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October’s one of the premier months for enjoying and working in the garden.
Soils remain warm from a surprising, nearly tropical! summer. We’ve had
very little rain in September, and you’ll notice that soils are dry when
you dig even slightly below the surface. Even with a few weeks of good rains,
we won’t have caught up on the depths of dryness.
Dividing and moving perennial flowers now leads to good bloom in spring and summer. Get some friends together for sharing and exchanging plants --it's surprising how many plants will come from a division of a big old Siberian iris, a clump of bloomed-out Shasta daisies, or the fall asters. In my garden the blue fall aster (Aster frikartii 'Monch') rambles over a space about four feet square, and it's ready to divide when bloom stops . Dig some compost into the new site before settling the divisions into the flower garden.
Lawns.
For new lawns, October’s a perfect month
for installing a sod lawn. Prepare a deep, well-drained seed bed, providing
at least 8 to 10 inches
of soil for turf roots. Good soil preparation is vital to the lifetime health
of the lawn. Sodded lawns can be installed later than seeded ones, because
the roots and turf are already established. Be sure to keep sod watered if
we get a dry spell. Good quality sod will fail to thrive if parched. Sod edges
don’t knit properly if they dry after being laid.
Seed new lawns by about October 15. Late October is a bit too late to seed a complete new lawn. You're taking a chance on the weather. You can certainly try it, but grass seeds will germinate irregularly and will be set back by colder, darker days. The lawn may develop bare patches, and those bald areas will attract winter weeds.
Rose care now?
Go lightly. Tie up long rose canes and other climbing vines
to keep them from whipping and breaking in strong wind storms that come along
in November. Don’t do heavy pruning now. . Remember to mulch over the
graft union on roses, and save the major pruning for late February. Some earnest
rose growers remove all remaining leaves around Thanksgiving to reduce disease
in the spring growth and force plants into dormancy. Roses have continued to
grow in our “warm” winters for the last few years, and you may
want to try to convince the rose to stop growth for a few months!
October and November are the best months to plant hardy spring bulbs for early color: get the daffodils, tulips, crocus, and hyacinths out of the bags and into the ground. Obviously if you've already planted, that's great. But if you haven't, these bulbs need to receive at least 12 weeks of winter chill in the ground for best spring bloom. Haul out those waterproof knee pads and plant bulbs!
And when planting bulbs like narcissus, dig the hole, fill it with water, and let it drain so the bulbs reach damp soil as their roots begin to grow. Plan your time so that you plant the earliest blooming bulbs first. Snowdrops, crocus, small daffodils, and grape hyacinth need to go into the ground by the first of November, if possible. Tulips, lilies, and hyacinths can wait several weeks longer. A good goal is to plan to complete plantings by Thanksgiving. Store any unplanted bulbs in paper bags or boxes, in a dark, cool spot. Unplanted hardy bulbs like tulips, daffodils, and crocus don’t have to be refrigerated, but they will be damaged by exposure to light and heat.
What if a plant isn’t performing as you’d hoped? If you dislike a plant, or it's in constant need of attention, remove it. Taking out unsuitable plants is good for gardeners! There's no law against change in gardens, and as a friend says "you don't have to take guff from plants."
Hedges planted with monsters, plants like English laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) will give you constant grief as they grow. Better choices for hedging plants are viburnum (particularly Viburnum tinus), Pacific wax myrtle (Myrica californica), and the smaller Prunus lusitanica (Portugal laurel.) Check with your nursery for the best selections before planting a menace for a hedge.
It’s a great month to wander nurseries and dream about your new plantings!
Hortsense: Managing plant problems with Integrated Pest Management
