Don’t you love how just the thought of the arrival of fall allows us to turn our attention to gardening again? And turn our attention we should! Planning for gardening tasks in fall should be a top priority for these next couple of months. These next few weeks, we’ll be breaking fall down into 5 essential gardening adventures that are crucial to plan for. Join us today for a sneak peek of Rainbow Garden’s 5 favorite reasons to garden in fall. Time to get excited for the BEST gardening season in San Antonio!
5 Exciting Opportunities For Fall Gardening in San Antonio
1. Fall is for planting wildflowers.
Many people don’t think about wildflowers until the bluebonnets show up around April in San Antonio; but wildflower seeds need to be planted in fall to produce their beautiful blooms in spring. If you plant these wildflower seeds in springtime, you don’t give them the correct amount of time to develop. Get your ticket for our upcoming Wildflower class, Oct. 6th at 11AM at our Bandera location. Ticketed event, spaces are limited.
2. Fall is for pollinators
Most of us are aware of the Monarchs making their way through San Antonio on their migratory path back from Mexico, but other butterflies are also migrating. With many of our perennials putting out a second show of blooms, fall is prime time for pollinators. We need more plants that attract pollinators in more areas of our city. We are so excited to be part of the 6th Annual 2021 Monarch and Pollinator Festival. Rainbow Gardens will be right in the the thick of it this year, spreading what we know about attracting and helping pollinators and encouraging others to do the same. Make sure to come visit us. This year’s festival will be held at Confluence Park. See above link for schedule of events.
3. Fall is for a fresh round of vegetables and some fruits
- Cold-weather fall vegetables: Right on the tail of that second round of warm-weather vegetables is the arrival of cole crops and cold-weather fall vegetable gardening. Get excited about planting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and more.
- Strawberries: Just like the wildflowers mentioned above, many folks don’t think about them until springtime, not realizing that the right time to plant them is in fall. Fall-planted strawberries out-produce spring-planted strawberries by far.
4. Fall is for Dividing and Transplanting
- Transplanting: Fall is the perfect time to transplant a tree, shrub or perennial that you realize might be better off in another area of your landscape. The cooler weather allows the plant to withstand the shock of being dug up and replanted, and gives it the right amount of time to establish strong root growth in its new home.
- Dividing: Since plants will experience less heat stress, fall is the perfect time to dig and divide plants that have become crowded over the years. Some perennials that can be dug up and divided during this time of year are: iris, canna, phlox, coneflowers, hardy amaryllis, Shasta daisy, liriope, daylilies, and hosta.
5. Fall is for planting trees and shrubs
Trees, Shrubs, AND woody perennials: There is absolutely NO better time than fall to plant these items. Planting in fall gives trees, shrubs and woody perennials much more time (all winter and early spring) to grow strong roots to be able to withstand our summer heat. Did you plant these items in spring? How are they doing now? Try planting them in fall and you’ll see a big difference in their health and vitality!
Get ready for fall, y’all!
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
If I planted my cucumbers in late spring and there still producing, should I leave them to continue into the fall or plant new plants? Theres only a few still producing. Do they produce over and over like the okra? Should I replant okra too. The okra are also still producing.
Cucumbers can still be planted up to around Sept 15th, but the earlier the better. Best to start with a new plant for fall especially since you mentioned that production has slowed. You are a little behind on the cut off date for planting another okra as it is very much a warm weather veggie. You could try, the cut off date is around August 15th, but you may just want to enjoy the okra you have and look forward to replacing it with some cool weather veggies to come.