​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.


Bring out your dead!

Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and many other garden fruits and vegetables are now at or near the end of their productive lifecycle. While tomatoes are technically a perennial, most tomato plants are treated as annuals. 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. 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. Add a thick layer of mulch or aged compost on top of all your planting beds. This will help prevent erosion and add nutrients to the soil for next year. 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 San Jose, California, 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. Here, in San Jose, our winter rains 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 
• thyme

When spring comes around, you can add basil, anise, borage, oregano, lemongrass, marjoram, and sage to your herb garden for a tasteful gardening experience!


Which plants are you putting in this October?

Harvesting the fruits of all that labor and preparing for winter keep the September gardener busy. Deadheading, clearing away debris, and composting spent annuals all help to prevent future problems with pests and diseases.
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Apples
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Many apple varieties are ready for harvest (assuming the birds have left any uneaten). Other apple varieties will need some colder weather to sweeten. If you notice small brown, corky areas under the skin, it is called bitter pit. Bitter pit, like blossom end rot in tomatoes, is caused by a calcium deficiency early in the spring. In this case, however, the condition can be treated on future crops by spraying the leaves with calcium nitrate just after bloom and again one or two months later. Use one tablespoon per gallon of water.


Carrots

Carrots prefer loose soil, but shorter varieties perform well enough in our heavy clay. The addition of compost can help aerate the soil and provide valuable nutrients. Carrots should be planted no more than 1/2” deep and plants should be thinned to 3” apart, to avoid forking and twisting. Water regularly but allow some drying to prevent cracking. Successive plantings provides an ongoing harvest. Carrots can be planted between landscape perennials for productive use of space.


Cover crops

Areas of the garden that would otherwise be left bare over the winter are better off mulched or planted with cover crops. Cover crops help maintain important soil microorganisms that will, in turn, support your spring and summer crops next year. Fava beans are an excellent choice in San Jose, California.


Leafcutter bees

If rose leaves are exhibiting neat round or oval holes in them, it is probably the beneficial leaf cutter bee and should be ignored. The sections of leaf are used to line brood cells, which are also filled with nectar and pollen.
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Mosaic virus

Squash and cucumber plants are susceptible to a disease carried by aphids and cucumber beetles. Mosaic virus causes leaves to become mottled and stunts plant growth. Fruit may become white. Diseased plants should be removed and put in the trash. Do not add to the compost pile.


Pests

If leaf stippling and tiny webs are seen, spider mites are probably the reason. Spider mites prefer dusty conditions, so spraying infested plants with the hose can help. Using broad spectrum pesticides is not recommended because they will kill the spider mites’ natural predators. Heavy spider mite infestations can be treated with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Stink bugs and cucumber beetles are common in San Jose this time of year.


Powdery mildew

As nights become cooler, it is common for powdery mildew to strike. Affected leaves should be removed and thrown in the trash, and overhead watering should be avoided.


Rats

Gnawed tomatoes, empty orange shells, and tiny black pellets are all signs of roof rats. These pests can infiltrate your attic, crawl space, garage, storage shed, and trees. Rat traps are an excellent way to remove resident rats. Keeping pet and livestock food sealed up and harvesting crops as soon as possible will help make your yard less desirable to the local rat population. Since rats can carry serious diseases and damage electrical wiring, it is worth the effort to get rid of rats. I use traps placed in a tunnel made with cinder blocks and  baited with peanut butter or cheese.


Tomatoes

Any yellow flowers produced by your tomatoes now will not have time to mature before temperatures cause fruit to turn mealy before maturing. Instead, remove those flowers to encourage plants to put all their energy into any fruit that is already on the vine.


Vegetables

September is the time to plant many winter crops, including artichoke, arugula, beets, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cilantro, collards, dill, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, peas, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, and turnips.


Enjoy the fruits of your labor!