Sally Scalera
| For FLORIDA TODAY
October is almost here, so hopefully fall isn’t far off. Our temperatures certainly don’t feel like fall yet, and the trees still have green leaves, but at least summer is officially over. Read on for ideas to spruce up your yard, especially after our long, hot summer, but first, a few announcements!
*Mark your calendar for Saturday, Oct. 11, because our Autumn in Bloom Festival will be held that day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. During this event, we will have garden tours, a plant sale of native, Florida-friendly, vegetables and herb plants, a Kids Zone for All Ages, tool sharpening, and multiple presentations held in both the morning and afternoon. In addition, we will also have other plant vendors and plant-related products, along with food trucks, so you can stay all day, learn new information, and have fun! To find out more about this event, check out our Brevard Discovery Garden Facebook page at facebook.com/BrevardDiscoveryGarden/.
*If you haven’t heard, the Master Gardener Class of 2025 will be held on eleven consecutive Wednesdays beginning on Jan. 14 and ending on March 25. For interested gardeners who work, there is also a Saturday hybrid MG class that will be held in-person on six Saturdays, Jan. 17 and 31, Feb. 14 and 28, and March 14, and will end on March 25. Fifteen class topics will be learned online. All in-person classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; only two classes out of the eleven can be missed, and the class costs $250. The volunteer hour requirement for the first year is 75 hours, and every year after, just 35 hours. If this sounds interesting, email the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County Master Gardeners at brevard-mg1@ifas.ufl.edu for a Master Gardener Class of 2025 Wednesday or Saturday application.
*If you fertilize your lawn, consider re-establishing the soil food web throughout your lawn, trees (they are mycorrhizal dependent), vegetable garden, and all plants, instead. Have you ever considered how plants grow in the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area or other natural areas?
After all, nobody walks through national or state parks or the woods broadcasting synthetic fertilizer. Plants that grow in natural, undisturbed soil have aerobic bacteria, fungi (which include both the saprophytic and mycorrhizal fungi), protozoa, and nematodes, which all comprise the base of the soil food web. When the soil food web is present, plants can attract the microbes they need to help them get the nutrients (including water) they need to grow. Plants attract soil microorganisms by sharing root exudates containing carbohydrates, providing them with food. How is that for a win-win situation? For information on improving soil health, email the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County Master Gardeners at the email mentioned above.
*As the days continue to get shorter, the turf will require less frequent watering, so you may not even have to water it once a week. When we change the clock back an hour, change your irrigation timer to water only once a week to follow the St. Johns River Water Management District’s watering restrictions, which can be found at this website: sjrwmd.com/wateringrestrictions/.
Mow the weeds, kill their seeds
*The shorter day lengths will also slow down the growth of the lawn to the point where you may not need to mow more than every other week. If you have weeds, keep them mowed so they cannot produce seeds. Mowing is an important weed control strategy, so even if the grass doesn’t need to be mowed, mow the weeds at least every other week!
*If you are growing the non-native tropical milkweed, which can have orange and yellow or solid yellow flowers. To determine if a yellow milkweed is a native species, pull off a leaf, and if white latex sap appears, it is a non-native species. If you have any in your yard, cut the plant(s) to the ground on Oct. 1 and continue to keep them cut down through February so the monarch butterflies fly south. It is important for the health of the monarch butterflies to keep those plants non-vegetative, so the butterflies don’t lay their eggs on the plants or stick around for a meal. This will help reduce the population of the OE parasite that kills monarch butterflies.
*If your flowers aren’t doing well, replace them with cool-season flowers such as alyssum (which has a wonderful fragrance), calendula, chrysanthemum, dianthus, geranium (this perennial plant needs full shade in the summer but can handle full sun in the winter, so planting them under a deciduous tree is a perfect location), petunia, snapdragon, pansy, flowering tobacco, stock and ornamental kale.
*Don’t prune poinsettia plants anymore, so the colorful bracts can form in time for Christmas.
Now’s the right time to plant herbs: Which work well here?
* This month is a great time to plant herbs and/or start annual herbs from seed. Here are some herbs to consider planting this month: chervil (start from seed and grow them in the shade as a winter annual), chives, cilantro/coriander, parsley, “Phenomenal” lavender (hardy lavender, L. angustifolia, and its cultivars aren’t good choices for our area whereas French, Spanish and sweet lavender do much better), mint, rosemary, sage, sweet marjoram, lemon grass (I recommend planting it in a container!) and thyme.
* If you want to grow strawberries, do an internet search now for the cultivars Chandler, Oso Grande, Sweet Charlie, Selva, Lucullus, and Red Ruby, to order your bare-root plants and be sure they will be delivered quickly, so you can plant them by Oct. 25.
*Vegetables that can be planted in October include arugula, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery (seed), Chinese cabbage, collard, endive/escarole, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, mustard, onion-bulbing (should only be planted in October), onion- bunching (green & shallot), radish (seed), spinach, Swiss chard, and turnip.
And finally: Some of the fresh produce that could be available at produce stands or farmers’ markets in October include tomatoes, peppers, herbs, microgreens, mushrooms, etc.
Be sure to check out the Brevard County Farmers Market (and the Facebook page at facebook.com/brevardcountyfarmersmarket/ for the most up-to-date information), held every Thursday from 3-6 p.m. at the Wickham Park Pavilion.
Sally Scalera is an urban horticulture agent and master gardener coordinator for the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agriculture Science.
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