2024 note: Good news if you love our hot weather. We seem to be 20 degrees over the average temperature of 71 for Austin in October. And forecasts predict more of the same through the first half of this month. While nights are cooling, we should keep a close eye on our lawns, landscapes, and gardens while we continue to be in a rainless weather pattern.Here at our Garden Center, the deep clay soils are cracking open in the drought. If you are visiting us and parking in our grass lot, do not drop your keys! Slow, deep watering is crucial right now.
October is THE time to...
In the Landscape:
In Texas, the fall months are the BEST time for Fertilizing and Planting your landscape. Whether you’re completely redesigning, replacing, or simply adding a few more plants to the landscape, the cooler nights and (fingers crossed) the return of the rains are perfect for reducing transplant shock.
Fall feeding helps build up carbohydrates for winter storage. In the landscape, we highly recommend these granular fertilizers to feed your plans as well as your soil:
MicroLife Multi Purpose Biological Organic Fertilizer is great for any lawn, trees, shrubs, roses, herbaceous perennials, and vegetables. This granular food is packed full of wholesome goodness! Added micronutrients, minerals, and mycorrhizal fungus strains will benefit our poor soils as much as the plants.
MicroLife Acidified Biological Organic Fertilizer is the same great formula as their Multi-Purpose but with extra sulfur added! The sulfur can help to lower your soil’s pH (to help combat TARR) to offset the extra lime or bicarbonate in our soil and in our municipal irrigation water. Highly recommended!
MicroLife Ultimate 8-4-6 This is the most powerful, nutritional fertilizer possible that will not “burn” your plants with salt. 100% slow release with over 100 + nutrients, minerals, vitamins, natural plant hormones, natural plant stimulators, essential sugars/amino acids/carbon/protein, and billions of beneficial microbes representing 76 different species. In addition to the extra NPK punch we drop in extra rock minerals so this product will rock with goodness. Awesome for all new plant starts. You will not need anything else to get your plants started.
It's Planting Season!
Nearly EVERY plant in our nursery can and should be planted September - November! Ornamental, fruit, and shade trees greatly benefit from the three-season headstart before confronting our hot and dry summers. Similarly, roses, shrubs, ornamental grasses, and herbaceous perennials should be planted in the fall for the same reason!
Plant Perennials!
Besides being a great season for planting trees and shrubs, many perennials will benefit from the extra root growth they'll put on in early spring by planting them now. Just be careful with tender (“temperrenials”) perennials like Tropical Sage, Plumbago, lantana cultivars, or Pride of Barbados. Hack: These winter-hardy sub-tropicals can be planted now but will need extra mulch and a blanket to get them through their first Central Texas winter. Furthermore, cantaloupe-sized stones can be set around the plant to absorb the sun's heat during the day and release the heat at night when our temperatures drop.
Cool-Season Flowers!
Cool-season flowering annuals can be planted later in the month as the highs drop from the 90s to the low 80s and 70s. Pansies, petunias, violas, snapdragons, and many more cool-season favorites will be making their way to our nursery as they become sellable sizes. If you’re into sowing your seedlings, you can most definitely start now! We have all the necessary supplies for a professional growing setup including the seeds!
More Wildflowers Next Year!
Lots of wildflowers can be sown outside now. Mix compost or peat moss into the top quarter inch of soil, lightly rake the area, spread seeds, and keep moist.
Sow your Native and Wildflowers now! Bluebonnets, Poppies, Larkspur, and so many more flowers do best when sown directly into the bare soil! Many popular species are grown this way instead of being container-grown in a nursery.
October is also a great time to collect seeds from some of your favorite plants to store for later.
Tree Trimming!
Pruning your trees can be done now. Be sure to use clean, sharp, sterilized (1:10 bleach solution) tools. We only recommend sealing/painting the wounds of our Red Oaks and Live Oaks. Low-hanging, broken, dead, and limbs that cross or rub against other limbs should be removed. Consider purchasing a small chipper-shredder to reuse YOUR carbon in your landscape as a mulch! There are MANY electric and gas-powered machines available locally. Homemade mulch is amazing to use and it keeps the NEEDED carbon on your property and out of the landfill!!!
Add Compost EVERYWHERE!
Gently working compost into your soil or simply top-dressing 1/2 to 1 inch of compost annually will add organic matter improving water absorption and retention, aid in neutralizing your soil’s pH, and compost will feed the soil microbes and other important soil micro-fauna to help build a healthy, living soil! For our friends in the blackland soils, consider adding expanded shale and or decomposed granite to compost for clay soils to improve tilth.
On Lawns:
As always, consider reducing or eliminating your lawn's high-input, high-maintenance demands! We are always happy to help you make the transition!
It’s Corn Gluten time! And time is running out to apply it before the cool-season weeds germinate! This natural product is a nitrogen fertilizer, 9-0-0, and can desiccate weed seedlings after germination. We highly recommend this product over the poisonous “weed-n-feed” products sold at the box stores. Why buy organic food and then cover your property in endocrine disruptors and or carcinogens?
If you are experiencing (often) circular “bald spots” in your lawn and the soil is bare, you may have a Take All Root Rot (TARR) fungal infection. This disease can destroy entire St. Augustine lawns and can negatively affect Zoysia and Bermuda. You can protect your lawn by spreading a 3.8 cubic foot (compressed) bale of Peat Moss over 1,000 square feet of lawn. Its pH of 5.5 can help lower the soil pH where the fungus cannot thrive for up to 12 months. The peat can be spread anytime and these cooler mornings make the chore easier!
Fertilizing your lawn in the fall is THE most important feeding. Recommended fertilizers:
MicroLife 20-0-5 Hybrid. This is a salt-free granular formula perfect for Bermuda and Zoysia lawns. The big boost of Nitrogen will help build up carbohydrates for early spring growth! Follow the directions closely unless you enjoy mowing two times a week! More is not always better!
MicroLife Multi Purpose Biological Organic Fertilizer is great for any lawn, trees, shrubs, roses, herbaceous perennials, and vegetables. This granular food is packed full of wholesome goodness! Added micronutrients, minerals, and mycorrhizal fungus strains will benefit our poor soils as much as the plants.
MicroLife Acidified Biological Organic Fertilizer is the same great formula as their Multi-Purpose but with extra sulfur added! The sulfur can help to lower your soil’s pH (to help combat TARR) to offset the extra lime or bicarbonate in our soil and in our municipal irrigation water. Highly recommended!
MicroLife Brown Patch Fertilizer - This is a special formula for lawns that have a history of the Brown Patch Fungus. Using this formula according to the label can help reduce the occurrence while strengthening the cells to combat this incurable disease. Using MicroLife AF mixed with liquid molasses can further reduce the disease pressure this time of year when the fungus is active on the leaf surface.
Compost!
Raking in up to 1-inch of high-quality compost greatly improves the soil your lawn depends on to thrive. You can add 1/2-inch in the spring and 1/2-inch in the fall for an annual total of 1-inch.
In the Edible Garden:
Cool-season gardens are the highest-yielding gardens in Texas!
Start seeds or plant cool-season flowers and vegetable crops. In 2024 we may want to push back planting dates or add shade to attempt to keep temperatures cooler. Be on the lookout for warm-season pests.
Some cool-season crops to plant now include lettuce, spinach, arugula, other leafy greens, cardoon, asparagus, artichoke, and broccoli. Towards the middle of the month, you can plant carrots, beets, parsley, cilantro, and more spinach.
Herbs to plant now are cilantro, dill, chives, fennel, parsley, and sage. Rosemary is also a good choice for October planting; their flowers help feed insects and pollinators during winter when very few flowers are open!
Plant strawberry starts for spring harvesting.
For some winter color, consider planting annuals like petunias, calendulas, and pansies.
All cold-hardy fruit trees, pecans, and berries can be planted now! Begin making winter plants to protect non-cold-hardy trees such as lemon and lime trees.
Cold-hardy trees include figs, peaches, pears, apples, and many others.
If you are planning to skip this season or rotate your garden beds using ornamentals, cover crops, or culinary herbs, you'll help keep erosion down while improving your soil and protecting the roots of your perennial crops. Other plants like rye, clover, winter peas, or vetch can be used as a cover crop. You'll also keep the microbial community alive in the soil! This helps with water retention, nutrient availability, and pest/pathogen reduction.
With cooler weather to work in, now is a great time to begin construction on raised planters for next year!
Start a compost pile. Or a second compost pile! Begin collecting leaves that are falling. Not only can the leaves make a great mulch in the edible garden they will become worm food which in turn will build a better soil for your berries, fruit trees, herbs, and vegetables. Leaves can also make great pathways between furrow rows. There’s no reason to send your leaves to the landfill and then buy compost!
If you’ve struggled with infected leaves from your fruit trees, these would be the only leaves we’d recommend sending to the city dump. Collecting these infected leaves and destroying them is recommended to help remove the possibility of reinfection next year. Building a cozy fire (outdoors only) on a cool evening also works if permitted in your area.
Work compost into your soil (consider adding expanded shale or decomposed granite to compost for clay soils) will add organic matter, helping with water retention, neutralizing your soil’s pH, during our colder months, and will feed the soil microbes.
October is also a great time to collect seeds from some of your favorite plants to store for next year!.
(In normal/average climate years) keep an eye on the weather for any danger of frost. Water your plants thoroughly and cover tender plants and crops with our row cover if it's getting too cold for them at night.
Having winter protection materials on hand now can avoid panic later when our first hard frost or freeze pops up. Our floating row cover is available now in 10'x12' pre-cut sheets or in custom-cut 12-foot wide sheets up to 250 feet. Our bulk row cover can be cut to any length and is sold by the linear foot.
Water Gardens in October:
Our water gardens will begin to change in the fall as the nights grow longer and cooler.
Hardy and Tropical Water Lilies will begin to send more and more energy to their root structures to “harden off” for the winter. Fertilizing is no longer recommended in October and we will stop feeding our water lilies until next March or April depending on the warm temperatures returning.
Marginal or bog plants will also begin going dormant. These plants can remain in the water all winter and their dead foliage can be cut back or allowed to remain all winter for wildlife habitat. but all other plants should be allowed to go dormant naturally.
Louisiana Iris on the other hand will begin growing at this time! Feeding the iris is recommended through winter!
Louisiana Iris CAN be divided and repotted if they are becoming overcrowded. Overcrowded Iris will reduce or completely stop blooming in the spring.
Water Lilies and marginal / bog plants should not be divided until next April. We can divide Lotus in January or February when their growth tips are solid and somewhat difficult to accidentally break.
Begin feeding your Koi or Goldfish cool-season food to help them pack on the calories before winter! We will later STOP feeding our fish when the water temperature falls below 55 degrees F. This is usually in November or December. Water thermometers are vitally important when keeping goldfish and koi.
You must be logged in to post a comment.