Why I Love to Garden in the Fall

Less needy. Less sweaty. More whimsical. More relaxed.

The words haven’t come lately, but I’ve been gardening every day.

TJ moved a mountain of free woodchips (ChipDrop!) to make a picnic area in the back, and I’ve been moving plants every weekend that got too much sun over the summer, or not enough water, or too much attention from the deer.

I saw the beech and hickory trees in my wooded back garden turn yellow, and it inspired me to order some spice bush to frame the picnic area.

I set up my cold frame and transplanted greens, and sowed more carrot and radish seeds. I water plants mindfully, enjoying it in the cool air and with crunchy leaves underfoot.

Fall is my favorite partly because its garden pace feels slower. Less needy. Less sweaty. More whimsical. More relaxed.

Fall gardening is productive in nourishing but unflashy things.

Case in point: I’ve been making salads of baby kale, spinach and romaine. Have you ever grown your own?

If you think you don’t like spinach or kale, try it. The flavor is significantly sweeter and milder than anything I’ve ever had from the store. And they are cut-and-come-again plants. Your salad regrows itself after you trim the outer leaves.

I have a growing list of topics I want to write about, but I keep NOT writing and instead, planting, meandering, tending—and standing too long just staring at a garden bed trying to imagine full-grown trees and shrubs and the spaces in between. My neighbors probably think I’m crazy.

Weather like we’re having right now reminds me why this became my year-round hobby.