October in the Garden

Days and nights are getting cooler and it’s a great time to be in the garden. Roll up those sleeves and keep planting! 

A few tips on what you should be doing in the garden this month:

*Plant your spring flowering bulbs. Now is the perfect time to get your bulbs in the ground. Planting now for spring blooms will ensure beautiful flowers when the garden starts to wake up from its winter slumber. Be sure to check out our other posts on Planting Bulbs for Spring and Bulb Design Ideas.

*Keep planting perennials, trees and shrubs before the ground freezes. Ease up on watering your garden plants unless there hasn’t been much rain. Trees and shrubs should also not be pruned as that will promote new tender growth that won’t have time to harden off before winter. 

*Transition your indoor plants back into the house after their summer vacation outdoors. When overnight temperatures start to drop below 50 degrees, you’ll want your tropical and semi-tropical houseplants to be moved back indoors. This usually happens in October for our area.

*Clean up fallen leaves. Chopped up leaves make a great fall mulch for perennials, trees and shrubs. Leaves also make a great addition to your compost pile. Clean up leaves on your lawn, however, as they can tend to kill the grass. 

*As frost approaches, you’ll want to do some garden clean up. Drain your garden hoses and shut off outside water sources, as well as, bringing in decorative pots and garden ornaments that cannot withstand the freeze of winter. 

*Take pictures of your gardens and different plant combinations that you loved and want to recreate next spring. Make notes of annuals you liked and the different combinations that worked well (or not at all) in your garden.