🍂 October Garden Guide by Reimagined Roots

Harvest, Protect, and Prepare for Winter

October is the garden’s invitation to slow down. The air is crisp, the light slants golden, and the soil still holds warmth even as frosts arrive. This is a month to savor late harvests, plant with next year in mind, and prepare beds, trees, and soil for a season of rest. In permaculture, we lean into cycles of decay and dormancy, knowing that today’s care creates tomorrow’s abundance.

Tend and Harvest Mindfully

Walk through your garden with gratitude. Collect the last tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants before frost. Harvest carrots, beets, and other roots as they sweeten in the cool soil. Pull or cut down spent annuals and return them to the earth through composting or mulching. Leave healthy stalks and seed heads for wildlife food and habitat. By balancing what you clear and what you keep, you support both your soil and the wider ecosystem.

Plant for Next Year’s Harvests

October is prime time for planting garlic, bulbs, and perennials.

You can plant:

• Garlic cloves in rich, well-drained soil with mulch for winter protection

• Flowering bulbs like daffodils, crocus, and alliums for early spring color and pollinator forage

• Cover crops such as rye, clover, or vetch to build soil and hold nutrients through winter

• Hardy greens like spinach under row cover for harvest into winter and early spring

Pro Tip: Plant garlic and spring bulbs when soil is cool but not frozen. Cover with straw, shredded leaves, or pine needles to insulate against deep cold and nourish soil life.

Care for Fruit Trees and Shrubs

As perennials enter dormancy, support their resilience.

• Finish harvesting apples, pears, and late berries

• Rake or compost fallen leaves and fruit to reduce pest and disease pressure

• Mulch around the base of trees and shrubs to insulate roots and retain moisture

• Water deeply before the ground freezes, especially in dry years

Plant Ally: Garlic

Garlic is both medicine and soil builder.

• Plant cloves pointy side up, spaced a few inches apart

• Mulch heavily to insulate and suppress weeds

• Expect scapes in early summer and bulbs by mid-summer

• Garlic improves soil structure and deters pests when interplanted with strawberries, fruit trees, or tomatoes

Wild Edibles and Medicinals in October

The wild edges continue to offer nourishment and medicine.

• Rose hips for teas, jams, and syrups rich in vitamin C

• Acorns for flour, leached of tannins and ground into meal

• Black walnuts for nuts, dye, and compost-activating shells

• Chickweed, still green in cool weather, for salads and soothing skin remedies

Harvest in reciprocity, taking what you need and leaving plenty for wildlife and regeneration.

Prepare the Garden for Rest

October is the season to invest in soil and design with the long view.

• Mulch empty beds with leaves, straw, or compost to protect soil life

• Sow cover crops to fix nitrogen and hold nutrients in place

• Cut back and divide perennials before the ground freezes

• Collect and save seeds from favorite open-pollinated crops

• Stack brush or create habitat piles for beneficial insects and small animals

Observe and Design with Autumn’s Wisdom

As plants die back, the structure of your landscape is revealed.

• Notice where frost settles first and where snow lingers longest

• Track the low arc of sunlight as days shorten

• Reflect on which plantings were most resilient and which struggled

• Sketch changes you want to make, guided by this year’s lessons

Keep Growing

October is a threshold month. By harvesting mindfully, planting garlic and bulbs, protecting soil, and observing seasonal patterns, you invest in next year’s resilience while honoring the garden’s need for rest. Each act of care now roots deeply into the promise of spring.