How to Transition Your Garden from Summer to Fall
As temperatures shift from scorching hot to just hot, transitioning from summer to fall is one of the most important garden resets of the year, especially in hot climates like the low desert. In this post, I’ll walk through how I’m evaluating what to keep, what to replace, and how I’m preparing the soil, beds, and containers for a fresh start this fall.
Key Takeaways
- Transitioning from summer to fall involves evaluating the garden’s performance and preparing for new crops.
- Identify successful plants and those that struggled, and keep records so you can make necessary adjustments.
- Open up the garden light by removing tall plants and managing shading for fall crops.
- Prepare beds with cover crops and refresh worm bins for healthy soil.
- Water less often as temperatures cool, but still water beds deeply.
What we will cover:
- Step 1: Evaluate how your garden did over the summer
- Step 2: Note what struggled
- Step 3: Open the light for fall
- Step 4: Prep beds (cover crops, worm bins, and timing)
- Step 5: Shift watering for fall (but keep it deep)
- Step 6: Tomatoes & peppers (quick fall care)
- Step 7: Feed to finish strong
- Step 8: Plant with me: i’itoi onions
- Step 9: Clean up (with restraint)
- Looking ahead
- FAQ About Transitioning Your Garden from Summer to Fall
Step 1: Evaluate how your garden did over the summer
Every season teaches us something. Here’s how a few of my crops performed this summer—and what I learned.
Do the same kind of review in your garden to spot both wins and misses. If you have my Low Desert Garden Planner & Journal, use the journal pages to record notes so you can learn from each season.
- The sweet-spot bed: Morning sun and afternoon shade made this bed a standout. Okra is thriving, gomphrena is happy, and I’ve been chopping back cowpeas to use as green manure.
- Maximilian sunflowers: Planted from seed two years ago. They struggled at first but came back strong—finally blooming this year.
- Sweet potatoes: I’m letting the vines grow; more vines mean more tubers. I’ll harvest a week or two before Thanksgiving so they have time to cure.
- Marigolds + Armenian cucumber (trellis): A cooler summer helped the marigolds hold on, along with zinnias like Ballerina, Zowie Yellow Flame, and Zahara (great in containers or beds).
- Watermelon (aphids + ants): Aphids were a problem until I put out ant baits. That handled the ants, and the aphids followed. These are the ant baits I use on Amazon.
- Peppers (including chiltepin): Chiltepin, a native pepper, is loaded with blooms and going strong after several years. Other peppers are setting fruit. Don’t prune them now or you’ll delay the harvest.
- Cantaloupe and gomphrena: Both are still going strong—heat lovers that don’t need much help.
- Texas ageratum (Gregg’s mistflower): Planted in May (which is tricky), but it’s thriving and attracting queen butterflies. I need more plants like this that can handle the heat.
- Container flowers: Vinca, angelonia, gomphrena, sweet potato vine, and lisianthus are still blooming. I’ll keep them going until frost or until I swap them out in October/November. A little flower food and worm castings helps. For instant fall color, plant geraniums or dianthus.
- Peanuts: They love the heat. The tomatillos behind them didn’t. I’ll harvest the peanuts once the leaves start to yellow—usually 4–5 months after planting.
Step 2: Note what struggled
Some plants didn’t love the summer—but that’s part of learning too. Here’s what needs help and how I’m handling it:
- Roses: A little stressed but still going. I’m adding worm castings and a light dose of Nutrient+ now. Once nights drop into the 70s, I’ll fertilize and give them a light shape-up.
- Shasta daisies: A few rotted, but some look like they’ll recover. I’m waiting for fresh growth before cutting anything back.
- Peppers in the elevated bed: Not happy. Soil temps were too high. Basil didn’t mind it, but the peppers definitely did.
Step 3: Open the light for fall
I’m removing the tall sunflowers that shaded the garden all summer to open light for fall crops. I cut at the base, let the stumps decompose, and then they pull out easily. I’ll keep shade cloth up until daytime highs are consistently below 90°F.
Step 4: Prep beds (cover crops, worm bins, and timing)
Cover crops
Several beds are in black-eyed peas; I’m also trying sunn hemp. For max nitrogen, I cut legumes before they flower, but I’m letting some go longer because I want more seed for next year. I’m growing both for the green manure they add to the beds. Letting them grow is the cheapest way to add nitrogen—grow your own fertilizer.
Refresh worm bins
Fall is a great time to refresh worm bins. I’m harvesting fresh castings (sift to separate), then adding cardboard, food scraps, and topping with wood chips. The worms will move back up and make more castings.
Two weeks before planting I’ll pull back mulch, cut cover crops at the base, chop and drop into the top few inches, then top with compost.
Filling a new bed?
Use compost + worm castings + vermiculite or perlite + coco coir. I use the Raised Bed & Container Mix from Arizona Worm Farm. It uses their compost and worm castings, and my beds love it.
What’s next month: I’ll plant cool-season crops and flowers: brassicas, snapdragons, campanula, and delphinium.
Step 5: Shift watering for fall (but keep it deep)
As days get shorter and cooler, I water less often but still water deeply.
Check your system: I run Garden Grids from Garden In Minutes in all my beds. The first one went into my asparagus bed in June 2019, and it’s still going strong. The asparagus looks wild now, but those fronds are feeding the roots. They’ll yellow and go dormant as it cools; then we’ll cut them back.
Salt note: occasional deep leaching helps, especially around container edges and the outside edges of beds.
Step 6: Tomatoes & peppers (quick fall care)
Tomatoes
Fall tomatoes should already be in. If not, get transplants into your sunniest spot ASAP.
For oversummered tomatoes, you should see fresh growth now. Prune lightly a little at a time if needed to see how they tolerate it, refresh mulch, and let them keep going.
Peppers
Do not cut back now or you’ll delay harvest. Keep even moisture with deep soaks. If you’re still hot, give a little afternoon shade. Stake heavy branches; remove only dead wood.
Step 7: Feed to finish strong
I’m feeding tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and the container roselle and flowers with AgroThrive and a bit of Nutrient+. This speeds recovery from summer stress and helps new transplants settle in. I want harvests from all of these crops, and this feeding helps get them there.
Step 8: Plant with me: i’itoi onions
Tomatoes are planted. I’ll add more companions to this bed later. For now, I’m planting i’itoi onions. Long history in the Sonoran Desert. They’re a multiplying onion. Plant about 1 inch deep, four bulbs per square.
Need the rest of this month’s plantings and tasks in one place? Grab the Garden Planner. It includes planting dates, step-by-step to-dos, watering guidelines, a planning grid, and notes pages to track progress.
Step 9: Clean up (with restraint)
There are some dead plants and branches around the garden, but I’m not ready to prune everything back. Damaged areas can protect the rest of the plant, and we may still have hot days coming. I’m removing what’s truly dead to reduce pests, and I’m leaving some dead stems as temporary shade until daytime highs drop.
Looking ahead
As temps cool, I’ll cut back the cover crops about two weeks before I plant cool-season crops, add compost, and then it’s time to flip the beds.
FAQ About Transitioning Your Garden from Summer to Fall
When daytime highs are consistently under 90°F. Until then, keep some afternoon protection for tender plants.
Cut at the base, let the stumps dry/decompose, then pull—they come out much easier and you protect soil structure.
Black-eyed peas and sunn hemp. For max nitrogen, cut before flowering. About two weeks before planting, cut at the base, chop-and-drop, add compost, then mulch and plant.
Compost + worm castings + vermiculite or perlite + coco coir. I use the Raised Bed & Container Mix from Arizona Worm Farm (celebrating 5 years with them this fall).
Water less often as temps drop but keep deep soaks. Do a quick emitter check. Occasionally leach salts, especially around container and bed edges.
If you see ants farming aphids, set ant baits. When ants stop tending them, beneficial insects often take care of aphids. Follow with a deep rinse and keep plants growing. These are the ant baits I use on Amazon.
No hard pruning now you’ll delay harvest. Keep moisture even, give a little PM shade until we’re under 90°F, stake heavy branches, and remove only dead wood.
Look for fresh growth. Remove only dead/sunburned leaves, refresh mulch, and let them run. No hard pruning this late.
About 1–2 weeks before Thanksgiving for my timing. Cure them in a warm, airy spot so they sweeten up before the table.
When leaves yellow—usually 4–5 months after planting. Pull one plant to check filled kernels before harvesting the rest.
About 1 inch deep, four bulbs per square (Square Foot), water in, then a light mulch.
No—clean out what’s truly dead, but leave some dead stems on heat-stressed plants for temporary micro-shade/structure until highs drop.
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