Fall Gardening Tips

General Gardening Tips

Fall is a great time to plant trees, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grass seed  and  sod.  Plants that are planted in the fall enjoy cooler temperatures and ideal growing conditions that allow roots ample time to grow into the surrounding soil.  Also plant and divide perennials and spring flowering bulbs.

Plants and trees that provide color in the month of October include burning bush, camellia, ornamental cabbage and kale, pansies, viburnums, crape myrtles, October Glory maple, red sunset maple, nandina, pyracantha, sweet gum and Virginia creeper.

There are lots of perennials with interest now including anemone, chrysanthemums, perennial asters and ornamental grasses.

Add  a touch of fall to our landscape by planting hardy mums now.

Time to feed your plants with a good quality slow release plant food.  We recommend fertilizing perennials and flowering shrubs and trees. 

We recommend feeding evergreens (hollies, boxwoods and yews) and deciduous trees (maples, oaks and ash) with tree and shrub food. 

Time to dig gladiolus.  Remove the tops and let them dry for two weeks.  Dust them with Sulfer.  Store in dry peat moss or vermiculite at room temperature. 

Rake leaves and weed.

Remove debris from beds and compost.

Water where necessary.

Lawns

October is a good  time to lime, seed and fertilize your lawn.  You can seed a new lawn in early October or reseed (overseed) an established lawn this month to make it thicker and healthier.

If you need to, you can lime, fertilize and seed your lawn all in the same day.  Otherwise, seed and fertilize the same day and then lime later in the fall.

If needed, fall is a great time to aerate and/or dethatch  the lawn.  If you decide to do one or both of these, they should be done prior to seeding.

If you like, you can top-dress the lawn with ogre, an organic compost, to improve heavy compacted, clay soil.  Top dressing can be used  along or along with aeration, seeding and fertilizing.

If you do plan to aerate, dethatch or rottill (for total renovation), thoroughly soak the soil a day or two before  you start your project or perform your project a day or two after a good rain.

September is also a good time to apply a grub control to your lawn such as Dylox (or Milky Spore as a long-term control).

Now is also a good time to control weeds growing in the lawn, however you cannot weed kill and seed the same day.  If you choose to kill weeds in the lawn first, you must wait three weeks to seed your lawn.  Or, if you seed first, you will need to wait until the new seed has germinated and been mowed at least twice before applying a weed killer.

If you want to prevent winter annual weeds from germinating in the lawn, you can apply Portrait in September, but this would prevent you from seeding now.  You will have to wait 60 days to seed, which means you would probably need to wait until spring to seed the lawn.

Tips on applying weed killer

Do not apply weed controls on newly weeded areas.

Do not apply weed controls on windy days.

Do not apply weed controls near or on the edge of waterways.

Do not allow children or pets to play on lawns freshly applied with weed controls.  It is best to wait one week.

Always follow the label directions.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

Pick the largest, almost ripe green tomatoes, just before a frost.  Put them in a brown paper bag with some apples and they will ripen as sweet as if on the vine.

Remove all old vines of beans, squash, etc. to the compost pile and then spade or till the garden.  Sow winter rye and do not mow it.

House Plants

Time to bring houseplants back indoors.  If needed, spray them first with one of the following products:  Schultz Houseplant Spray, Safer Houseplant Spray or ortho Rose & Flower Insect Killer.  You can dust the soil with insecticide granules to prevent bringing ants, wireworms, sow bugs, etc. into the house.

Repot pot bound plants with a potting mix.

Fertilize your houseplants with Jack's Classic, Peter Plant Food or osmocote through November, and then stop feeding until February.