Fall in Oregon may bring cooler temperatures and more frequent rain, but it doesn’t mean your garden has to go dormant. In fact, autumn is one of the best times to prepare your landscape for the months ahead. Whether you're extending your harvest, planting for spring, or simply tidying up after a busy summer season, a little attention now can lead to big rewards later.
Here are a few fall gardening tips to keep your outdoor space healthy, productive, and beautiful year-round.
As your summer vegetables and annuals finish producing, fall is the perfect time to clear out your garden beds. Remove spent plants, weeds, and any fallen fruit to help prevent overwintering pests and diseases. Most of this organic matter can be added to your compost pile, where it will break down over winter and enrich your soil in the spring.
Perennial plants also benefit from a little fall care. Trim back dead or diseased growth, but don’t be too quick to cut everything down. Leaving the seed heads of plants like echinacea, rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), and ornamental grasses provides food for birds and adds visual interest throughout the winter. Waiting until after the first hard frost to do heavier pruning can also protect root systems and give beneficial insects a place to shelter.
Fall is an ideal time to test your soil's pH and nutrient levels. With test results in hand, you’ll have time to amend your soil before spring planting. Adding lime, sulfur, or organic fertilizers now gives them time to break down and improve soil structure over the winter.
Enriching your soil with compost or mulch in the fall is one of the easiest ways to set your garden up for success next season. Compost adds nutrients to the soil, improves structure, and encourages microbial activity over the winter. Spread a 1–2 inch layer over your garden beds and allow the rain to carry nutrients deep into the ground.
Mulch is equally important—it helps insulate plant roots, suppresses weeds, and prevents soil erosion during heavy rains. But, the timing of applying winter mulch is important. Check out our blog post if you are unsure about the best time to mulch your garden or other plants!
Picking the right plants is key to maintaining a productive and colorful garden through Oregon’s winters. Many cool-season vegetables can be sown or transplanted in the fall and harvested throughout winter or early spring. Hardy greens like kale, arugula, spinach, mustard greens, and collards all thrive in cold weather. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and winter cabbage are also great additions to a fall vegetable patch. Garlic and shallots should be planted now for a spring harvest.
For ornamental appeal, fall-blooming flowers and hardy foliage plants can bring color and texture to your garden when most others fade. Look for options like chrysanthemums, asters, pansies, and ornamental kale. These plants not only provide visual interest, but they also support late-season pollinators—an important consideration for a healthy garden ecosystem.
Fall is the ideal time to plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, and crocuses, giving them the cool soil temperatures they need to develop strong roots before winter. Aim to plant bulbs about six weeks before the ground freezes—typically late September through early November in most parts of Oregon—so they have time to establish without sprouting too early.
Choose a sunny, well-drained spot, dig holes two to three times as deep as the bulb’s height, and place them pointy side up. Once planted, cover with soil, add a light layer of mulch to protect them from extreme cold, and then let nature take care of the rest. By spring, you’ll enjoy vibrant blooms with minimal effort.
At Schlegel Barkdust, we’ve been proud to serve the gardening and landscaping needs of our community for over 20 years. As a family-owned business, we know how rewarding it is to see your garden thrive year-round—and we’re here to help you make that happen. Whether you're topping off your beds with mulch, refreshing your compost supply, or tackling a bigger fall landscape project, we have the materials and experience to support your goals.
Not sure how much mulch or compost you’ll need? Use our online materials calculator or give us a call—we’re happy to help you get started on your next gardening project.
If you are thinking of getting some winter compost or mulch for your yard, give us a call or check out our materials calculator to learn exactly how much you need!
