October 2020 Gardening Advice

Don’t forget to clean your gardening tools before you put them away for the winter

submitted by Jennifer Fairfield, Garden Mill and Manchester Community & School Gardens

While I am sorry to see the end of the tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini, and cucumbers from my garden this year, I am not sorry to see the extreme heat and lack of rain come to an end. I would like to see some real fall for a little while, though – temperatures in the low 70’s during the day and cool nights that are perfect for spending around a campfire can’t be too much to ask after the brutal summer we had, can it?!

The cooler temps are definitely good for getting work done out in the yard – it makes me want to spend all day outside, which is a good thing, since I have a lot to do. Here are some of the things I know I need to get done this month:

Vegetable Garden:

• If you still have plants in your vegetable garden, keep fleece row covers handy to protect them from frost. Some crops, such as kale, cabbage, and broccoli can take a bit of frost and may actually have improved taste, but many plants will not survive even light frost.
• If you do still have warm-weather loving plants in your garden – tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, or squash – they’re probably pretty much done. With the quick cool-down we are having, those plants aren’t going to produce or ripen much fruit anymore, so it’s time to call it a season for them. 
• Once your plants have stopped producing, clean out the garden. Do this earlier in the month so you’re not out in the freezing temperatures at the end of the month, wishing you had done it sooner! Bag up and toss in the trash any plants with any signs of disease. Composting diseased plants is not a good idea, as winter composting temperatures are generally not high enough to kill off disease.
  
• Around the end of the month – possibly sooner if we get some really good frosts – it’s time to plant garlic. Garlic gets planted in the fall in Michigan. We can grow garlic that gets planted in the spring, but it doesn’t generally get as big, and often just doesn’t do as well here as the varieties planted in the fall. If you are planting garlic, don’t use the stuff you buy at the grocery store. You have no way of knowing if it is a variety that is meant to be planted in the fall or spring, so you can’t count on getting anything from it. We have five different varieties available at the store (there are actually over 600 varieties of garlic in the world), ranging from mild to spicy, that were all grown organically in Wisconsin. The fact that they were grown in a similar climate means they should do really well in our gardens in Michigan. If you want more information on growing garlic, come in and talk to me – it’s one of my favorite topics!
  
• The last thing you need to do before you close the books on the 2020 gardening season is to clean your tools before putting them away. Doing so will help your tools last longer, and make them work better for you. Fine Gardening recommends cleaning and sharpening them regularly, throughout the season. If you are only going to do it once though, the best time is at the end of the season, so they don’t spend the entire winter covered in moist dirt, which can promote rust.

Flower Garden:

• Fall is a good time to divide and transplant perennials, but make that a chore you do sooner, rather than later. The plants need to have time to get acclimated in their new space before we start getting killing frosts and before the ground freezes. After planting them, give them a good layer of mulch, keep them well-watered, and cover them up at night for a while if temps are dipping into the low 40s or lower. All of these things will help to ensure that your plants will survive the winter and come back up in the spring. 
• Make sure all of your plants go into winter with a good layer of mulch over their roots. It’s not unusual for us to get thaws throughout the winter, which can cause heaving, leading to damage to the crown and roots, or even to the death of the plant. Mulch can help keep the soil temperature consistently cold, which can eliminate these problems. 
• Don’t put away hoses yet. The terribly dry summer we had has stressed plants tremendously this year, and if they go into the winter dry, the combined stress of that and winter could mean the end of them. While we have had some rain recently, if that doesn’t continue, you will want to keep watering up until the ground freezes, to help your plants make it through the winter. This is especially true of anything newly planted. Do be careful that you aren’t leaving hoses outside with water in them when we start getting freezing temps though, as this can cause them to split open when the water freezes.
• Once we have had a killing frost, it’s time to dig up your dahlias, cannas, gladiolus, and other tender bulbs. These tender perennials can’t survive our winters, so they need to be dug up and stored in a cool, dry place. The best way to store them is in something loose and lightweight, like Styrofoam “peanuts” or peat, in an attached garage or unheated area of the basement, where the temps can be kept between 35° and 50° F. Both freezing and high heat will spoil them, so choose carefully where you to store them. 
• I like to leave my ornamental grasses and other perennials up for the winter and cut them back in early spring, while other people like to cut them back now. If the plants aren’t suffering from disease, you get to decide what look you prefer in your garden. If any of them are diseased, cut them back, and dispose of the plant material so as not to contaminate your compost. One reason to leave plants up is to provide winter shelter to beneficial insects, like native bees. Flowers and grasses left to go to seed also provide food to birds in the colder weather.
• Plant spring-blooming bulbs this month. It’s best to wait until we have had at least a couple of good frosts, so wait a little longer to do this task. You want the soil to be a bit warm to encourage root growth, but you don’t want it to be so warm (either the air or soil) that it encourages the plant to put out new growth. Be sure to give them a good covering of mulch when you do plant them. 
• If you are interested in forcing spring-blooming bulbs in pots, get your bulbs now, as they need a chilling period of 8 to 12 weeks. Depending on when you hope to have them blooming, you will want to get them started on their chilling soon. Come see us if you would like information on how to force bulbs. We have very detailed instructions for a number of ways to force all kinds of bulbs that we’d be happy to share with you. 
• It’s time to replace your summer container flowers with ones to take you all the way through fall, such as mums, ornamental kale, and asters. You can add decorative gourds and pumpkins to your planters, too.

Trees and Shrubs:

• As with your perennials, keep watering your trees and shrubs all the way up until the ground freezes. This is especially true for any that you planted this year, and all conifers, regardless of when they were planted. With the dry conditions we had this summer, your trees and shrubs need your help to get through the stress of winter.
• With shorter days and cooler temperatures, leaves are starting to fall. You don’t want to leave them on your lawn, as that can cause issues for the grass, but you have better things to do than spend hours raking them up – right? Well, the good news is – you don’t have to. The best things to do with fallen leaves are: 1. Mow them up and mulch them into your lawn or 2. Shred them (a mower works well for this) and use them for mulching your perennials, trees, and shrubs or 3. Shred them and use them to create leaf mold. 

Lawn:

• Speaking of mowing, the cooler temps and rain we have been getting recently are ideal conditions for growing grass, so make sure you are keeping it mowed. Leaving the grass too tall going into the winter can promote disease. 

• Mid-October is a good time to give your lawn one last application of fertilizer to help it be at its healthiest going into winter.
  

Birds:

• If you are putting in new plants this fall and you also like to watch birds, consider plants that will attract more birds and more varieties of birds. Plants that provide seeds or berries can attract some birds, while plants that attract beneficial insects will bring birds that feed on insects. Still other plants can provide shelter for birds – either as places for building nests out of the reach of predators or as places to stay warm and dry. So take a look around your yard and see where you might add some plantings for both you and the birds!
• Don’t put your hummingbird feeders or birdbaths away yet. As long as we aren’t getting freezing temperatures, both your hummer feeders and birdbaths can still be useful to the birds. Hummingbirds are migrating through our area still, and can use the extra calories for their flight south. Once temps are dipping below freezing at night, you could bring the feeders inside at night and dump the water out of the baths to keep from cracking either of them, putting the feeders back out and refilling the baths in the morning.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.