Extension

Turfgrass

• You can continue to replant or establish cool-season lawns like fescue.
• The mowing height for fescue should be lowered to approximately 2½ inches for fall and winter cutting.
• Broadleaf weeds like dandelions can be easily controlled during October. (HLA-6601)
• Mow and neatly edge warm-season lawns before killing frost.

 

Water Gardens

• Take tropical water garden plants indoors when water temperatures near 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Close the water garden for the winter by placing hardy plants in the deeper areas of the pool. Stop feeding the fish.
• Cover water gardens with bird netting to catch dropping leaves during the winter months.

 

Ornamentals

• Plant cool-season annuals like pansies, ornamental cabbage or kale, snapdragons, and dusty miller when temperatures begin to cool.
• Begin planting spring-flowering bulbs like tulips, hyacinths, crocus and daffodils.
• Good companion plants for bulbs are ground covers such as ajuga, vinca, English ivy, alyssum, moneywort, thrift, phlox, oxalis, and leadwort.
• Peonies, daylilies, and other spring-flowering perennials should be divided or planted now.
• Dig and store tender perennials like cannas, dahlias, and caladiums in a cool, dry location.
• Purchase trees from nurseries and garden centers to select the fall color you prefer.
• Many perennials can be planted at this time and the selection is quite nice.
• Plant fall mums and asters and keep them watered during dry conditions. Don’t crowd since they take a couple of years to reach maturity.
• Plant container-grown trees and shrubs this month.

 

Fruits & Vegetables

• Dig sweet potatoes and harvest pumpkins and winter squash.
• Remove green fruit from tomato plants when frost threatens.
• Harvest Oriental persimmons and pawpaws as they begin to change color.
• There is still time to plant radishes and mustard in the fall garden.
• Use a cold frame device to plant spinach, lettuce, and various other cool-season crops for production most of the winter.
• Plant cool-season cover crops like Austrian winter peas, wheat, clover, and rye in otherwise fallow garden plots.
• Remove all debris from the garden to prevent overwintering of various garden pests.