The October Gardener

Leaves are falling, asters and mums are blooming. Pick a crisp, sunny autumn afternoon and spend some time tending your garden and planting bulbs.

The plentiful rains that we received in late August and early September (even though it was a bit more than we wanted or needed) have certainly turned our lawns and gardens green again and have provided our trees with the moisture they will need to enter winter.

Leaves: The leaves that fall from your trees may be pretty, but you’ll soon need to deal with them. Even when piled only a few deep, they can eventually smother the grass underneath, leaving you with a bare spot in the yard next spring. Here are a few tips to take the aches and blisters out of dealing with leaves.

• Mowing: A mower chews up leaves, and the pieces break down and feed the lawn. You even can mow thick layers of dry leaves, though you may need two passes with the mower. Collect leaves with a bagging attachment if you plan to mulch garden beds with the chopped leaves.

• Rake, Vacuum or Blow: Look for rakes with wide sweeps and padded handles. Stretch and change your raking motion frequently to help prevent aching muscles. You can also use a leaf vacuum that will shred leaves and debris into a fine mulch. Leaf blowers work well, also, especially for large areas.

• Brown Gold: Decayed leaves are great (and valuable) for improving soil, so rake them up, shred them (with a shredder or by running over them with a lawn mower), and then use them to mulch gardens, sprinkle back on lawns, add to compost piles or cover bare soils. Do not put heavy layers (more than 6”) of unshredded leaves into your flower beds as this may keep the garden too wet during the winter and early spring and help contribute to root rot and fungal diseases.

Lawns: Cool season grasses (blue grass and fescue) should be fertilized in October and November with 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet each month. To prevent nutrient pollution of groundwater and the Chesapeake Bay, keep fertilizers off hard surfaces like driveways and sidewalks. Once you have the results of the soil test that I recommended , you will know if it is necessary to apply lime at this time. The amount of lime to apply will be indicated by the soil test numbers. If it is necessary to apply lime, spread it after all fertilizer has been applied and before the ground freezes.

Woody Ornamental Landscape Plants: Existing trees and shrubs should only be pruned at this time if they are dead or damaged. Wait until after all of the leaves have dropped for other corrective and cosmetic pruning. Also, be aware of large dead branches or entire dead trees that may pose a hazard to people and property. When in doubt, consider hiring a to evaluate your tree.

Houseplants: If you put your houseplants out on the porch or patio for the summer, now is the time to bring them back in so they can become acclimated to indoor conditions. Be sure to check the plants for insects before bringing them in. You can wash them off or you can apply a labeled houseplant insecticide to control the pests. Some houseplants will drop leaves and slow their growth as they become accustomed to the low light conditions indoors.

Pat Cieslak
Master Gardener, Baltimore County
University of Maryland Extension
Questions? Visit the Home and Garden Information Center
or call 1-800-342-2507, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.