My Fall Cleanup Checklist

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I’m a big believer in checklists. If I need to do something more than once, I want a checklist for it so I don’t have to remember the steps. It feels like a kindness to my future self.

Being a farmer and a florist means that my work is very seasonal, and from one year to the next it’s easy to forget the many small (but important) tasks. So I create checklists. And honestly, I look forward to each new season so I can start checking things off the list.

My fall cleanup checklist has been developed over nearly a decade. It includes some big projects as well as a lot of fiddly and easy-to-forget maintenance tasks. I love using Trello for checklists, because you can create checklists upon checklists, add due dates, create templates, add images and links, and organize it all however you want (this isn’t a paid ad, I just really love Trello. I use the free version).

Below I’ll share my fall cleanup checklist, broken down into a few categories: planning, harvesting, laboring and routine maintenance. Some of the these tasks, especially in the planning and harvesting categories, might begin in late summer, and some of the routine maintenance doesn’t need to happen until closer to winter.

If you’re a farmer or gardener, your checklist might look similar or wildly different. Feel free to adapt the list below to suit your needs.

 

Take advantage of good weather to start planning and checking tasks off your fall cleanup checklist.

 

Planning

  • Walk the garden and make notes about everything I grew this year so I can plan for next season. The notes are often very short and simple: yes, no, keep, add more, try again, direct seed, too short, etc.

  • Review perennials for gaps and look for unhealthy plants that need to be removed or large plants that need to be divided.

  • Make a preliminary garden plan for next season, keeping in mind crop rotation, so I can plant garlic and do some direct seeding and fall planting.

Harvesting

  • Cut back certain plants before they drop seeds everywhere, since I know from experience they can be like weeds in the spring. These include anise, milkweeds, atriplex, bupleurum, lemon balm, snapdragons and poppies.

  • Harvest flowers for drying.

  • Collect seeds.

Laboring

  • Dig gladiolus and dahlias for winter storage.

  • Do a final round of weeding, especially to catch any perennial weeds that will keep growing through the winter.

  • Divide, remove or transplant perennials as needed.

  • Add compost, leaves, wood chips and other types of mulch to protect more delicate perennials and to cover any bare soil. Keeping the soil covered over winter helps to retain moisture, shelter insects and protect all the microbial life living beneath the surface.

  • Cut back annuals to the ground but leave roots for spring cleanup (only if they are in the way at planting time; otherwise leave roots undisturbed).

  • Leave habitat piles – branches, leaves, mulch, rocks – for overwintering insects.

 

Maple leaves are a great source of soil cover for the winter. A tip: place heavy stems or branches on top to keep the leaves from blowing away.

 

Routine Maintenance

  • Deep clean the outdoor walk-in cooler.

  • Cover the shed AC unit and outdoor sink.

  • Check weather station and sensor batteries.

  • Turn off sprinkler supply valves and blow out the system.

  • Empty and store rain barrel.

  • Bring liquids from shed into the house so they don’t freeze.

  • Clean, bleach and dry out sprayers.

  • Remove and store high tunnel sidewall cranks; replace wiggle wire.

  • Move the roof snow rake into the high tunnel.

Are there any other fall tasks that you would add to the list?