PLANTING
- Plant cool-season annuals such as pinks, snapdragons, ornamental cabbages, and kale early in the month. Wait until temperatures have cooled to plant pansies and violas.
- Complete planting these fall vegetables early in the month: radishes, spinach, and turnips. { Last chance to sow wildflowers to have blooms next spring. Always purchase “fresh” seed.
- Purchase spring-flowering bulbs while the selection is good. Chill tulip and Duch hyacinth at 45 degrees for 60 days before planting. Daffodil and grape hyacinth require no special handling but should be stored in a cool location until planting (soil temperature below 55 degrees) Recommended daffodil varieties include Ice Follies, Fortune, Carlton, Cheerfulness, and Tahiti.
- Fall is a great time to set out perennial herbs including thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley, lemon balm, pineapple sage, and Mexican mint marigold. Work a few inches of compost into the soil before planting and mulch the plants after planting.
FERTILIZING AND PRUNING
- Remove annuals that have completed their life cycle. Leave seed pots to self-seed next year (cleome, cosmos, four o’clock).
- Continue to feed tropical plants in containers and hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertilizer. Cut back or repot overgrown houseplants and fertilize with the same fertilizer.
- Spring and summer-flowering shrubs and vines (including climbing roses, wisteria, etc.) should not be pruned at this time because they have already established their buds for next year’s bloom. Prune these plants immediately after they stop blooming next year.
GARDEN WATCH
- Watch for brown-patch fungus on St. Augustine lawns. Water only in the mornings and apply turf fungicide at the first sign of fungus.
- Watch for cutworms and looper caterpillars on young leafy vegetables. Products containing Bt are safe to control these pests. Control aphids with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.
- Attention, Christmas cactus owners! To initiate flower buds, give the plants bright light each day followed by 12-14 hours of total darkness at night for 30 days starting mid-month. And keep nighttime temperatures under 65 degrees.