October garden chores
Originally published 02:05 p.m., October 4, 2007
Updated 02:05 p.m., October 4, 2007
The average date of the first freeze in the Emporia area is Oct. 19. As freezing temperatures approach, gardeners must decide what to do with their tender plants.
Covering plants may keep them alive for a few more days, or possibly weeks, depending on future temperatures. Or, gardeners may choose to accept the fact that the end of the growing season has arrived and let nature run its course.
The cooler fall weather makes gardening chores more enjoyable, so here are some tasks to keep you busy in October:
• Harvest mature green tomatoes and allow them to ripen indoors.
• Continue to tend fall gardens. Many vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, and radishes are very tolerant of cold temperatures and will continue to produce.
• Don’t allow leaves to accumulate on the lawn. Rake them up into a pile, allow the kids and dog to play in them for the afternoon, then haul them to the compost pile. If leaves accumulate on the lawn and become matted, they may kill the grass.
• Dig new garden beds for next spring. Incorporate plenty of organic matter, such as shredded leaves or compost. Leave the soil rough to allow good water penetration. Freezing and thawing will help to break up heavy clay soils.
• Wait until deciduous trees and shrubs begin to drop their leaves before fertilizing them. This signals dormancy, when no new growth will be stimulated that might not harden off prior to cold temperatures. However, roots are active until soil temperature drops below 40 degrees F, so nutrients will be taken up and used by the plants to develop a stronger root system.
• Be sure your firewood pile is stocked. When you purchase firewood, get what you pay for. A true “cord” is a tightly stacked pile of firewood that is 128 cubic feet in volume (usually 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide, or equivalent).
• Apply a quick release form of nitrogen to cool-season lawns such as tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass at about the time of the final mowing.
• Throughly water lawns and landscape plants going into winter. More plants are lost due to lack of water during the winter than to cold temperatures. This is especially important for first or second year plants.
• Dig cannas, gladiolus, elephant ears, and dahlias for winter storage after they are nipped by frost. Allow them to dry in a shaded location for a couple weeks, then store in a container with peat moss and place against a basement or cellar wall.
• Use caulking or weather stripping to tighten up cracks and crevices around doors and windows, and where pipes enter the house, to discourage house invading insects such as boxelder bugs.
• If you don’t have a good place for houseplants near a window, rig up an artificial light fixture; cool white flourescent tubes are adequate for most plants.
• Mulch roses any time between now and late November. Mulching earlier will protect the plants from a sharp cold snap. However, mice looking for a place to hole up for the winter might find this to be an attractive environment and will use the rose canes as nourishment for the winter.
• Carve a pumpkin and enjoy the glowing face of your Jack-o-lantern. Roast the pumpkin seeds and have them for a nutritious snack.