September Garden and Landscape Tips

Lawn Tips:

• Continue watering your lawn, and never allow the lawn to go completely brown as it may not recover, especially fescue lawns! 

• Fall is a great time to fertilize the lawn but not this year in September. Drought and heat are still too severe and you’ll just be causing more damage than good.  Wait until our drought subsides to fertilize this year.

Early:

• Prepare your Christmas cactus plants for bloom by restricting light and lowering night temperatures. 

• Bring houseplants indoors before night time temperatures fall below 50 degrees F. 

• Remove old raspberry canes and pick up fallen fruit from under fruit trees to reduce diseases. 

• It’s not too late to divide day lilies, iris, phlox and peonies. Just be sure you can water deeply and often with this drought we have!

• Now is a great time to fertilize strawberries to help get them on the path towards a great crop next spring. 

• Start parsley seeds (indoors) now for your indoor winter herb garden. 

• Broadcast turnip seeds outdoors now for your fall garden. 

• Potatoes should be ready to dig (harvest). When the vines have died off for about two weeks you’ll know they are ready.

Middle:

• Don’t let your guard down on roses for insect and disease problems. Keeping problems at a minimum now will make next year easier. 

• Store leftover garden seed in tightly sealed jars that are located in cool, dark places. Some seed will keep for years. 

• Now is a good time to start digging up and storing your non hardy tuberous begonias, gladiolus, and elephant ears. Cannas and dahlia can survive light frosts, but heavy killing frosts and freezes can damage the roots.

• Keep deadheading those annuals to keep them blooming all the way up until frost.

• Gourds should now be getting close to being ready for harvest. Stems will turn brown and begin to dry when ready.

• Divide and replant perennial salvia, primroses, hollyhocks, and transplant columbine, and lenten rose seedlings if needed.

• Don’t neglect watering of your azaleas, and rhododendrons. Next year’s flower buds are newly formed and may be aborted because of drought.

Late:

• Popcorn should be harvested before the first frosts arrive in early October, waiting too late will cause moldy ears (doesn’t that sound awful).

• Prepare raised beds for next spring’s garden now by taking advantage of nice fall weather that you won’t have in our often cold, wet springs!