"The heat of autumn
is different from the heat of summer.
One ripens the apples, the other turns them to cider."

Nothing says life, renewal and beauty like a garden. Garden is a rhythm of life that goes through birth, growth, death and rebirth just like our own life cycles. 

Gardening and lawn maintenance in the Pacific Northwest can be really tricky if you do not know what you are doing  and come fall it can get trickier. Contrary to the popular belief there is a lot you can do in autumn if you time everything right, but first things first so you start with aerating and fertilizing your lawn. Aerate by early fall because the wet weather will help your lawn produce healthy root growth. Make sure your lawn has been watered recently so the soil is soft. It’s best to apply fertilizer when temperatures are cooler. 

After you are done harvesting all your crops towards the end of summer you can start working on certain fruit crops for example, September is the perfect time to work on raspberry canes, potting strawberry runners, picking off all the rotting fruits so they don't spread any diseases.  You can help pumpkins ripen in time for Halloween by removing any leaves shading them. Raise pumpkins and squash off the ground to prevent rotting. It's the most perfect time to plant bulbs and cool season edibles like broccoli, peas, cauliflower and garlic. Harvest everything before a frost. And its not just the crops that you can work with during this season because September/October is a great time where you can work on your perennials like peonies, lilies and irises as they all need a period of cold to set buds so cut them back in fall so healthy foliage returns back in the springtime. And plant Aster for the bees and for pollination. 
So pull up the dead plants, till the soil, mulch your beds, spread cover crops, clean your tools and make sure you save seeds from summer harvest.

"Fall is not the end of the gardening year; it is the start of next year's growing season."

- Simmi Malhotra

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If you're interested in learning more about gardening in the Fall check out the article Fall and Winter and Vegetable Gardening in the Pacific Northwest