Prepare your yard and garden for fall

It’s a great time of year in the circle of garden life. Autumn in the garden. Cool weather crops. Final summer harvest. A few weeks to tuck in the garden for winter before the spring seed catalogs arrive. Here’s what area gardeners are doing this fall, what they recommend to start a new garden and how you can support local and migrating birds while you’re at it.

Leaves and stalks

“There’s a new school of thought in getting vegetable and flower beds ready for winter,” said Mary Kay Hinkle of Springfield, a member of the Springfield Civic Garden Club. Instead of raking up and disposing of all the leaves that drop, rake them onto your flower beds for the winter where they will insulate and add important nutrients to the garden. Then clean them up in late March. 

This is also the time to cut off flower heads before they go to seed if they are likely to spread beyond their boundaries. But, with a few notable exceptions, don’t cut down every spent stem and stalk at the end of the growing season. “Pollinating bees and butterflies lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves and in hollow stems. If you cut everything down, you’re actually getting rid of next year’s pollinators. And, that’s a really big deal,” Hinkle said. 

Wade Kammin, owner of Springfield’s Wild Birds Unlimited, agrees. “Resist the urge to tidy up the yard and garden. Hold this task back until late spring. Goldfinches and other birds will feed from the seeds of spent flowers all winter, while the hollow stems of some perennials provide beneficial insects with places to lay eggs or to overwinter themselves. As leaves gather around the bases of plants, they not only insulate the roots of the plants, they will shelter insects – firefly larva being just one example – and trap some fallen seeds. Watch for birds like juncos to scratch through the leaves for a hidden meal.” 

However, do cut back iris, hostas and peonies, Hinkle said. “They can get types of fungus, insects and slug eggs that will hatch next spring and eat all your hostas.”  

Then, leave much of the rest standing. “A lot of plants look pretty with frost and snow on them. Plants such as sedum, especially Autumn Joy, and ornamental grasses provide ‘winter interest.’” 

For vegetable plots, it’s totally different, Hinkle said. “Clear off everything but perennials such as asparagus before winter because of the plant diseases that can overwinter in your soil.” Then, next year, grow different vegetables in your garden sections. 

Go native

Springfield gardener Francie Cobern encourages people to plant more pollinator-supporting plants. She also urges homeowners not to use chemicals for weed and insect control on yards, fields and crops. Killing mosquitoes and other insects threatens the essential pollinators for the fruits we need. 

You can help combat this by planting milkweed and native plants that support Monarch butterflies and other pollinator insects and birds. Local giveaways and sales can help ensure that you get hardy, native plants at free or at reasonable prices. The Park Foundation Board hosts a plant giveaway of approximately 20 varieties of native milkweed in the spring, according to Cobern. The Native Plant Society sells plants at economical prices. And even local retailers sell plants identified as “native” on their tags. 

Kammin also encourages creating a biodiverse habitat to support area and migrating birds. “Add evergreens and cover for cardinals, bushes that provide winter berries for bluebirds and robins and flowers that create seeds. Adding trees such as oaks to a yard can foster nutritious caterpillars in the spring and acorns in the fall, as these both feed a number of species. Whenever possible, prioritize native plants over non-natives, as these provide the most benefit to the birds. The plant list of the Illinois Native Plant Society’s Central Chapter sale page is one of my favorite lists for choosing plants, (www.illinoisplants.org/central-chapter/plant-sale/),” Kammin said.

To keep your birds nearby, be sure to provide a water source. “Locating a bird bath in an open area about 10 feet from vegetation allows birds to more easily spot approaching predators while being close enough that they can escape into the cover should they need to,” he said. 

Once you’ve selected your new plants, Cobern continues, plant them this fall after a good rain and before the first hard freeze rather than waiting until spring. “Put them into the ground now when they can develop their roots and get a good foundation for spring before the harsh summer heat,” she said.

Where to put your new plants? Pay attention to the direction and hours of sunshine in various places in your yard. Also consider the bloom times and water needs of your plants, as well as their height when designing beds – tall ones in the back, shorter ones in front and in borders. Once you see the overall picture after a year or so, move plants that aren’t thriving. Gardens evolve.

Budget-friendly gardening 

Veronica Fesser lives and gardens on five acres south of Rochester in New City. With flower beds, vegetable gardens, an orchard and much more, there’s always a project – especially living on well water. Fesser supplements with three 50-gallon rain barrels and numerous five-gallon buckets as needed. To ensure she makes the most of her water resources, she practices organic gardening.

She and her husband pile leaves on the flower beds in the fall, locate new gardens to take advantage of the windbreak of white pines and spruces they planted 36 years ago and start  next year’s plants in the basement each winter. Fesser’s No. 1 recommendation for new gardeners is to start a compost pile. 

“Start saving vegetable peels, leaves and grass clippings – just no meat scraps, fats, proteins – in a protected area, even in just a trash can with a lid so animals can’t get into it. Turn it every so often to help it decompose. Search garage sales for supplies you can use, and find places that sell straw bales to use as mulch for a reasonable price. This will conserve moisture and keep weeds away from your plants,” she said.

Then, she concludes, with all that good compost and mulch, “when you do till your garden, you’ll have good organic matter built in without a lot of expense and chemicals.” 

The result of Fesser’s efforts is gardens that produce flowers and produce for her family, friends, garden clubs and the wildlife of all kinds that find sustenance and shelter in their own Eden.   

Hinkle, Cobern, and Fesser are members of the Springfield Civic Garden Club. For more information about gardening and to attend special topical presentations at club meetings, visit https://scgc-il.org/

Never one to give up, DiAnne Crown spent 30 years in a predominately shaded Springfield home trying unsuccessfully to grow Mortgage Lifter and Big Boy tomatoes in every possible location. Without admitting defeat, she now grows cherry tomatoes in large containers, and everyone is happy.

This article appears in September 18-24, 2025.