Texas Gardener's October Garden Checklist

Fall is finally here, so take a big, deep, crisp breath. Your summertime cleanup is finished, and now it’s time to plant, plant plant. Fall is the absolute best time to receive plants in the floor, as it gives them two cooler weeks to set deep roots. Plants put in now and next month will be much larger, will blossom better and will be more drought tolerant next calendar year. What exactly are you waiting for? Get out your trowel and shovel and get digging.

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Planting

Wildflower seeds. October is the perfect time to plant those seeds if you would like a little all-natural accent in your garden or if you’re intending to create a wildflower meadow or prairie. Try out bluebonnets, coreopsis, poppies, Indian paintbrush and Indian costume.

Pay particular focus on bed and dirt preparations as you sow these seeds select a sunny site, till up all the present grass and weeds, incorporate up to 1 inch of compost, sow seeds according to package directions and water in well.

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Annual flowers and ornamental plants. So many cool-season annuals can be planted this month — pansies, violas, snapdragons, alyssum, dusty miller, calendulas, poppies and nasturtiums are all fantastic choices. If your place is having a bit of an Indian summer with higher temperatures, make sure you hold off another week until things cool off a bit.

Use annuals and other ornamental plants, like cabbage and kale, in containers in addition to in the fronts of the beds and borders as slower-growing accents.

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Trees, shrubs and perennials. Look around to see if any of your mature shrubs or trees are showing signs of demise after last year’s devastating drought and warmth — it often requires a complete year to observe the harm. If some of your bigger plants are on the downslide, take the chance now to remove them and replant. The same goes for your perennials, as autumn is the perfect time to get them in the floor. Try out salvias, columbine, yarrow and esperanza in addition to ornamental grasses.

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Naturalized bulbs. Many bulbs, like tulips, require a cooling period to obtain energy to regenerate following spring. Those types do not work really well in our gardens (zone 7a to 8), as the weather simply does not typically get cold enough. Not so with naturalized bulbs, that can be well suited to our environment. Try out daffodils, bearded irises, muscari, spider lilies, oxblood lilies, crocuses, alliums and anemones. These bulbs usually like bright areas and needs to be planted at a depth of 3 times the width of the bulb.

J. Peterson Garden Design

Vegetables. Cool-season vegetables are so abundant and healthy, so attempt to tuck in a couple of new ones this year. Broccoli, turnips, cauliflower, spinach, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, cabbage, collards and other greens can also be planted now. If you’re expecting a hard freeze, consider adding some row cover to protect your veggies, but otherwise these plants will take the crisper weather in stride and provide you months of produce.

Ground covers. Ground covers are important for erosion control, as a low-growing accent in front of a border or as a way to compensate for grass that will not grow beneath a shade tree. Choose Asian lavender, lamb’s ears, mondo grass, liriope, ajuga or periwinkle. Be sure you know which floor covers like bright websites and which ones prefer shadier conditions, and you’ll be rewarded with lush growth and decent coverage.

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Care

Care for your lawn. Be on the lookout for “brown patch” disease on your lawn, particularly in the event that you have St. Augustine grass. It seems as dead grass in a doughnut shape with fairly green grass in the center. Additionally, take a peek at the base of the grass blades although the blades themselves can look lifeless, the base of them is typically green if you have brown patch. This disease is caused by many things — improper watering and fertilizing, together with warm evenings, are a few of the more common causes.

When you have properly identified your grass issue and are confident you’re dealing with brownish patch, then you’ll need to use a fungicide to kill it. Should you use a fungicide and you do not have brown patch, then the remedy is going to do your grass no good. Consistently follow the package directions for the best result.

Check out more early-fall lawn tips

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Divide perennials. Transplant or share your branches of timber ferns, cannas, shasta daisies, bearded irises, violets and daylilies. Over the years these plants create bigger spreading growth, which can crowd out other plants and contribute to diminished blooms.

Carefully dig them up — I like to use a tined garden fork for this — and then gently separate the root ball with your fork, shovel or hand pruners. Immediately replant your branches, or share with your neighbors, for double the amount of plants at no extra cost.

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