October is time to take action in garden

October is a time for action. You can make progress in yard care and home food production this month.

Are your houseplants indoors? Your most vulnerable greenery needs to be under cover when the frost comes. Lynchburg’s first frost of the fall arrives on October 27, on the average.

The first plants to shuttle inside are tropicals such as orchids, Chinese hibiscus and foliage plants. Any temperature less than 60 degrees is harmful to them.

Some of the last houseplants to bring in are geranium and Christmas cactus. Geraniums thrive in the cooler weather and Christmas cacti require a period of cool and dry conditions to produce flower buds.

Canna lilies are hardy enough to survive a mild winter in a protected location. The more expensive ones seem to be less cold hardy, so you might want to pot them up and move them to a porch or garage for the winter.

Begonias do not survive the winter in our area, except for one kind of hardy begonia. You can either abandon your wax, tuberous and angel wing begonias to the elements or bring them indoors.

The plain elephant ear with huge green leaves normally survives winter, but the more exotic Black Magic elephant ear does not. Mandevilla vines either come indoors or they are goners.

Sow grass seed soon. You need to plant the seed and water it in to start the germination process by the middle of October. Planting any later in the season is risky, due to the cold conditions.

October is perhaps the best time of the whole year for fertilizing grasses such as fescue, ryegrass and bluegrass. The nitrogen in fertilizer stimulates root growth when used at this time of year, and a good root system is essential if you want a nice lawn.

Many brands of lawn fertilizer now contain nitrogen and potash, but no phosphate. This element has been taken out to protect the environment. It contributes to algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere.

Fall is definitely a busy planting season. Shrubbery and trees planted, mulched and watered once or twice in the autumn will get established readily. They should need no further watering next year, assuming normal weather patterns.

In flower gardens, it is time to take out summer annuals and put in cold hardy flowers. Some candidates for fall planting are viola, pansy, snapdragon, chrysanthemum, aster, flowering cabbage and most any kind of hardy perennial flower including peony and daylily.

The list of vegetables to plant in October is shorter than the list of vegetables to harvest. You can plant spinach, onion sets and garlic in October and expect a bumper crop. Leaf lettuce seeded now is a little more iffy.

Harvesting is a major October activity if you sowed seeds and set out transplants back in August. Your cornucopia may include cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, bean, squash, turnip and others.

- Davis is an Extension Agent for the Virginia Cooperative Extension. He can be reached by calling 455-3740.