Successful Gardening Tips for October

Planting

• October is the best time to set out new landscape plants!
• Plant spring flowering bulbs like daffodil, tulip, crocus and hyacinth late this month.
• Divide overcrowded perennials through mid month.
• Continue planting winter annuals.
• Plant a cover crop like annual rye, wheat or criimson clover in your vegetable garden.
• Plant lettuce, green onions, carrots, radishes, broccoli, cauliflower and most leafy greens inside a coldframe to enjoy them through much of the fall/winter.

Pests

• Control woody weeds by girdling the bark on the lower stem/trunk or applying an appropriate herbicide.
• Store your garden pesticides and fertilizers in a secured, dry location. Clean spray tanks.
• Check arborvitae, hemlock, and juniper for spruce spider mites, azalea and pyracantha for lace bug, and euonymus for scale.

Lawns

• Good time to establish milky spore for control of japanese beetle grubs.
• Warm season lawns like Bermudagrass and zoysia can be overseeded with ryegrass.
• Apply a preemergence herbicide to established turfgrass to control chickweed if it has been a problem in the past.
• Keep leaves raked up, they can mat and cause bare areas, especially on newly seeded lawns.

Specific Chores

• Start filling your compost bin as leaves begin to fall.
• Clean up your vegetable garden as plants stop producing or die. Likewise, remove the topgrowth of frosted perennials to lessen disease and insect carry over.
• Dig and store tender summer bulbs like caladium and elephant ear. Cover tubers with dry peat moss and store in a cool, dry place. Place a deep mulch over more hardy summer buls such as dahlia and gladioli.
• Winterize your lawn and garden equipment once you are through using them.
• Maintain bird feeders for ovewintering song birds.