• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research
  • Texas A&M College of Agrculture and Life Sciences
El Paso County Master Gardeners
El Paso County Master GardenersTexas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Menu
  • Home
  • About Us
    • How to Become an El Paso County Master Gardener
    • History
    • Volunteer Duties
    • Application
    • Texas Master Gardener Association Awards
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Award for 2021
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Award for 2020
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Awards for 2019
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Award for 2018
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Awards for 2015
      • Texas Master Gardener Association Awards for 2013-2014
    • Master Gardener of the Quarter
    • Executive Committee
    • Association Members
      • 2022 Class Handouts
    • Donate
  • Outreach
    • Help Desk
      • Chat Desk
    • Good to Grow Radio Show
    • Speakers Bureau
    • Master Gardener Information Table
    • El Paso Community College (EPCC) Gardening Class
    • School Garden Program
  • Projects
    • Ascarate Teaching and Demonstration Garden
    • Ascarate Accessible Garden
    • Texas A&M AgriLife Vegetable Demonstration Gardens
    • Farmers’ Market
    • El Paso Municipal Rose Garden
    • Transmountain Cleanup
  • Events
  • Learn
    • Gardening in El Paso-Articles
    • Gardening Topics-Links
  • Ask Us
  • Monthly Tips
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
    • July
    • August
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
  • Videos & More

October

October Gardening Tips

 

Consider adding fall-blooming perennials such as chrysanthemums, Mexican bush sage and ornamental grasses to your landscape.

Now that the nights are beginning to cool down, petunias, snapdragons, calendulas, alyssum as well as ornamental kale and cabbages can be planted.  Make sure to plant in well-draining soil and in an area that receives at least half a day of full sun. 

Purchase spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, irises, tulips, anemones, hyacinths, and ranunculus now, to ensure the best selection.

Except for tulips and hyacinths, which require extra chilling, spring-flowering bulbs may be planted now into well-draining soil.  The base of the bulb should be planted at a depth three times as deep as the bulb is wide.

Refrigerate tulip and hyacinth bulbs for 12 weeks before planting (to ensure flower formation).  Place the bulbs in the lowest part of the refrigerator in either their original plastic weave bags, or in paper sacks.  Do not put the bulbs into airtight, plastic containers or they may rot.

To initiate flowering in Christmas cacti, keep the plants in total darkness from 5 pm to 8 am for 30 to 45 days.  Do the same thing for 8 to 12 weeks to induce flowering in last year’s Poinsettias.  Both plants should be placed in a sunny window during the day.

If you wish to save caladium tubers for another year, dig in late October and allow them to dry in a well-ventilated but shaded area.  After 7 to 10 days, remove the leaves and soil, dust with an all-purpose powder fungicide, then store in a container of completely dry potting media.  Make sure that the tubers won’t touch each other during storage and place the container in a dry area where temperatures will be between 50 and 75 degrees F.

Wildflower seeds should be sown this month into weed-free, well-tilled soil.

Fall is a great time for planting.  Trees and winter hardy shrubs planted now will be well established by spring’s growing season and endure next year’s heat much better.

Now is the time to plant garlic as well as leaf and root vegetables. Transplants of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage can be planted in well-draining soil.

Continue mowing turf areas at the recommended height (one to two inches for Bermuda) until the grass goes dormant.

Continue lengthening the time between watering cycles as the temperatures decrease. Water to the same depth but less frequently.

Revised 10.16

 

 

Month by Month Gardening Tips

  • Monthly Gardening Tips
  • January
  • February
  • March
  • April
  • May
  • June
  • July
  • August
  • September
  • October
  • November
  • December

El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook

El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook

Master Gardener Online Earth-Kind® Training (CEU Eligible)

Master Gardener Online CEU Procedures and Link
Master Gardener Online Earth-Kind® Training Modules (direct link)

AmazonSmile EPCMGA Graphic.JPG 

Partners

El Paso Cactus and Rock Club

El Paso Chapter-Native Plant Society

El Paso Rose Society Facebook

KTEP Good to Grow Radio Show

Texas Master Gardener℠ Association

Texas Master Gardener℠ Program

UTEP Chihuahuan Desert Gardens

West Texas Urban Forestry Council

El Paso Public Library

El Paso Parks & Recreation Dept. Facebook

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Texas A&M University System Member
  • Compact with Texans
  • Privacy and Security
  • Accessibility Policy
  • State Link Policy
  • Statewide Search
  • Veterans Benefits
  • Military Families
  • Risk, Fraud & Misconduct Hotline
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Equal Opportunity
  • Open Records/Public Information