October Tips

October Tips

With the return of the rains comes prime opportunities for planting, transplanting, and generally getting the garden back into shape.

Region's First Frost -- Depending on your elevation and your position in relationship to any mountain ranges, your region's first frost may arrive this month. Stay tuned to television and news reports to find out exactly when, or check with your local nursery for your area's average first frost date.

As needed, prolong the growing season by throwing a sheet or other non-plastic material over your annuals and vegetables. In fact, for vegetables, you can cover them indefinitely with any very light landscape fabric and anchor the corners with bricks or stones. It lets in sun and rain, but prevents light frosts from doing any damage.

Repair the Lawn -- There's still time this month to reseed and repair lawns.

Before the first frost, pick any late-summer flowers for drying, especially hydrangeas.

Perfect Bulb Planting -- October is the ideal month for planting spring-blooming bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths, though you can plant them through November too, as long as the ground doesn't freeze.

Forced Bulbs -- It's also an ideal time to force bulbs -- that is, plant bulbs in pots to store in a fridge or other cold place to then bring to bloom in the winter.

Composting 101 -- Composting is a terrific option for dealing with leaves. It's low cost, doesn't smell or attract animals, and it improves your soil beautifully!

Cover Crops -- In your vegetable garden, consider planting a cover crop. It's a great way to break up clay soil, enriches sandy soil, and is an ideal way to feed your vegetables.

Storing Tender Bulbs in Colder Zones -- In colder regions, usually Zones 7 or 8 and colder, you'll need to dig up and store tender bulbs, including tuberous begonias, glads, dahlias, cannas, and others. If unsure, ask a neighbor or contact us for advice.

Weed perennial and shrub beds and add more mulch (but never more than 3 inches). The mulch will prevent erosion during fall rains.
Cover your compost pile with a tarp. Too much water will slow the decomposition process. During the rainy season, just remove it periodically to allow the pile to moisten, then replace the tarp again.
Fill windowboxes with pumpkins, mums, and cut stems of flowers that dry easily, such as sedum. Just insert the stems right into the soil.
If the fall is dry, water newly-planted trees and shrubs.