October Garden Checklist

Fall is one of the busiest times for the gardener. October is kind of when it all peaks for me. I feel a rush to hurry and get everything done before it’s too cold for me to want to be outside. The plants love the cool weather and it’s the perfect time to get the garden ready for a long winter and get ready for the next year. Here’s a gardening in October checklist.

Checklist

• Blow out sprinklers and drip lines if it freezes where you live (I hire this out)
• Plant new perennials, shrubs, and trees to give them time to settle in and stretch their roots before winter
• Feed my trees and shrubs Tree Secret
• Plant bulbs for next spring (wait until it’s consistently 65 degrees F or lower)
• Harvest the last of the vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers before the frost comes
• Collect seeds from annuals I want to save for next year
• Dig up dahlia tubers for winter keeping (Floret is the master of this and gives SO much free help)
• Divide & transplant and/or move perennials
• Compost and mulch garden beds to prep soil for winter and next spring
• Pest/rodent control
• Thatch, aerate, and fertilize lawn (overseeding is ideally done in Sept)
• Overall clean up of dead, diseased and overgrown plants. Don’t ever compost diseased leaves and plants.
• Prep pots and containers for winter (bring indoors or insulate them to protect from the frost)
• Weed
• Protect tree trunks from deer (I am trying THESE this year)
• Cover furniture and put away decorations for next year
• Take inventory of what is planted where (I make a video of my yard describing the plants or draw a rough map of where things are located)
  

October Gardening

I absolutely love the fall. It often goes by too quickly for me and I’m always wishing it were a bit longer. It can be overwhelming as a gardener with so much to do. I like to think of it as putting my garden to bed and tucking it in for the winter. October is the perfect time for gardening.

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