This week in the garden: Sept. 22-30

Enjoy the last flush of blooming roses along with the bounty of the fall harvest.

Tasks:

• Adjust watering systems as weather cools.
• Remove and dispose of any fruit and nuts that cling to the tree.
• Spray hedges and shrubs with water to clean and keep them free of dust to discourage spider mites.
• Water citrus being careful not to over water. Continuously wet soil risks root rot.

Pruning roses encourages bloom. (Photo: Nancy Devaurs)

• Do not apply any treatments to pruning cuts or other wounds because these materials are ineffective and often are detrimental.
• Deadhead and shape rosebushes to promote a final fall bloom.

Fertilizing:

• Wait two weeks after planting new flowers and vegetables before feeding with organic or complete fertilizer.
• Add bulb fertilizer to planting hole before planting bulbs.

Planting:

This is the best time to plant shrubs and groundcovers.

• Groundcovers: Carpet bugle (Ajuga), Germander (Teucrium chamaedrys ‘Nanum').
• Perennials: Cyclamen, French tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), cranesbill (Geranium).
• Fruits and vegetables: garlic, onion sets, lettuce, parsley. Before planting winter vegetables, turn a generous amount of compost into the vegetable bed.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: Acacia baileyana, strawberry tree (Arbutus ‘Marina'), hawthorn (Crataegus), sago palm (Cycas), desert willow (Chilopsis linearis).

Enjoy persimmons now. (Photo: Nancy Devaurs)

• Annuals and perennials: vinca (Catharanthus), chrysanthemum, dianthus, coneflower (Echinacea), globe amaranth (Gomphrena).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: dahlia.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: pineapple guava (Feijoa), morning glory (Ipomoea), crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia).
• Fruits and vegetables: almonds, lettuce, melon, nectarines, persimmon.
• Fall color: goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria), sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua).

Things to ponder:

• Do not replace vinca with pansies in the same bed due to a soil borne fungal root rot that affects these plants.

Source: Adapted from A Gardener's Companion for the Central San Joaquin Valley, 3rd edition, currently available from Fresno County Master Gardeners for $30. These can be purchased at our demonstration garden - Garden of the Sun (1750 N. Winery (McKinley/Winery), open Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9 am to Noon and via email at mgfresno@ucdavis.edu. Gardening questions answered as well at mgfresno@ucdavis.edu. 

Parsley may be planted in the fall.