October
Chores and Maintenance
- Prune summer and fall-blooming trees and shrubs
- Keep lawns free of fallen leaves – rake and compost
- Continue to mow lawn 2-1/2 to 3" high
- Clean up perennial beds - dispose of diseased leaves
Plant and/or Transplant
- Needle evergreens and shrubs
- Deciduous trees and shrubs –after leaf fall
- Azaleas and rhododendrons
- Continue to plant early spring flowering bulbs
- Divide and move perennials to enhance garden design
- Dig up gladioli corms and dahlia tubers to store
- Pot tender perennials to winter over in cold frame
Fertilize
- Clematis with lime
- Iris with superphosphate
- Deciduous and needle evergreen trees with organic fertilizer when fully dormant
- Acid-loving broadleaf evergreens with slow-release, granular, acid-based fertilizer