​October is the perfect time to prepare for a lovely spring. This is the season for removing weeds, dead plants, and pest habitats. It is also the time to plant winter crops. Best of all, October is the perfect time to install your very own herb garden! Cooler temperatures and (hopefully) rain provide conditions needed for thriving winter vegetables, spring blossoms, and ongoing herbal culinary treats.

Zucchinis up!

There’s no reason to get rid of plants that are still producing. Many summer crops are still having a go at fruit production in early autumn. You can help them along (and reduce disease) by removing any squash leaves showing signs of powdery mildew and tossing them in the trash.  You can also lift those plants up and away from many pests using tomato cages. Speaking of tomatoes, you should remove any brave tomato blossoms you see at this point. This will push plants to redirect energies toward ripening any existing fruit.

Bring out your dead!

While we now know that a sanitized yard is not a healthy yard, there are some things you will want to remove from your garden and landscape. Rather than pulling spent plants from the ground and destroying soil microbes, it is far better for soil health to cut the plant stems and stalks off at ground level. This allows roots to die off slowly, in the ground, providing soil microbes with the time they need to adjust. You may also get a surprise next spring, as I have, when cabbages and Brussels sprouts grow multiple crops from those severed roots!

Next, inspect that plant debris closely for signs of diseases, such as bacterial spot. Infected plant material and mummies should be disposed of in the trash. Healthy plant material makes an excellent addition to the compost pile. Chop thick stalks into smaller pieces to improve your compost pile’s natural processes when adding last summer’s plant material to the pile.

Fall flower care

This is also the time to continue weeding and deadheading flowers. Removing blossoms properly allows flowering to continue for as long as temperatures allow. The only exception is roses. To encourage your rose bushes to enter a much-needed dormancy, it is better to start removing only the flower petals and leaving the rose hips attached to the stem. Be sure to dispose of seeded weeds, rather than adding them to your compost pile. If you are raising chickens, weeds with seeds make excellent forage.

Fire Safety

Ensure the plants closest to your home are those that hold moisture. Succulents are a an example. Also, clear dead plant material and other burnables away from your home and other structures. Simply living in the suburbs is no guarantee against fire loss. Be sure to use fire safe gardening methods.

Prepare winter beds and protect the soil

Collect fallen leaves from under fruit and nut trees, rose bushes, rhododendrons, camellias, and azaleas to prevent the spread of pests and disease. Add them to your compost pile as long as they are pest and disease free, otherwise toss them in the trash. Pine, juniper, and oak do not need leaf litter removed. Planting legumes, such as cowpeas or fava beans, can also add nitrogen to the soil, as long as they are not allowed to go to seed. Bare earth should be covered with a thick layer of wood chips, which you can get for free from local tree trimmers. Wood chips prevent erosion, add nutrients, and slightly acidify the soil. They look nice, too!

Spring bulbs & winter crops

Nothing says spring like brightly colored bulbs emerging from the barren muck of winter. Now is the time to shop for those spring bulbs and put them in the refrigerator (not the freezer) for 6-8 weeks. Use a paper or mesh bag to allow the bulbs to breath. You will want to keep them away from apples, which emit ethylene gas and will cause the bulbs to sprout too early. If you already have bulbs or perennial flowers, this is a good time to dig them up and divide them to allow for better growth in the spring. In warmer regions, autumn is the perfect time to winter crops from these plant families:

    • Allium - white, yellow and red onions, leeks, shallots, scallions and garlic
    • Apiaceae - caraway, carrots, celery, fennel, lovage and parsley
    • Brassicaceae - Bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, arugula, collards, kale, turnips, rutabagas, and kohlrabi
    • Amaranthaceae - spinach, beets, and chard
    • Asteraceae  (the daisy family) - artichokes, lettuce  [Surprised you, didn’t I?]

You can set the stage for a lovely spring by scattering native wildflower seeds in autumn. Winter rain and snow provide the moisture needed for these seeds to germinate and grow. As winter winds down and temperatures begin to rise, your wildflowers will put on a spectacular show of color. This is also a good time for installing shrubs and trees.

Create your very own herb garden!

You can create an herb garden in your yard, on a balcony, or even inside your home. The following herbs and spices can be planted now to provide years of delicious meals and lovely displays, wherever they are grown: Chives, caraway, ​cilantro/coriander, cumin, dill , parsley , rosemary, and thyme can be
started in October.
​
When spring comes around, you can add basil,nise, borage, oregano, lemongrass, marjoram, and sage to your herb garden for a tasteful gardening experience!

Which plants are you putting in this October?

May is one of the busiest months in the garden. Temperatures have warmed enough for us to begin planting in earnest. Weeds, pests, and beneficial insects are out in force. And it's gorgeous outside!

Aerate the soil                                                                                                          

If you have heavy clay soil, it can hold on to lots of water and nutrients, but it can be difficult for roots, earthworms, and soil microorganisms. You can hire a professional aerator to come in with their heavy equipment to punch plugs out of your soil. While the machine creates its own soil compaction, the plugs really do make a big difference in soil health. Or, you can do what I do, which is to contact your local tree trimmer and ask for a load of tree trimmings. It won’t be the pretty bagged variety, but it will contain chipped twigs, leaves, stems and branches that can be spread on top of the soil as a mulch that will profoundly improve your soil structure. In 2012, when we bought our home, the soil was more like concrete. Now, thanks to mulches of tree trimmings, my soil is rich and black, loose, and filled with earthworms and beneficial microorganisms. For free.

Bees

Bees are very active in May. There is simply so much pollen and nectar to collect! Sometimes, a honey bee colony may swarm. If you see a swarm, don’t panic. As in any other time when working around bees, remain calm, move gently, and give them their space. Contact your local Bee Guild or  Master Gardeners to have swarms removed.

Bulbs and other flowers

If flowering bulbs were looking crowded during the recent bloom time, delay digging them up to separate until after all the foliage is completely dry. Bulbs pull important nutrients from these leaves to help start up again next spring. Bulbs that are dug up and separated can be replanted in a new location, gifted to friends, or stored in a cool, dry, dark location until fall. If you want fall blooms, plant now.

Container plants

They are countless varieties of plants that perform well in containers. Do them all a favor in May and get them off that soon-to-be hot concrete patio. Creating even the smallest space under container plants can reduce the roasting effect, which means they will need less water. Speaking of water, warmer temperatures mean container plants will start drying out more quickly. Water as needed.

Deadheading

Many flowers are in full bloom in May. To encourage plants to continue creating blooms, remove spent flowers as soon as they are seen. This also reduces habitat for many pests and diseases. Pinch back borage, petunias, and fuchsias to prevent plants from becoming top heavy.

Fireblight

May is the time fireblight shows itself in warmer regions. Fireblight is a bacterial disease that makes plants look as though they had been damaged by fire. It attacks apples, pear and quince, most often, but can also infect ornamentals, such as toyon and pyracantha. Very often, the growing tip folds over into a shepherd’s crook shape. Fireblight can kill a mature tree, so complete removal of any diseased tissue is critical. Sanitize pruners with a household cleaner, such as Lysol, between each cut to prevent reinfection. The final cut should be 8-12 inches below the diseased area.

Fruit trees

May should be the time when fruit trees are covered with immature fruits. Thin those fruits now or regret it later. Too much fruit in one place means none of them taste as good as they might have. It also creates habitat for pests and disease. Apples should be thinned to no more than 3 fruits to a cluster, or one fruit for every 6 inches of branch. Apricots and other stone fruits need 4-6” between fruits for optimal growth, flavor, and sweetness. Also, be sure to check apples for codling moth damage.

Lawns

If you still have a lawn, be sure to water it as early in the morning as possible. That way, the water isn’t lost to evaporation and the grass has time to dry out during the day, reducing the chance of fungal diseases. For the most part, I use water from my washing machine to water my lawn and it has been working very well. Check the lawn for weeds such as spurge, burclover, and whatever happens to invade your neighborhood. When mowing, set the blade height as high as you are comfortable with in summer. Taller grass shades the soil. This reduces evaporation and it makes the soil more comfortable for valuable  earthworms and microbes.

Mulch and compost

Compost and mulch are two of the best things to add to any landscape. They add valuable nutrients to the soil, improve soil structure, and stabilize soil temperature. In our heavy clay soil, mulch prevents the baked concrete look we have come to expect in summer. [An important note about soil additives - while it may sound right to add sand to clay soil, to reduce compaction, it ends up creating concrete. Don’t do it!]

Slugs & snails

Slugs and snails can devastate young May seedlings. Applying non-toxic slug and snail bait lightly around new planting areas can save the crop. While there are more effective baits, those made with iron phosphate are not toxic to pets and wildlife and I have found they work well enough.

Soil test

Before you start applying fertilizers and fungicides, collect a soil sample and send it out to a lab. [I use the UMass lab, but there are many to choose from]. The information provided in soil test results is invaluable. More often than not, your soil does not need more of all the nutrients found in a bag of fertilizer. It may only need some, or, in my case, it only needed iron because it held an excess of everything else. Simply adding more fertilizer can create nutrient imbalances that make it difficult for plants to absorb what they need. Get a soil test. It’s worth it.

​Start planting!

This is the most welcome news of the season in warmer regions. Nearly all summer growing plants (tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, squash, beans, corn, and peppers) can be put in the ground in May. If you are using transplants, be sure harden them off gradually or they may lose much of their vigor and productivity. Hardening-off simply means placing them outdoors in a protected location for a few hours. Slowly increase the time over a couple of weeks. Be sure to stake tomato plants now, while they are small. This can be done in tandem with quarantining new plants. And add straw under melon, squash, and strawberry plants to reduce fungal infection.

Verticillium wilt

If verticillium wilt occurred last year, it is important to plant members of the nightshade family (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant) someplace else. Verticillium wilt is a fungal disease that shows as yellowing older leaves, at first. Then, as the disease spreads, wilting occurs. Young plants nearly always die. Since the fungal spores can remain in the soil for 10-15 years, crop rotation is the best prevention.

Water

California’s drought is continuing, despite the fair bit of rain we have received so far. The truth is,  the Golden State has always been drought-prone and we would be wise to learn to live accordingly. When water restrictions were first implemented, I vowed to take meaningful steps to reduce our water consumption. As a result, we now use only 25% of the water we used to use! Surprisingly, my garden has not suffered and neither have we. These steps can help you conserve water while still caring for the garden:

• Collect water from the bath or shower as it warms and use it to water plants.
• Collect water from boiling pasta and vegetables and use it to water plants.
• Inspect spigots, hoses, sprinkler and drip irrigation systems for leaks.
• Water early in the morning, and water deeply and less frequently.
• When adding new plants, pick varieties that are suited to the local microclimate.
• Avoid urban drool by setting sprinklers to go through a series of pulses. Start with just a few minutes to allow hydrophobic soil to absorb the water, rather than run off.
• Apply organic mulch or wood chips everywhere.
• Turn off faucets while washing hands, brushing teeth, or shaving.
• Use only the minimal amount of fertilizer. Excess fertilizer forces plants to grow faster than they can maintain without a significant increase in water use. Without a soil test from a reputable lab, you don't know if fertilizers are needed.
• Be aware that the drought brings more wildlife into yards as they search for food and water. You may want to provide a water source, such as a birdbath, but be sure to not create a mosquito breeding ground.

Weeds

Just as young garden plants are really kicking it into high gear in May, so are the weeds. Take my word for it, pulling them while they are small, and before the soil is baked, is much easier than later. Weeds take precious water and nutrients from garden plants. In most cases, the sooner they are gone, the better.

So, put on the hat and sunscreen and get out there in that May garden!