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Farmer Fred's October Garden Chores

Farmer Fred Hoffman FARMER FRED’S

OCTOBER GARDEN CHORES

FOR MOST OF CALIFORNIA

 

Lifetime Master Gardener Fred Hoffman is host of "The Garden Show" on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK and "Get Growing" on Talk 650 KSTE on Sundays in Sacramento.

  • Feed roses one more time this month to keep the blooms coming through the fall.
  • Clean up the summer vegetable garden. Plant a cover crop such as vetch or clover.
  • Vegetables to plant from seed now include radish, spinach, peas, onions and fava beans.
  • This is a great time for planting new trees and shrubs, especially ones with outstanding fall foliage for California. Good specimens include Japanese maples, Chinese pistache, tupelo, red oak and scarlet oak.

 japanese maple in autumn foliageChinese Pisache TreeTupelo Tree in autumn foliagescarlet oak in autumn

  • Dethatch, aerate and overseed bermuda grass lawns with rye grass to keep it green all winter. At a loss of how to start? Click here.   
  • Cool season lawns, such as the popular fescue blends, are putting on a spurt of growth now. Mow often so that you are never removing more than a third of the total height of the grass blade.
  • This is a good time to plant ground covers such as low growing manzanitas, verbena and carpet bugle. This will give their root systems a chance to get established for their burst of spring growth.

 Manzantia - Bearberrytrailing verbenaCommon Bugle

  • Despite the cooler temperatures, your lawn and garden still need about an inch of water a week. Unless the rains come, keep your automatic sprinklers operating.
  • How much water is an inch? To learn how to measure click here.
  • After you've cleared out the dying summer vegetables, prepare for next year's garden by checking the soil pH. Test kits are available at just about every nursery.  Click here to see a video on how to test your soils ph.
  • Feed your bare garden soil during the winter with a cover crop of clover, fava beans or vetch. This will add nitrogen for next year.
  • Tomato hornworms are going into hibernation in the soil beneath your tomato plants. Dig down about four inches and discard their cocoons, which resemble two inch-long, reddish footballs. 

Hookworm cocoon

  • Scatter and plant tulip and daffodil bulbs outdoors for a more natural look. 
  • Add some indoor color for the upcoming holiday seasons by planting bulbs in containers. Your favorite local nursery has a good supply right now.
  • Feed and protect rhododendron and azalea roots during the winter by adding two or three inches of mulch around those plants. For more information on the benefits of mulch click here. 
  • Available now at nurseries: colorful winter blooming annuals such as violas, calendulas, stock, Iceland poppies and snapdragons.
  • Temperatures dipping down below freezing can occur in many of the interior areas of Northern and Central California in early November. Prepare for that possibility by moving frost-sensitive potted plants indoors or against a west or south-facing wall.
  • Row covers, hot caps, and water-filled containers surrounding young vegetable seedlings offer these plants a warmer nighttime environment.
  • Prepare for the rainy season by knocking down watering basins around trees.

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Lifetime Master Gardener Fred Hoffman is the host of the "KFBK Garden Show" on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK in Sacramento each Sunday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by "Get Growing" on Talk 650 KSTE, 10 a.m. to Noon.

And, you can listen to the shows, live, via the KFBK.com and KSTE.com websites, as well as download podcasts of previous episodes.

Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin County gardeners can also get current gardening information from Fred in his Saturday gardening column in the Lodi News-Sentinel. More gardening information available at farmerfred.com and the Farmer Fred Rant! Blog page.