October is the month of autumn color, leaf drop, pumpkin carving, and evenings spent around a bonfire. Prepare your garden for winter and follow these tips to make it all easier.
Things to do in the Vegetable Garden
- Harvest pumpkins when the skin starts to turn orange or when the skin cannot be pushed in by your fingernail
- Harvest winter squash when the skin cannot be pushed in by your fingernail
- Plant garlic now in rows or blocks
- Apply shredded leaves or compost to permanent beds before winter
- If you have not yet cleaned up from this year’s crops, do this now –
- Pull and compost beans, pea vines, lettuce and other greens, and anything that does not have diseases
- Pile and burn cornstalks, tomato vines, sweet potato vines, and pumpkin and squash vines to prevent diseases and pests from overwintering
Things to do in the Landscape/Flower Beds
- The average first frost for Northeast Kansas is October 15th
When is YOUR average first frost date?
- Remove all spent or dying annual flowers after the first frost or hard freeze and put in the compost pile
- Continue to plant spring flowering bulbs
- Remove spent foliage from hostas, daylilies, peonies, and irises after a hard freeze
- Plant trees and shrubs
- Wrap young trees’ trunks (less than 5 years in the ground and diameter less than 4 inches) with plastic tree guards, fabric, or paper to prevent winter sunscald
Things to do in the Lawn
- Mulch mow leaves on the lawn and remove piles to the compost
- Spray lawn with a post-emergence herbicide to kill dandelions, creeping Charlie, and clover
- Water newly planted grass
Setting Up the Fire Pit Area
- Remove old ashes to the compost pile
- Use only dry kindling and logs
- Mow the grass short (2 inches) around the pit if it is in the lawn
- Bring plenty of marshmallows, roasting sticks, and chocolate!
