I’m always looking for new garden gadgets and ideas that can make gardening easier or more fun. And I recently came across a couple of items that piqued my interest.

The first is a bit capricious: melon and squash cradles. These are 5-inch plastic cradles for propping up small (8 pounds or less) melons or squash to keep them off the ground, preventing rot. Their round, concave design keeps the fruit from becoming misshapen. There is a 3.75-inch spike on the bottom of each cradle that sticks into the soil.

The cradles come six to a package and are available at www.gardeners.com. The cradles are reusable and nest together for compact storage. Online reviewers say they work well and the design is great, but they are not big enough for large melons and squash.

While the cradles are not costly, one gardener suggested trying inexpensive concave plastic food baskets found in stores. They wouldn’t be propped up by a stake, but they would keep the fruit from touching the soil. If baskets have a solid bottom, drill holes in it for drainage. Gardeners who grow giant melons, squash and pumpkins often protect the fruit from contact with the soil by placing them on boards or tiles.

Another gadget that could come in handy is the Kombi tool. Its website says it is a “shovel with an attitude.” As the story goes, the tool’s creator, Theodor Fugel, from Georgia was a frugal man who did not want to throw away his worn-out shovel. In 1987, he decided to cut out the bad areas of the shove blade. He ended up with a tool with several large, sharp teeth instead of a rounded blade. Friends and family liked his recycled shovel and asked him to make one for them, and the Kombi business was born.

The Fugel family offers six styles of the Kombi tools, including a hand trowel, at www.kombigardentool.com.

Reviewers say the Kombi is an indispensable tool for the toughest digging chores. It works well for cutting through woody roots and dividing perennials. It also works well in heavy soil and as an edger. But make sure to wear heavy-duty boots and gloves.

Too many gardeners don’t wear good foot protection in the garden. I have suggested garden clogs and boots called Lawngrips, but I didn’t have experience with them.

One of our local Master Gardeners bought a pair after a twig punctured the bottom of his foot through an ordinary garden clog. He said that the Lawngrips are comfortable and offer better protection. The men’s and women’s styles protect feet with a steel toe and tough rubber sole. They are also designed for traction on wet grass. Find them at www.lawngrips.com.

— Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for Washington State University Benton County Extension.

For thrifty and die-hard gardeners, fall is the new spring

It’s easy to get the gardening bug in springtime, when humans themselves feel like new sprouts finally getting out into the sun (or, for some of us, like vampires emerging from dusky lairs). But as the summer growing season comes to a close and the crowds at the garden centers and farmer’s markets dwindle, we feel resigned to letting it all die and shifting our attention to the fall lineup. This year, don’t let the changing seasons become an excuse to turn back into a vampire (or to watch them on TV). Fall brings plenty of reasons to stay active in the garden, including buying and planting new stuff and gearing up to extend your dirty pursuits into the cold seasons.

Killer Deals on Remainder Plants

Those poor specimens left on the racks at garden centers at the end of summer…a little droopy, a little dry, and surely a little sad, feeling like the forgotten gifts on the Island of Misfit Toys. But just like the square-wheeled train and the spotted elephant, those “aged” plants just need a good home, and they can be rescued for a fraction of what you’d pay for this year’s hottest toys (or healthiest plants).

Late summer is THE time to watch for sales at garden centers. Annuals are fire-saled, not surprisingly, but the real deals are the perennials that will thrive when planted in fall. Expect savings of 50% or more on many plants. And if something looks especially tired, try to negotiate the price down further; retailers know these plants have one last chance at yielding any revenue. Many sales also include garden tools, as the stores have to clear shelf space for winter merchandise.

Good Time for Planting

Flower children know that fall is when you plant many bulbs for spring emergence. It’s also a good time to transplant trees, divide and replant perennials and lay sod or re-seed the lawn. For many plants, late summer and fall are preferable to spring because the ground is warm (good for digging and encouraging root growth) and the sun’s heat is less intense (good for foliage and your water bill). You can even plant a late summer garden for one last crop yield.

When you’re emptying the shelves at your garden center, ask about planting and maintenance for this time of year and through the winter. Most perennials and trees will survive their first winter if their roots take hold before hard freezes set in, while some plantings should be watered periodically through winter, particularly if it’s a dry one. (Keep in mind that new trees do best in the long run if they’re watered regularly for three years, not for just the first season or year like most people commit to.)

Cold Frames and Hot Beds

A cold frame, for those who aren’t familiar, essentially is a mini greenhouse that lets you grow cool crops, such as lettuce, well into fall. Most cold frames are simple DIY affairs constructed with four short walls (or you can dig a hole instead) topped with an old storm window. As such, they’re perhaps one of the original examples of upcycling, back when it was referred to as “using up some of that old crap in the shed.” If you build a cold frame now you’ll get to use it twice before next summer because they’re also handy for starting and hardening plants a little early in spring. Nervous about making your own, or think now would be a nice time to build a garden shed? Call ahandyman!

A hot bed is a nice, warm pile of poop. Horse poop, to be precise. You can turn a cold frame into a hot bed by digging down about 2 feet, adding 18 inches of manure — that is, fresh manure — and tamping it well. Top the poop with about 6 inches of sand to fill the hole. As the manure decomposes it creates heat, making the sand a toasty place to set pots and flats for growing plants in fall and even winter. If you’re not the kind of person who relishes a Saturday outing to gather manure, or you’re stuck in a one-horse town, you can create a hot bed with electric soil-heating cable (available online and through garden supply stores).

Homegrown Help

For fall and every other season, the best sources of gardening information are local gardening and landscape professionals, as well as state and local extension services. These folks know what works best in your climate and can steer you toward local stores and other resources for getting what you need. The most comprehensive extension programs typically are run by state agricultural (“ag”) universities and offer online content and call-in help lines manned by certified Master Gardeners. Manycities have small extension offices and can be great sources for finding cheap mulch and other garden materials, and don’t be afraid to call for help from a landscaper. Whether you’re a resident of Podunk, Illinois or Baltimore, Maryland, landscapers are there for you.

Philip Schmidt writes for Networx.com.

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Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’

If summer was the season for relaxation, autumn is the season for gardening get-up-and-go. From planting bulbs and sowing seeds, to tending lawns, visiting gardens and even sorting out your shed, Hannah Stephenson compiles your autumn schedule

It’s time to ease yourself out of the deckchair and put on your gardening gloves because autumn is almost upon us, and with it, a plethora of tasks to wake you from your summer slumber.

There’s a host of jobs to do to get ahead this autumn, so make the most of the last warm days by perking up your plants, then enjoy the season change as the leaves turn from green to brilliant shades of warm yellow, burnt orange and burgundy.

Here’s just a few of the tasks you could be doing to get a head start:

:: Patio Plants

When your summer bedding is past its best and beyond reviving, chuck it out and treat yourself to a fresh batch of winter-flowering pansies, evergreens and shrubs including autumn heather, Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’ and variegated ivy to drape over the sides. Plant bulbs such as dwarf narcissi underneath. Spring-flowering bulbs in pots combine well with winter bedding plants such as pansies, evergreens, grasses and heathers. Group taller bulbs in the centre of the pot and use seasonal bedding nearer the sides.

:: Boost your lawn

Autumn is a great time to sow a new lawn, when the ground is still warm and there is likely to be some rain. You should have prepared the soil the previous season, making sure it has been well firmed and settled before levelling. Mark out your area and sow the seed evenly, scattering it in both directions before raking it into the soil surface. If it doesn’t rain, water the seed well and keep the soil moist until the grass starts to appear. Net the area or put up a scarecrow to keep birds away.

If you have bare patches, mow the lawn, rake the surface to remove debris then spread seed over the sparse areas, sweeping it into the surface, before covering it with a fine layer of compost and watering it in.

:: Order bulbs

You should be ordering your spring bulbs now, some of which can be planted as early as August. Among the first spring bulbs for planting are narcissi, both in the border and in containers. Others for planting in early autumn include muscari, crocus, iris and hyacinth. Plant dwarf bulbs in your patio pots underneath winter-flowering pansies and foliage-fillers including euonymus and ivies. Plant your bulbs in gritty compost and place pots on feet to avoid the bulbs becoming waterlogged from the bottom.

:: Sow seeds

You don’t have to just sow seeds in spring, because a range of flowers and veg can be sown in autumn to give a longer harvesting time or simply to have a better start after overwintering. Salads can be sown through to mid-September for overwintering, some lettuces will reach a size which is perfect for picking before the cold slows down growth. Use cloches to cover those to be left in the ground a bit longer. Baby spinach leaves and corn salad are worth sowing if you can cover them later, as are several types of overwintering lettuce. Sow overwintering onions in vacant rows in the veg plot and transplant in October. You can also sow some hardy annuals in late summer – Chiltern Seeds (www.chilternseeds.co.uk, 01491 824675) is now offering a number of new varieties including Centaurea americana ‘Aloha Blanca’, which is robust and tall growing, bearing beautiful, fluffy, ivory-white flowers six inches across, and Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’, which has crisp, velvety, deep plum-purple petals and attractive grey-blue-green foliage.

:: De-clutter shed

Now’s the time to clear out those cracked and broken pots, rusty tools and snapped bamboo canes to make some space for yourself. Invest in a tool rack from any good DIY store on which to hang your forks, spades, lawn edgers and other large tools which will otherwise take up valuable floor space. Disinfect and neatly pile seed trays which won’t be used until next year and give your hand tools a good clean, wiping blades over with an oily rag before prolonged storage.

:: Go visit

There’s a plethora of shows and public gardens to visit this autumn to inspire and enlighten, including the Malvern Autumn Show (September 28-29, www.threecounties.co.uk/malvernautumn) in Worcestershire, featuring live cookery demos and an audience with Mary Berry; Harrogate Flower Show (September 13-15, www.flowershow.org.uk) in the Great Yorkshire Showground which includes large show gardens and traditional autumn border plots and new giant veg classes; and a host of National Trust properties boasting amazing autumn gardens, including Drummond Gardens in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, which boasts a beautiful array of acres, and Chillingham Castle in Alnwick, Northumberland, where in autumn the delightful woodland and lakeside walks become the star attraction when deer and red squirrels can be spotted among trees of blazing colour.