The Dallas County Master Gardener Association, Inc. (DCMGA), a division of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, has released its Garden Task List for October.
October is a great time to prepare gardens and landscapes for cooler weather. Consider planting fall color, cool-season vegetables, shrubs and hardy perennials, while also tending to lawns, removing spent summer plants and gathering fallen leaves. The DCMGA’s list of tasks includes:
Planting:
- Plant daffodils from late October to mid-November
- Plant Pansies, flowering kale and cabbage, dianthus, cyclamen and violas for fall color as the weather cools at the end of the month
- Plant cool season fescue grass by mid-month or overseed established fescue lawns if needed. If you choose to overseed a Bermuda lawn with winter ryegrass, do so by md-month
- October to January is the time to plant trees and shrub that are “balled and burlapped”
- Plant cilantro, garlic, leaf lettuce, parsley, radishes, spinach and turnips
Pruning:
- Prune dead wood from trees and shrubs but wait until the dormant season for major re-shaping. Tidy the garden by removing spent summer annuals, pruning dead bloom spikes off warm season perennials and re-shaping overgrown perennials later in the season
Plant Care:
- Fertilize established fescue lawn according to soil test recommendations
- As the weather cools, bring potted tropical and houseplants inside, inspect for insects which could multiply rapidly indoors
- Mulch or gather leaves regularly as they drop, as a thick leaf layer on lawns can promote insects and diseases and delay winter dormancy. Add excess leaves to the compost pile or shred leaves and use as mulch in beds
See the Dallas County Master Gardener’s October Garden Tasks
