October
- Akron- 10/2
- Columbus- 10/3
- Cincinnati- 10/13
- Dayton- 10/16
- Toledo- 9/29
- Cleveland- 10/5
General Garden Tips
October is a month of closing up the garden in readiness for winter; still doing plenty of gardening, but with the end in sight.
- Putting away or covering garden furniture
- potting up any last plants to save over winter: geraniums,impatiens,etc.
- getting tools ready for storage
- using the mowers for the last time or two and then emptying out gas and cleaning up for winter storage
- gathering in last tomato and pepper harvests
Prime apple harvest month, the farmstands are burgeoning with many types of apple varieties. Most apples ripen this month, and windfalls produce rich cider making. Read more about autumn apples and orchards.
There will be frosts this month in Ohio, be ready to cover your tomato plants to extend the harvest. Dig up [lift] summer bulbs such as gladioli, dahlias, tuberous begonias, caladiums, etc. store them for winter. Make sure your houseplants have been moved inside.
I don’t cut back my perennials in the fall, but many people do; now is the time for that garden cleanup if you prefer it. It is useful for ridding the beds of diseased foliage.
Ideal time for fertilizing your lawn, but not your trees or shrubs.
Make sure the garden is kept watered if this month proves dry - a few deep waterings
don’t mulch the landscape too early: wait til the ground has frozen a bit
Leaf raking!
Here in Ohio this is when you have vibrant leaf color followed by the leaf fall. Have you got your needed tools in order? Large sturdy rakes? Wheelbarrow? Leaf Vacuum? I like to rake the leaves in periodic efforts instead of waiting ( and risking soaking rain) for one big leaf raking orgy.
Leaf mulch makes good leaf mold or compost. Oak leaves, Pine needles, are acidic, Maple are alkaline.
The last mowings can mulch a certain amount of the leaves fallen on your grass. Don’t leave leaves on the lawn over winter, it will suffocate the grass. Leaves will blow with winter winds so pile them into a contained area or bag them.
Trees
Plant trees, still a good time with frost-free ground well into December for good rooting. Be sure to keep well-watered, but not overwatered.
planting hole should be two to three times wider than the root ball but only as deep as the soil line on the trunk.
Common advice now is to not add soil amendments when planting trees, but I had better results when adding some compost and peat moss. The old advice? add amendments when you plant, the new? Don’t do that since it supposedly causes weak rooting. I think if you are careful not to have impervious sides to your planting hole ( like you sometimes get with clay soils), that digging in some extra good soil starts things off right.
Flower Bulbs
Most of your bulb planting will likely be in this month, plant with the addition of bone meal.
Veggie Garden
October is time for pumpkins, fields of them.
Cover crops, “green manure”, can be planted on the vegetable bed, using cover crops such as alfalfa, clover and soy beans, or grasses such as oats, rye and buckwheat. They are then tilled in in the spring. Benefits are soil preservation, and fertilization.
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