To all the lovely people,

I know this is a little late but we have been away. I hope all is well in your garden - we are harvesting loads of tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, hot peppers and more. And starting the apple harvest. We have been busy outside and in. Last week we attended the National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa and it was very good - we met some great people and shared with them and learned about new things. Please write if you have any questions.

Paul

To-Do List for Zone 9

• Plant winter lettuce, peas, carrots, cole crops, and Asian greens.
• Harvest winter squash and pumpkins before frost, when their skin is hard enough to resist pressure from your thumbnail.
• Set out transplants of calendula, primroses, larkspur (Consolida ambigua), snapdragons, bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus), stock (Matthiola incana), and pansies.
• Refrigerate spring bulbs for 6 weeks to plant later this fall.
• Pick ‘Bartlett' pears for ripening indoors, but allow Asian pears and ‘Seckel' pears to ripen on the tree.
• Protect grapes from birds and wasps by covering the ripening clusters with brown paper lunch bags.

To-Do List for Zone 10

• Prune poinsettias for holiday bloom.
• As grasshopper numbers die down, plant tuberoses (Polianthes tuberosa), gloriosa lilies, amaryllis, and other subtropical bulbs and rhizomes.
• Plant okra. It's your last chance of the season.
• Seed cucurbits and herbs, and set out transplants of tomatoes, peppers, and onions.
• Repair or replace drip irrigation lines.
• Work in soil amendments, including compost, bonemeal, and greensand.

Your Autumn To Do (and Don't) List

As the air gets cooler, your gardening priorities change.

Gardening in the late summer and early fall can barely be called working. Cooler, crisper days and the knowledge that time outdoors will soon be limited gives every task a bittersweet flavor. That said, there's still plenty to do, so don't waste time on unnecessary chores. We've taken the work out of deciding what to do for you. No need to thank us; just have fun out there.

Do this:

Plant trees, shrubs, and perennials. Fall is the perfect time to plant; the weather is cooler, rain more plentiful, and the soil still warm. Plants put out terrific root growth, giving their above-ground growth a head start in spring.

Clean up foliage from roses, peonies, and any plant with diseased foliage. But don't compost; the pile may not get hot enough to cook the pathogens.

Get a soil test. The labs aren't as busy, so you'll get your results sooner, and once you incorporate the amendments (except for nitrogen; apply that in spring), the soil will settle over the winter.

Divide spring-blooming plants such as iris, brunnera, dianthus, lamium, and primrose. Later bloomers that can also be divided include black-eyed Susans, geraniums, daylilies, hostas, coneflowers, and yarrows.

Don't do that:

Don't cut down dead stalks of purple coneflower, black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, and other plants whose seeds or berries feeds birds through the winter.

Don't remove logs, brush piles, or dead groundcover; leave it for beneficial insects such as spiders, solitary bees, lady beetles, and other beetles to overwinter in.

Don't plant these trees in fall: magnolias, birches, firs, hemlocks, ginkgos, or ornamental pears. They root slowly, so they may not survive the winter.

Don't put your leaves out with the trash. Either bag them and let them break down over the winter, or go over them with the lawnmower and rake the shreddings into your flower borders.