Gardening Calendar - October

Hello Gardeners,
It’s finally the season. Finally, we can work comfortably in our gardens. Finally, we can see the signs of green life. Finally we can plain enjoy the outdoors. I love October. First of all  I can spend more time in the garden. And second of all, I was born in October.  And though I hated it as a child (cuz in Russia the weather would start getting cold, and it would get dark and dusty and dirty cuz of the rain), I love it now. October is when we plant most of our plants in this part of the world, or actually anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere where the summers are too hot to plant most things. It is the busiest time in a gardener’ year. We are busy with buying plants, starting seeds, amending and preparing our soils, decorating our Zens and so on. I think the plant shops love this time of the year as much as we do 😃.  It’s like a long green Friday.. This is the time of the year where our gardens come alive again, after the harsh, hot summer. And there’s so much to do. In fact it’s so much that it can get overwhelming at times, for both new and experienced gardeners alike. That’s why our little gardening calendar for the month of October was created. To help you stay on track, at least a little. I apologize for writing this late. I wasn’t feeling well the past week and am a bit behind myself. But the beauty of gardening here is that our season is pretty long so we still have a lot of time to plant. If you have followed the previous month’s calendar then you have saved yourself some time. If you haven’t followed last month’s calendar then add the things from September Calendar to your to do list in addition to things below.
Here are the things to do in your garden this October:

1. PLANT. Planting will take the majority of your gardening time. You are able to plant most of the veggies this month. Cold loving and heat sensitive plants, such as spinach and lettuces, should be left for next month though. Heat loving plants can all be planted now. You can start from seeds or buy transplants from nurseries. I’ve seen some already but honestly, it’s still early in the season so you can plant/start your veggies yourself. Either way, the time is good now. I direct seed all root veggies, corn, okra, and some herbs and greens. I start as transplants tomatoes, cabbages and some herbs and greens. I have noticed that for some reason these do well as starts. Start planting the plants that have the longest growing times, such as broccoli and cauliflower, so that you can harvest them before it gets too hot in spring. At the same time you must plant veggies sensitive to cold first, such as cucumbers. Follow with quick growing plants. I usually dedicate October for edibles and plant ornamentals in November. But it’s totally up to you.
2. PROTECT. The weather is still hot in the afternoon and this can stress the seedlings. Insects start creeping out again so watch for that well. Birds willl start visiting your garden more often as they usually figure out very quickly that you have a garden growing. If given the chance, they will destroy your seedling very quickly. From my observations over the years, I have noticed that birds are attracted to new seedlings mostly and will leave the older, moremature plants alone. So protect your young seedlings from the birds, pests and from the afternoon sun.
3. FERTILIZE. Lots of plants will be putting on new growth now. It is a good time to fertilzie your trees and other perennial plants. The summer heat is gone and some plants will benefit from a fertilizer boost, preferably after the middle of the month. This is sort of generic suggestion as each plant has its own requirement, so please consider each of your plants requirement.
4. PRUNE. Pruning can be done for some plants. The suggestion is generic as for fertilizing, and each plant would have its own requirement.
5. REDUCE WATERING. As the weather is cooling down you don’t need to water your plants as often. I gradually reduce the number of times I water per week. Water less times but deeper. This will not only help you save on water bill. It will help your plants stay healthier and grow bigger roots that will help your plants cope better the coming summer.

Happy Gardening
Yana