The end of summer is the perfect time to start thinking about vegetables to plant in fall for a spring harvest. In fall, the soil is still warm enough for roots to establish before winter sets in. The vegetables that you plant now become next spring’s side dishes, snacks, and pickles.

Here are the best vegetables to plant in fall for a spring harvest.

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If you put forth the effort to fertilize your lawn, you already have great intentions. However, you can end up doing more harm than good if you aren’t armed with the right knowledge and tools.

We caught up with lawn expert Brian Feldman to learn about the five mistakes he often sees people make when fertilizing their lawns.

Applying Too Much Fertilizer

When it comes to fertilizing your lawn, there really is such thing as too much of a good thing.

“Fertilizing your lawn may seem straightforward, but there are several vital steps to follow and nuances to grasp to ensure your lawn receives the required nutrients to stay healthy,” Feldman says. “Without fertilizing, you are much less likely to achieve a dense, green outdoor space that you can enjoy.”

Applying an excessive amount of fertilizer could harm the soil and burn your grass. Dousing your lawn with too much fertilizer destroys the soil’s pH balance, which, in turn, leads to fertilizer burn.

Fertilizer burn causes your grass to turn brown or yellow, which is not the look you’re going for. You’ll need to water your lawn extra to help it recover.

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Not Applying Enough Fertilizer

On the other end, not applying enough fertilizer is also a common problem Feldman notices. Lawns that don’t receive enough fertilizer often lack the proper nutrients required to grow and stay green.

You can spot an underfertilized lawn by its thin and patchy appearance, while a properly fertilized lawn will look more lush and dense.

Selecting the Wrong Fertilizer for Your Lawn Type

When searching for the right fertilizer for your lawn, you need to consider its specific needs.

“There are different fertilizers on the market to choose from, and the best one for your lawn depends on your growing zone,” Feldman says. “Consider tapping a professional to provide expert direction on the type of fertilizer that is best for your lawn.”

Commissioning a soil test from a professional can also help you determine what nutrients it’s missing. Commercial fertilizers have NPK numbers that indicate the amount of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) a bag contains.

Fertilizing at the Wrong Frequency or Time

Determining how often and when to fertilize your lawn can be one of the trickiest pieces of the equation, because it depends on several things: You’ll need to take the type of fertilizer, climate, and grass type into consideration.

Regardless of any of these factors, applying it in the spring is typically a good idea. Feldman also recommends applying nutrients to your lawn in the fall in preparation for the winter, especially if you are also applying seed to a cool-season lawn that contains Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, or fine fescue grass.

If you have a warm-season lawn such as Bermudagrass, Zoysiagrass, St. Augustine grass, or Centipede grass, you should feed it during the summer months and also in the fall.

“You’ll focus on applying potassium in the fall to help the turf through the winter,” Feldman says.

Not Using the Right Tools

Having the right tools on hand makes any job easier, fertilizing your lawn included.

“If homeowners choose to fertilize their lawn, they’ll likely also need to buy a spreader and fertilizer, calibrate the equipment, and ensure they apply the right amount of fertilizer to the lawn,” Feldman says.

Regardless of which option you go with, the important thing is that you’re putting in the effort.

Thyme is a delicious herb that’s a key ingredient in pasta, chicken, and even intricate cocktails. It’s a great addition to your herb garden or even a window box in your kitchen. If you know how to propagate thyme, it’s easy to keep a consistent supply growing at home, without having to make a trip to the gardening supply store.

So where should you start? Propagating thyme isn’t inherently difficult, but it does include a few key steps—and it’s important that you follow them. These tips and tricks will help you create a lush, thriving herb garden with an unlimited supply of thyme.

Benefits of Propagation

Like any method of propagation, propagating thyme allows you to create your own self-sustaining supply of herbs at home, saving you a trip to your local nursery. In the case of thyme, however, taking advantage of different propagation methods can have even bigger benefits.

“Thyme seedlings are very slow to grow,” says Nicole Burke, founder of Gardenary. “I don’t typically recommend starting from seed if your goal is to get usable thyme quickly.”

Carrie Spoonemore, co-founder of Seed to Spoon, also notes that thyme can be “tricky to germinate.” Fortunately, there are other methods that will yield more reliable results.

Propagating From Cuttings

Both of the experts that we consulted agree that propagating via cuttings is the best method. It’s “the easiest and most dependable way,” notes Burke. “I call it herb magic.”

First, choose a stem from a healthy thyme plant. It should be “green and flexible, but not too woody,” as per Burke. Then, cut 3 to 5 inches from the tip of the stem, just below a leaf node. Strip the leaves off the bottom half of the stem.

Spoonemore recommends then dipping the cut end in a rooting hormone, then placing it in a bio dome from the brand Park Seed. “It provides an ideal environment … great airflow, consistent humidity, and moisture control,” she says.

If you prefer to simply use what you have on hand, Burke says you can just place the cutting in a glass of fresh water on a sunny windowsill. Make sure to change the water and keep it fresh.

Regardless of where your cutting ends up, you should see it start to form roots in a few weeks. You can then plant it in your garden.

Propagating From Division

Spoonemore notes that propagating from division “is great for established plants,” but “it does require disturbing the plant.” It’s still a faster method than growing from seed, however.

Burke recommends waiting for spring or early fall—then, gently dig up the plant. “Shake off the soil and look for natural separations in the root ball,” she says. “Use a sharp spade or hori hori knife to divide the plant into two sections.”

Then, simply replant one half where the original was and move the other to a new place in the garden.

Care Instructions

Once. you’ve successfully propagated your thyme, it’s important to properly care for it. Make sure it gets 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day and is planted in well-draining soil. Let the soil dry out between waterings—thyme is particularly sensitive to overwatering. Prune regularly.

Common Mistakes

Despite your best efforts, it’s easy to make a mistake or two throughout the propagation process. Here are a few common ones that you should try to avoid:

• Cutting too much: Never remove more than 1/3 from the parent thyme plant at once.
• Cutting the wrong stems: Woody stems won’t root as easily as green ones.
• Overwatering: Thyme doesn’t need a lot of watering, so overwatering is a major reason that this plant will wither. Always wait for the soil to dry out before watering again.

Chrysanthemums, often called hardy mums or garden mums, are daisy-like, many-petalled flowers that bloom from late summer through autumn. They’re a popular choice for autumn containers and decor, and many nurseries and farm stores sell them as a seasonal item. In fact, they’re so ubiquitous that some gardeners find mums to be overrated. Though they’re often grown as annuals and discarded, these perennial flowers are a colorful and long-blooming presence in the late-season flower bed.

But mums also have utility beyond their beauty: their distinctive “flower shop” scent is due to compounds that can help deter insect pests. We spoke with some garden experts about whether mums really work for repelling pests, and they all agreed they can be an effective part of pest prevention efforts.

Do Chrysanthemums Really Repel Pests?

Some gardeners think chrysanthemums repel pests due to their scent, but this is only partly true. Rhonda Kaiser, a master gardener and landscape designer, says their real pest-repelling power comes from natural chemicals known as pyrethrins.

Another garden expert, Annette Hird, agrees that mums are believed to repel pests due to the presence of pyrethrins. Though she thinks it may be debatable whether most garden mums repel pests on their own, she confirms that pyrethrins extracted from plants do make excellent insect repellents.

The important thing to keep in mind is that there is only one chrysanthemum variety that contains pyrethrin in amounts significant enough to be an effective pesticide. That variety is Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium, also known as Tanacetum cinerariifolium, Pyrethrum daisy, or Dalmatian daisy. It has white daisy-like petals and prominent yellow centers that have a rounded shape.

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Why Chrysanthemums Work

The mums known as Dalmatian daisy or pyrethrum daisy are effective insect deterrents because they contain large amounts of naturally occurring pyrethrin. Kaiser says that while planting these mums in the garden may be an effective deterrent, pyrethrins are most effective when concentrated into sprays and other products.

Kaiser says that one advantage of pyrethrin products is that these compounds break down quickly in the environment, so they are a more environmentally friendly alternative than most synthetic pesticides.

Though pyrethrin compounds are often extracted from pyrethrum daisies and used to make commercial pesticides, these are not always organic formulas. You can, however, make your own organic pesticides from mums.

Pests Chrysanthemums Are Best For

The mums known as Dalmatian daisy can be an effective pest control option against insect pests. Pyrethrin in an insecticide spray works to kill a wide range of destructive insects, including aphids, thrips, mealybugs, whiteflies, and many more, as well as nuisance insects like ticks, cockroaches, silverfish, and ants.

Insects that are repelled by strong-smelling plants like catnip and lavender, such as mosquitoes, are also deterred by all chrysanthemums (not just Dalmatian daisies), because of their pungent (though pleasant to most humans) scent.

How to Make Chrysanthemums Work As Pest Deterrents

Though making an insecticide spray is the most effective use of certain mum varieties to kill insects, the strong scent of all mums can be an effective insect deterrent in the garden when they are planted strategically.

• Choose the correct chrysanthemum variety. The one known to contain pyrethrum in ample amounts to help deter insects is the pyrethrum daisy, or Dalmatian daisy, aka Chrysanthemum cinerariifolium. Other chrysanthemum varieties may be effective deterrents against some insects, such as mosquitoes.
• Plant near areas where you want to deter pests. This may be by your garden shed, patio, or outdoor seating area. Consider mums also as companion plants near your vegetable garden.
• Give your plants proper growing conditions. Mums of any variety need well-drained, rich soil and plenty of sun to bloom and thrive. Hird says that morning sun is desirable, and these plants benefit from some shade in the afternoon to protect them from the scorching sun.
• Prune the plant to encourage branching and blooms. Hird says that pruning young perennial mum plants is essential to promote bushy growth. Deadheading also helps encourage more flowers, and the flowers are where the plant’s insect-repelling properties are concentrated.

The vibrant colors of zinnia flowers are a highlight in any garden. However, when these blooms start to fade and lose their color—or even turn brown—it’s easy to start panicking. Should you cut the blooms? Or should you leave them be?

Ultimately, the best solution is to snip the spent, faded flowers—a process known as deadheading. This will encourage the plant to refocus its energy on producing new blooms, so your garden will be awash in color again in no time. Here’s how you should do it, according to gardening experts.

Why Should You Cut Zinnias?

“Deadheading your fading or spent zinnia flowers will help the plant produce even more blooms, and keep the plant looking healthy and vibrant,” says Steven Engel, regional account manager at PanAmerican Seed. 

There are other benefits to deadheading as well. It also lightens the flower canopy, so the blooms are less likely to fall over in the rain or wind, says Lisa Mason Ziegler, author of The Cut Flower Handbook.

Removing older blooms can even increase airflow, minimizing the risk of disease and pests. “[It] decreases the chance for Botrytis, an airborne fungus that lives on dead organic material and can make a plant rot,” adds Engel.

How to Do It

Ready to get started? Here’s how to properly deadhead your zinnias so they come back more vibrant than ever.

Look for Spent Flowers

It’s time to deadhead once a flower begins to fade, or you notice the edges of the petals start to turn brown.

“As the blooms age, they fade in color and develop seed; they become heavier and often hang lower on the plant from the weight,” says Ziegler. Many older flowers will also start to develop spots or nibble bites from insects. “The centers of the flowers tend to age first and begin to look dirty,” she adds.

Know Where to Snip

The place you snip the bloom will determine where the next bud emerges. The way you deadhead zinnias changes depending on whether they’re for cut flowers or to enjoy in your garden.

For landscape planting: “Make the cut above two leaves to generate new sprouts,” says Ziegler. For a cut flower garden: “Make the cuts deeper on the plant to generate more long, straight stems.”

Remove Spent Blooms

Snip zinnias with garden shears or scissors for a clean cut, or pinch them off with your fingers. If you’re cutting zinnias for their fresh flowers, then Engel suggests only using scissors to prune them. 

When to Deadhead

Deadheading zinnias is an ongoing task. “It begins as soon as the first blooms age out and continues through the season,” says Ziegler. “Doing it on a regular basis, like a Saturday morning job, keeps the plant in its best condition.”

With summer winding down, now is the ideal time to consider what fall veggies you’d like to grow this year, and if you’d like to use—or continuing using—raised beds.

But are these better for fall veggies than planting straight in the ground? We checked in with two gardening pros to find out.

Is It Better to Grow Fall Veggies in Raised Beds?

According to pro gardener Edwin Dysinger, the benefits of using raised beds depend on where you’re based and what you’re growing—and this all comes down to understanding the original purpose of raised beds.

“Raised bed gardening originated to elevate vegetables above wet, water logged soils, giving them a dryer growing environment,” he explains.

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Benefits of Growing in Raised Beds

If you live in a climate that’s wet and cold, raised beds can be a major help because they’re designed to warm up faster. This is one reason growers often prefer to use them in spring, but there are benefits to using raised beds in fall, too.

“Raised beds are dryer than surrounding soils [and] adjust to ambient temperatures faster than the soils of in-ground beds,” says Dysinger. “This means that, compared to in-ground beds, they will cool down faster in the fall.”

In addition to helping with temperature control, Dysinger also notes that raised beds are more accessible, typically have a greater aesthetic appeal, and allow for soil control. This can be a major upside if you have very rocky soil, for example.

With this in mind, Dysinger says there are some crops that might be worth growing in raised beds this autumn.

“Focus on cool season leafy greens and root crops,” he suggests, naming lettuce, kale, collards, and spinach, as well as carrots, radishes, beets, and turnips. “[These] often do well in raised beds because of the improved nature of the soil in it. Onions and garlic like well-drained soils and will overwinter well in a raised bed, provided they are mulched well.”

What Not to Grow in Raised Beds

According to pro gardener Luke Hammond, you can plant any fall veggies you’d like in your raised beds—it all just comes down to your planning and maintenance.

“[Raised beds] may require a little different type of care throughout the season,” Hammond says. “Timing of each crop may vary compared to traditional in-ground gardens.”

The first thing to consider is your growing zone; this will impact harvest timing, as well as the forecast of which plants will survive first frost.

But you also need to consider your cooler root zone, which refers to the temperature of your plants’ roots. This will affect how far into the winter you hope to keep your garden growing.

“Raised beds’ soil will cool off quicker going into the winter because of the extra exposure and the less thermal mass,” says Hammond. “However, coming out of the winter, the opposite is true and they warm up quicker.”

Special Care for Growing Veggies in Raised Beds

As you prepare your raised beds, consider the elements that might differ from in-ground planting; this includes soil quality and moisture, as well as temperature. Because of this, you should monitor these aspects carefully, and ensure your plants remain happy and healthy.

Along with raised beds, Dysingers also points out that container planting will have a similar outcome to raised beds—except potentially accentuated due to the smaller size. 

“The more soil mass you have, the less it will dry out and the less it will be subject to ambient temperature,” says Dysinger. “Of course, the opposite is true the smaller your container. Containers will be subject to freezing before a raised bed is.”

Summer’s end doesn’t mean you’re garden is finished for the year. You can still have a colorful garden thanks to these fast-growing plants that’ll thrive in August and September,

“With that transition period, you’ve got a wider array, but it’s going to vary a lot based on regions,” Damon Abdi, an assistant professor of landscape horticulture at Louisiana State University, says.

Here are the plants you can still plant in the transition from summer to fall for a pop of color, according to gardening pros.

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Fall isn’t complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins for baking, carving, and painting. But if you chose to grow your own this year, you’ll want to be on the lookout for potential issues that can affect your harvest. One thing many gardeners encounter when growing pumpkins at home is yellowing foliage. While this is typically an indicator your plants need extra care, the underlying issue can vary. To help you diagnose the cause of yellowing leaves, we asked experts the most common reasons pumpkin leaves change color—and how to fix it.

Inadequate Watering

Pumpkins need consistent moisture to thrive. “Too little water causes plant stress, limiting chlorophyll production and leading to yellowing leaves,” says Ankit Singh, ornamental horticulture educator at the University of Maine Extension. To fix this issue, aim to give pumpkins 1 to 2 inches of water per week, watering deeply and evenly early in the day. “Use mulch to retain moisture and regulate soil temperature,” Singh says.

Age

Sometimes pumpkin leaves turn yellow simply because it’s time for them to do so. “As the pumpkin vine matures, the older leaves yellow because the nutrients are redirected to new growth,” says Linda Langelo, horticulture specialist at Colorado State University Extension. “Every plant has a certain maturity, and there is no fix to stop the older leaves from yellowing.”

Poor Soil Drainage

Although pumpkins prefer moist soil, waterlogged conditions can put stress on the roots of the plant. “This leads to nutrient deficiency in the leaves, as the roots can’t provide the leaves with proper nutrients and chlorophyll production is disrupted,” says Langelo. Our experts say you can rectify this issue by amending the soil with compost to improve drainage and waiting longer periods between watering.

Inadequate Sunlight

Pumpkins are full-sun plants that need six to eight hours of full sun daily. “Insufficient sunlight reduces photosynthesis and chlorophyll production in leaves,” says Langelo. She adds that when sunlight is scarce, chlorophyll begins to break down, leading to pale or yellow leaves. This issue can be difficult to fix once your plants are already in the ground, but trimming nearby plants that cast shade on your pumpkins can help.

Disease

It’s possible the foliage on your pumpkin plants is yellowing because the leaves are infected with a disease, such as fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt, or mosaic virus. If this is the case, Singh recommends removing infected leaves and disposing of them away from your garden. To prevent these diseases, improve airflow by thinning the vines, avoid overhead watering, and rotate your crops annually to avoid pathogen build-up.

Pests

Sap-sucking pests like squash bugs, aphids, and spider mites can remove the sap from pumpkin leaves, causing yellow spots to develop. Langelo recommends spraying the vines with neem oil to mitigate these pests. She also says to rotate your crops annually to prevent squash bugs from damaging your plants next year, as they overwinter in garden debris.

Nutrient Deficiencies

One of the most common causes of yellowing pumpkin leaves is lack of nutrients. “Low levels of essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, iron, or magnesium, can cause chlorosis (leaf yellowing),” says Singh. “Nitrogen deficiency often yellows older leaves first; iron deficiency yellows young leaves with green veins. To address this concern, apply a balanced fertilizer to the soil or amend with compost.

Environmental Stress

Various environmental stresses, such as wind damage and temperature extremes, can cause pumpkin leaves to turn yellow. To limit such stressors, our experts recommend using row covers to protect the plants from heat waves and windbreaks to shield against wind damage.

If you’ve been maintaining your coneflowers all season long and aren’t sure what to do next, we asked pro gardeners to weigh in on whether you should let them seed or not. They share everything you need to know when it comes to seeding and all the benefits that come along with it, so you can have a flourishing garden for next year.

Should You Let Coneflowers Seed?

Yes, you should let your coneflowers seed, as there are many great benefits that come with it after the gardening season is over, our gardening pros say.

Letting them go to seed is the process of letting the central cone dry out, which will become dark and spiky to the touch, Tracy Smith, an outdoor green goods buyer for Terrain, explains.

“Coneflowers, also known as Echinacea, are wonderful additions to your garden; however, they are prolific and if allowed to go to seed, will naturally reseed themselves, often returning the next season with even greater vigor,” JoJami Tyler, a certified Gardenary coach and founder of Fancy Pants Gardens, says.

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All the Benefits of Seeding Your Coneflowers

• The seeds are a valuable food source for birds. Coneflower seeds provide forage for wildlife, especially birds, during the fall and winter time, Edwin Dysinger, the co-founder of Seedtime, explains. “The seeds are a magnet for birds, especially goldfinches in late summer and fall, helping sustain local wildlife. It’s like having a natural birdfeeder that you never have to maintain,” Tyler says. Other bird types you can expect to see are sparrows, towhees, and finches, Smith says.
• They’ll reappear next year. If you’re looking to have coneflowers in your garden the following year, letting them seed will allow them to naturally grow without the worry of replanting. Tyler explains how this is a great method for filling in gaps in the garden with hardy blooms, especially if you have a lot of space to cover.
• Visual aesthetic. Smith explains how the texture and color of the dark seed heads will create an attractive visual aesthetic to the garden, especially as we approach fall.

How to Help Your Coneflowers Seed

• Leave the seed heads intact. After your coneflowers have flowered, don’t deadhead them, Tyler says. Instead, she recommends letting the blooms dry out and form seed heads. ” In autumn, as the flower fades, seeds will mature and begin to drop,” Tyler explains.
• Distribute seeds manually. Once they’re dry, collect the mature seed heads and separate them by gently rubbing. Then, scatter them over your soil and gently water, Tyler says. “Seeding in the fall is especially helpful because it allows the seeds to naturally cold stratify on their own. But it can also be done in the spring once soil temperatures have reached 65°F or more,” Dysinger says.
• Cover them lightly. Since coneflower seeds are tiny and need some light to properly germinate, Tyler suggests slightly pressing or sprinkling the soil on top instead of burying them deeply.

How to Seed Coneflowers Indoors

1. Sow the seeds. Dysinger recommends sowing the seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost using a good, moist soil mix. Either minimally cover or don’t cover the seeds at all for proper germination.
2. Let them germinate. The germination process will take around 10-20 days, so make sure there’s enough light.
3. Transplant outdoors. Once the seedlings have two to three true leaves and there’s no danger of frost, move them outdoors.

Rabbits. No matter how cute they are, they can be a nuisance if you’re a farmer or a gardener. For anyone who lives in an area where rabbit populations run rampant, allowing this furry species to thrive without human intervention may seem at odds with the desire to protect a garden.

Fortunately, there are several sustainable ways to keep rabbits out of a garden, from building fences to growing rabbit-resistant plants.

Identifying Rabbits in Your Garden

If you find evidence of uninvited diners in your garden, don’t assume rabbits are the culprits. Mice, squirrels, and other rodents are also opportunistic eaters. Here’s how to tell who is eating your plants.

• Rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk. Sit quietly in your garden during these times and see who arrives for a meal.
• Ask at a local greenhouse, garden center, or university extension service if rabbits are known to live in your area.
• Look for gnawing marks. Insects leave holes in plants. Rabbits nibble from the edge. They’ll leave your plants looking clean-cut rather than ragged.
• Rabbits leave round or oval brown-colored fecal pellets as they move around the garden. You might also find rabbit hair or fur caught on branches.

Keeping Rabbits Out of Your Garden

If you’ve identified your problem as rabbits, there are multiple ways to keep these critters at bay. The first step to take is to stay ahead of the problem by creating a rabbit-deterrent garden.