When warmer temperatures cool and the colors of summer turn to harvest hues of fall, it’s time to transition garden plants, pots, and beds for the next growing season.
For seniors looking to minimize their fall garden clean-up, these five tips can help to refresh and tidy up even the smallest of spaces to ensure success next spring.

How Does Your Garden Grow?
Gardens come in all shapes and sizes and provide a perfect option for staying active as we age, offering a sense of accomplishment and productivity. For seniors with varying levels of independence, endurance, and abilities, gardening is an accessible hobby that can be adapted to different living environments. 

Whether you tend a large backyard garden, a small patio garden, a raised bed, a window box, or even a few potted plants, gardening practices can be adapted to accommodate various needs. For older individuals with cognitive challenges, easy-care, low-maintenance options can offer meaningful tasks and a calming sensory experience in any season, both indoors and outdoors.

Identify Your Growing Season
Before beginning your fall garden clean-up, familiarize yourself with the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which outlines the various growing seasons and regional planting guidelines that go along with those seasons. Experienced gardeners may be well-versed in this step, but beginners or those who have relocated may benefit from a quick confirmation.

Enter your zip code on the U.S. Department of Agriculture site to quickly identify your hardiness zone and find tips for planting, soil care, and pest control. Areas that enjoy warmer temperatures in the fall months will likely have extended time to prepare gardens for winter weather, but if your location is prone to early fall frost, be sure to plan accordingly. 

5 Fall Gardening Tips
Our five fall gardening tips can be easily remembered and implemented by gardeners of all abilities. While independent seniors can manage these tasks with minimal to no assistance, they can be easily adjusted for those with mobility limitations or other challenges. 

Consider setting up a task table on a deck, patio, garage or indoor activity space to elevate potted plants, tools, and supplies. This step eliminates the need for bending and balancing and can allow the individual to sit safely while handling garden tasks. 
Older adults residing in an assisted living or memory care community can share these tasks with fellow residents, neighbors, or volunteers as part of a community garden club or other group gardening activity. This offers an opportunity for social connection while engaging the mind, body, and spirit in fulfilling work.

Plant Something!
Autumn is an ideal time to plant. If you were scoping out a few new favorites at your local garden center, make a list of what you had in mind and research the growing instructions for each of those options. Many farms or nurseries offer discounts on perennials, shrubs, or other options in late summer. Senior living residents can take requests from friends and family and include their favorite selections when adding to a community garden.

Fall is also the perfect time for planting spring flower bulbs – daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips can be planted in flower beds for spring blooming. Pansies can be planted in the fall for extra color and bloom again the following spring. Woody perennials, like the favorite hydrangea, shrubs, or bushes, such as lilac, can also be put in the ground before freezing temperatures arrive.

Propagate New Plants
Propagating plants is important when caring for an established garden, but it can also serve as a fun group activity among friends, family, or neighbors. Examine your garden for existing plants that can be divided and transplanted by separating from the larger parent plant. Share the young plants with other eager gardeners, family members, or a loved one’s senior living community. A garden bed or container filled with starter plants from different gardeners can be a unique way to recognize individual contributions and celebrate the community. 

Perennials that work well for fall propagation include coneflowers, hostas, irises, creeping phlox, astilbe, sedum, and daylilies, however, there are several others that can be added to this list. Take care to keep newly planted perennials well-watered through the fall months and cover them with a layer of mulch for protection before the temperatures drop. (Many houseplants can also be easily propagated for those who prefer to keep this activity indoors and very low maintenance, such as pothos, spider plants, aloe vera, and snake plants.)

Prune With Care
Pruning in the fall is tricky. Many gardening sites will suggest not pruning during the fall to ensure you don’t encourage new growth before the plant experiences colder weather. However, some pruning can be beneficial, especially when used to eliminate dead or diseased foliage or branches, if damaged leaves or those affected by disease are not composted back into the garden.

Perennials that can be safely pruned back for a strong return in spring include lilies and daylilies, coneflowers, catmint, irises, peonies, and lavender, just to name a few. Before picking up your pruning shears, research the guidelines for pruning in your location or check out the guidance on The Old Farmer’s Almanac site for more advice. 

Prepare & Protect
Along with planting and pruning steps, preparing your garden for the transition of seasons will protect plants during colder temperatures. 

•    Lightly rake and pull up weeds in your garden beds before covering them with fresh mulch.
•    Empty containers and pots and store them upside down.
•    Give special attention to newly planted or transplanted perennials and keep them protected with mulch and well-watered until temperatures freeze. 
•    Put away garden accessories such as hoses and ornamental fixtures.
•    Bring any sensitive plants indoors, such as fig trees, lemon trees, hibiscus, etc.
•    Consider bringing hardy herbs indoors for kitchen use 

Plan for What’s Next
Planning for the next season can be as simple as jotting down a few notes about what grew well, or it can be a more extensive list. Think about the following:

•    What annuals looked best this year?
•    What pests needed better control?
•    What new plants would you like to try out?
•    What plants/shrubs will need spring pruning?
•    What additions or modifications should be made?
•    How can you make the garden more accessible for a senior loved one with changing care needs?

Set a few goals in writing to remember your own tips for improvement or success. If you’re caring for a community garden with friends, share tips with the group and create a garden journal to capture everyone’s ideas when thinking ahead for the next season.

Caring For Your Home & Garden
For many older adults, gardening and maintaining their home is a labor of love, but it can also become a source of stress when other priorities or physical limitations demand more time and attention. Thankfully, a senior living community can offer a maintenance-free lifestyle that allows you or your loved one to pursue your favorite hobbies without the responsibilities of home maintenance, repairs, and daily chores.

To learn more about how an assisted living or memory care community can help keep you or your senior loved one active, supported, and inspired to do what they love, contact us today. Schedule a tourwith a senior living counselor who can introduce you to Stoney Brook residents and our relationship-centered living options. Subscribe to our blog for more valuable free resources and see how the Stoney Brook team can enable you or your loved one to thrive in one of our Texas communities.