October Gardening To Do’s

October Gardening Checklist:

• Add compost/manure or mulch to your garden
• Divide and transplant large perennials
• After leaves have fallen, you can transplant deciduous trees and shrubs
• Lift summer bulbs like Canna’s and Dahlias before frost nips them
• Clean out bird feeders and stock them up with fresh seed.
• Protect trees and shrubs from mice or rabbit damage
• Earlier in the month, it is still a good time to treat your lawn for grubs ( see tips below)by applying nematodes.
• If you have a lot of weeds in your lawn you can apply corn gluten this Fall and again in the Spring to inhibit the weed seeds from germinating
• Fall/ Winter lawn fertilizer can be applied now, consider organic options instead of the traditional synthetic options.
• Keep Lawns clean of too many full leaves; shred and spread them in your garden and even in your lawn. Once shredded they will break down quickly.

( use this Shredding Tip from my radio show co-host Matthew Dressing “ Put your leaves in a Rubbermaid or garbage can and use your lawn trimmer to shred the leaves inside the container and then distribute the shredded leaves throughout the yard. )

• Purchase Spring bulbs for planting soon but plant them later in October; cooler temps, more water and less chance the squirrels will dig them up.
• And lastly, get your snow blower serviced. If we all do this it will be guaranteed to NOT snow anytime soon.