Autumn creeps in with just enough rain to make working in the garden a pleasure again. We can dig! The dust has settled, foliage in the wild places is washed clean and the lawn begins to green up. Tree frogs hiding in dark places croak with trepidation and weeds seeds begin sprouting. It’s almost like a mini spring has begun. And there are plenty of garden chores to be done this fresh new month of October.
PLANT GARLIC: Now that the recent rains have softened summer parched soil it is time to get out into the garden and prepare for planting garlic. Adding plenty of compost, chicken manure, blood meal and alfalfa meal will give fall-planted garlic a good boost of high-nitrogen nutrition. Be sure to keep beds well-watered until steady rains begin. Mulch thickly with rice straw to keep the weeds down.
IMPROVE THE SOIL: Fall is an ideal time to beef up your soil’s fertility and the easiest, cheapest way to do this is to sow cover crops. Clover, rye, vetch, field peas and bell beans are top cover crops that will protect bare soil from heavy rains and overcrowding weeds. Legumes types will add nitrogen to the soil, as well as fair amounts of organic matter when tilled under in the spring.
PLANT MORE: Check out local nurseries for a good selection of spring-flowering bulbs and cool-season vegetable starts. Sow seeds of carrots, beets and Asian greens this month while the soil is still warm.
WATER: Until autumn rains begin in earnest, it is important to continue watering beds, containers, blueberries, roses and cane berries. This means a weekly soaking. It also means you may have to deeply water more established trees and shrubs if they begin showing signs of stress.
MULCH: If you are looking to install new planting beds, now is a great time to clean up weedy material, lay down cardboard and then chipper mulch. Do not apply new mulch to established plantings until after rain has soaked into the soil.
WEED: It takes less than an inch of rain to encourage the sprouting of dormant weed seeds. Rake, hoe or spray with a strong solution of vinegar and soap when weeds begin sprouting.
COLOR UP: There is plenty of exciting fall color at your local nursery these days. There you will find fall-blooming salvias, cyclamen, primulas, violas, pansies and more.
Terry Kramer is the retired site manager for the Humboldt Botanical Garden and a trained horticulturist and journalist. She has been writing a garden column for the Times-Standard since 1982. She currently runs a gardening consulting business. Contact her at 707-834-2661 or terrykramer90@gmail.com.
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