If you’ve been tending your vegetable garden all summer—keeping it weeded, removing diseased or spent plants, not stepping on the soil—your garden won’t need much prep for the fall. Just clear the space, maybe add some compost and start planting. If that’s not the case, your garden could probably use some attention before you start your second season of planting.
Weeds: If they’ve been hiding out under plants, get rid of them now and do it before they go to seed.
Spent plants: Get rid of everything possible. You can leave your tomatoes and peppers to ripen, but many other plants, like early planted beans, cucumbers, and lettuce, are pretty much done for the season and they’re just harboring disease and pests. Dispose of anything diseased and compost the rest.
Fallen fruits: If you’ve been lax about cleaning up small fruits that have dropped off the plant, make sure you get them out of there now. Rotting fruits attract pests.
If you plan to plant another spring garden, you can save time next year by noting what was planted where so you can rotate your crops as best as possible.
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