There are still a few good weather days until the winter truly sets in, but diligent gardeners in Midwest know that preparations for the cold season should already be underway. Whether you’re growing veggies, herbs, flowers, or all of the above, here are the main operations that should be happening in your garden this fall.
1. Harvest Your Autumn Bounty
Days are still warm, but the first frost of the season is near! You don’t want your veggies, fruit or herbs to be compromised, so harvest everything that’s edible now. Some plants, like tomatoes or zucchini, are particularly sensitive to cold, while root veggies (carrots, potatoes) can take a little bit of frost. However, now it’s the moment to pick, store and preserve your harvest. In the Chicago area, for example, you’re risking frost beginning in mid-October, so protect your delicious veggies from getting spoiled by the cold. Crops such as potatoes, carrots, apples, pumpkins or even peppers last for months if kept in cool, dark spaces.
2. Clear the Ground
At least a part, if not most, of your plants completed their life cycle by now. Clear the ground from all spent plants – not only are they unsightly but might also harbor pests and fungi. Bury healthy garden debris in the ground or put them in your compost bin – adding organic matter to soil improves its fertility and condition However, if the plants had any type of disease, throw them in the garbage or burn them. Otherwise, the diseases and funguses will infest your baby plants the following spring.
A great tool for gardening in areas with long, cold winters, like Chicago, is a garden shredder. You can shred all your clippings from trees and bushes and create mulch that protects the soil and keeps nutrients inside during the cold season. Worried that you won’t have space to store it? Get a storage unit close to your Chicago home and keep all your gardening equipment safe and in one place.
3. Out with the Weeds
Weeds are unfortunately more resilient than crops and don’t die out early in the autumn. It’s important to clear them now before all their seeds get into the ground. Dig up all the weeds and don’t make the rookie mistake of adding them to your compost. Seeds will stay viable through the winter and, the following spring will sprout all over again. Off to the trash with the weeds or put them into your autumn burn pile.
4. Tend to the Flowers
Clear the flowerbeds of all the dead plants. Prune out dead or damaged rose stems and shorten the remaining ones. If you live in an area with particularly cold winters, bury the rose shrubs under a layer of soil until spring. Pay attention to bulbs, too. Dig carefully in the areas where the flowers bloomed – it’s trickier with spring bulbs because the stems are long gone. Do it slowly, loosening the soil and trying to avoid damaging the bulbs. Divide and transplant the bulbs in other areas of the garden. Not separating bulbs leads to less blooming (or no blooming at all) in the spring.
5. Prepare the Soil
Once you harvested and cleared the ground from old plants and weeds, it’s time to prepare the soil for next spring. Fall is the ideal season for digging up your garden and adding soil amendments like compost, manure or phosphate. The nutrients will have time to break down and enrich the soil until spring.
6. What About the Lawn?
Your lawn requires a little bit of attention in the autumn too. Rake it thoroughly to remove the underlayer of dead grass and moss. If there are anthills, or other bumps or irregularities, flatten them out, then aerate your lawn to allow more air, nutrients, and water to get to the grass roots. Aerating means spiking the lawn with a special tool – usually a roller covered in spikes. The last step is to apply a lawn weed killer (to avoid a lawn full of weeds in the spring) and a fertilizer high in potash and phosphates, to protect the grass during the cold months.
7. Care for your Tools
When living in areas with heavy Midwest winters, such as Indianapolis, you should also take extra care of your gardening tools and accessories. Clean them of debris and rust, sharpen and oil them with light machine oil, and store them somewhere dry until next spring. Do the same with your lawnmower, leaf blower or branch shredder. Ceramic flowerpots should also be cleared of soil and stored inside to be protected from frost-defrost cycles.
If your garage is too small for all your gardening paraphernalia, getting a storage unit in Indianapolis really pays off. Most gardening tools are quite expensive, and it makes sense to keep them in good shape and in a controlled environment.
8. Get Some Plants Inside
Autumn’s first frost will be here soon, and you’re sad because your beautiful pepper and tomato plants, and your fragrant, delicious herbs won’t survive. There’s a solution to this problem: select the healthiest and the youngest plants, transplant them into pots, and bring them inside. A pepper plant can live for a few years in a pot (especially hot peppers), and herbs regrow after harvest. Bringing outdoor plants in provides fresh produce and greenery to get you through a long Midwest winter.
Don’t forget about the most important autumn garden activity: building a huge pile of leaves and throwing yourself in it!
How to Store Belts (Without any Hassle)
If you want to make sure you’re storing your belts properly, we get it. A belt might be a small part of an outfit, but small details can make a big difference. Belts have been part of clothing for thousands of years — dating back to the Bronze Age — and while their purpose has evolved, they remain both functional and personal. If you have a favorite leather belt, an expensive piece, or simply a few belts you want to keep looking their best, it’s worth knowing how to store them properly. The right method can help prevent creases, cracks, scratches and unnecessary wear.
Where to Donate Books in Chicago
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How Snowbirds Handle Traveling South: Car Shipping and Storage at Your Winter Home
Every fall, millions of Americans are confronted with the same logistical puzzle: pack up one home, land in another, and somehow keep both places functional for months at a time. If you’re a snowbird, you know the challenge isn’t just the packing. It’s also figuring out what travels with you, what you leave behind, and what to do about the car.
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How to Store Sneakers the Right Way: A Collector’s Guide to Sneaker Storage
Sneaker storage has become a bigger conversation than ever. Between viral unboxings, midnight raffles, resale apps and social feeds dedicated to carefully curated shelves, building a sneaker collection has become part of the cultural zeitgeist. The challenge begins once the excitement of a new pickup fades. Finding room for every pair while keeping them in mint condition is something almost every collector eventually has to figure out.
Under-Bed Storage Ideas: From Options to Precautions
The space under your bed is some of the most valuable (and most overlooked) square footage in your home. For anyone needing more storage in a small apartment, tiny home, a student dorm or just a space shared with roommates, that low, hidden zone can absorb off-season clothes, spare bedding and luggage without cluttering a single visible surface. But under-bed storage rewards a little strategy. Used well, it clears your floors and frees your closets. Used carelessly, it can trap moisture against your mattress and, in time, damage the very things you were trying to protect.
RV Storage Ideas: Smart Solutions for Every Space
The best RV storage ideas work by finding space you already have but aren’t using — under beds, inside cabinet doors, on walls, above entry steps and in the overhead bunk. Most RV owners run out of obvious places quickly, but the real storage capacity in a typical trailer or motorhome comes from vertical surfaces, divided compartments and rethinking what each space was designed for.