Posts Tagged: October
Early Fall Color in Trees May Mean Trouble
If you have an ash, Chinese pistache, crape myrtle, flowering pear, ginkgo, liquidambar or any...
Succulent Gardening Workshop Saturday October 26, 2019
Curious to learn more about succulents? In this fun, hands-on workshop, you'll learn about...
October in the Garden
To all the lovely people,
Welcome to fall. I hope you all had a great summer garden season. We are bringing in buckets of tomatoes and apples - juicing the apples mostly but we are also enjoying apple crisp and pie. The juice has been excellent - I usually add a carrot or two, one hot pepper, and maybe a kale leaf to each gallon and freeze it in 1/2 gallon jars. We also have a lot of different varieties of hot peppers and we will be roasting, drying, and trying fermenting with some this year. I have small fall garden in and will be planting our garlic in a few weeks. After the first rain we will plant our cover crop.
USDA Zone 9
- For spring bloom, broadcast wildflower seeds over soil that has been lightly cultivated.
- Plant fast-growing, frost-resistant veggies: radishes, mustard, spinach, ‘Tokyo Market' turnips, and corn salad.
- Divide and transplant bearded irises, daylilies, phlox, cannas, and Shasta daisies.
- Harvest sweet potatoes after tops wither, but before the first hard frost.
- Harvest winter squash, pumpkins, and peanuts before frost.
- Clean up fallen fruit in the orchard.
- Build a hot compost pile to kill pathogens lurking in garden debris: Use a high-nitrogen material, such as grass clippings or seafood shells.
USDA Zone 10
- Mulch and water well—dry spells this month can last a week or longer.
- Finish pruning fruit trees so new sprouts can harden before cold arrives.
- Plant colorful bloomers, such as sweet alyssum, begonias, petunias, and pansies.
- Prepare beds for planting roses; plant them late this month.
- Fertilize plants that flower in winter.
- Plant strawberries and brassicas (except brussels sprouts—it's too warm) early in the month.
- In midmonth, direct-seed root crops and beans.
- Near the end of the month, sow lettuce, spinach, and other greens.
October Garden Tasks--More Than Just Cleanup!
By Denise Levine, U. C. Master Gardener of Napa...
What? Monarch Eggs in October?
So here it is Monday, Oct. 10 and the monarch butterflies are still laying eggs on our milkweed in...
Monarch butterfly laying eggs on tropical milkweed on Oct. 10 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of monarch eggs on tropical milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)