OCTOBER
October Gardening Tips & Monthly Plant Care Guide
October is a magical month in the garden boasting cooler days, crisp breezes, and the vibrant colors of fall make it one of the most satisfying times to be outside. In the garden, this is crunch time before the cold settles in: fall cleanup, planting bulbs and cool‑season crops, wrapping up lawn care, and protecting tender plants from frost. September’s harvest is fading, but October offers its own rewards with mums, asters, pumpkins, and late‑season foliage. Whether you’re dividing perennials, mulching beds, or getting your lawn ready for winter, now is the time to set your landscape up for success through the colder months and into spring.
Lawn Care in October
- Remove heavy leaf layers by raking or mulching leaves to prevent suffocating grass. Mulching leaves will help return organic matter back into the soil.
- This is the best time to prevent dandelions next spring! Control weeds like dandelions, henbit and chickweed with a herbicide application. A treatment now will be most effective while weeds are young.
- Continue routine maintenance on your lawn mower and mow as needed.
- Core aerate your turf to reduce soil compaction, improve drainage, break up thatch, and help nutrients move into the soil.
Landscape Cleanup & Winter Prep
Tidy up your landscape by removing any fallen fruit, leaves, and branches. Cut weeds back to prevent over-wintering insects and diseases.
Apply lime sulfur to disease-prone roses and fruit trees to clean up fungus and prevent it from overwintering.
Disconnect all hoses and drip irrigation before the first frost. Ensure hoses are unhooked, fully drained and any irrigation systems are blown out to prevent winter pipe damage.
Store and organize all chemicals indoors as freeing temperatures will reduce their effectiveness.
Prepare your compost for winter by adding fresh materials and turning regularly
End-of-Season Harvesting
- Pick pumpkins and winter squash. Keep them in a warm area for a couple weeks, then store in a dry, cool location.
- Continue harvesting apples as they ripen
- After a light frost, dig up sweet potatoes. Cure them in a warm location for two weeks, then store in a dry, cool location.
- Plant garlic cloves for next summer's harvest
- Remove hulls from black walnuts to retain good color of the kernels
- Pick up and discard fallen fruit to reduce disease next season
- Till the garden at the end of the season and incorporate materials such as compost, manure, or organic matter to improve soil structure.
- Make notes of your successes and failures for next year
Fall Flower Care
Plant Fall Bulbs - You should be planting fall bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, and crocus for early season color next spring. Choose a location with good drainage, and that is sun to part shade.
Garden Cleanup - Remove any dead annuals, trim perennial stalks to tidy beds, and clean up garden debris to reduce disease
Bulb Care - After a light frost, dig and store canna, gladiolus, dahlias and other tender bulbs. You may also pot bulbs indoors to force blooms.
Disease Prevention - Remove and destroy dead iris and peony foliage. This will help control iris leaf spot (fungal disease) and iris borer (insect pest). Removing debris now will significantly reduce problems in the spring.
Trees and Shrubs
- It's the best time to plant new trees and shrubs! Be sure to water thoroughly now to prepare them with moisture for winter. Avoid planting rebud, dogwood and birch trees as they will establish better in the spring).
- If you're looking to transplant any trees or shrubs, do so after their leaves have dropped.
- Fertilize threes and shrubs from late September to mid-October with our recommended fertilizer. You can choose to fertilize now, in spring and fall. This depends on the growth rate you are wanting to achieve.
- Apply tree wrap to young trees to prevent sunscald and to protect against rabbit damage. A healthy bark is essential for preventing disease and structural damage.
- Enjoy peak fall color - typically around the third week of October.
Fall Pruning
- Remove dead, broken, or diseased branches from trees and shrubs
- Avoid excessive pruning that could stimulate tender late growth
Enjoy the Season!
Make sure to take time to enjoy the fall color and cooler weather. Finish the year strong with cleanup and preparation that will set your garden up for a healthier, more successful spring.