose a location within your existing garden that isn’t mixed with still-maturing vegetables. Then the new plants won’t be fighting against the established plants for water and nutrients.
- Gently sift the bedding soil and rake in a soil amendment, such as composted organic material with ARBORChar All Purpose Grow, to give cool-season plants the nutrients they need to flourish and prep your soil for spring plantings.
- If planting new vegetables, be sure to check the Old Farmer’s Almanac for the first frost dates in your region.
- Apply one to two inches of compost or manure on top of your beds to help infiltrate the soil with nutrients for the next season. You can also add an additional layer of a lighter organic material (like straw) on top to prevent nutrients from escaping and reduce early spring weeds.
- If your schedule allows, plant cool-season crops every two weeks. This allows you to harvest continually, at least when the temperature stays moderate.
- Don’t forget about house plants in the fall; AzaSol™ and Eco-Mite Plus® can help keep the bugs away indoors year round!
Follow these fall gardening tips and your garden should be in tip top shape through the seasons ahead!
The Dirt On Dirt™ is a community where gardeners come together to educate, empower, and motivate others to cultivate their own gardens, provide food for their families and of course get dirty! The Dirt on Dirt™ is a collaboration between Arborjet, who’s patented “Tree Injection Technology” and formulations have revolutionized how we care for and treat trees worldwide, along with a group of courageous garden enthusiasts who enjoy sharing their knowledge and love of gardening. To learn more about The Dirt On Dirt™ and Arborjet’s line of natural, sustainable home garden care products, visit www.TheDirtOnDirt.com.
