This week in the garden: Sept. 29 - Oct. 7

Pick a bouquet of herbs in the early morning to retain flavor. Keep them in a vase and use them all week.

Hand pick snails the early morning. (All photos: Nancy Devaurs)

• Monitor soil moisture after rain and water if needed, especially for trees and shrubs.
• Renovate cool-season lawns – remove thatch and aerate.
• Hand pick snails and slugs in the early morning or use bait. Avoid baits that contain metaldehyde as they are toxic to all vertebrates.
• Monitor drainage after watering container plants to be sure plant roots are not standing
  in water.

Pruning

• Sharpen your pruning tools in preparation for fall pruning.
  
  

Fertilizing

• Do not feed citrus and other frost-tender plants.
  
  

Planting

Fall planting continues

• Annuals: stock (Matthiola incan), forget-me-not (Myosotis), Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule), pansy, violet.
• Fruits and vegetable: Swiss chard, turnips, snow peas, plant from seed
• Perennials: Lupine (Lupinus), plant from seed.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: sago palm (Cycas), Ceanothus maritimus ‘Valley Violet', magnolia,
  myrtle (Myrtus), flowering cherry (Prunus), oak (Quercus).
  
  

Mexican bush sage is a member of the salvia family.

• Annuals and perennials: dianthus, aster (fall-blooming), Mexican blue sage (Salvia
  leucantha), pansy (Viola).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: spider lily (Lycoris), Sternbergia lutea.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: Texas ranger (Leucophyllum), sweet orange (Osmanthus), cape plumbago, snowberry (Symphoricarpos).
• Fruits and vegetables: apples, bok choy, cantaloupe, persimmon, snap peas, tomatoes.
• Fall color: goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria).

Things to ponder

• Use organic mulch around permanent plants, and add organic matter into soil to prepare beds for spring planting.
• Spray hedges and shrubs with water to clean and keep them free of dust to discourage spider mites.

Snowberries are native to the Pacific Northwest.