Early Fall is the ideal time to work on your landscaping to bring it back on line after our hot and dry summer season. Our daytime temperatures are milder and the evenings are cooler.
I suggest dividing the month’s activities into two categories: Repairing the landscape; and then improving by upgrading and adding to your garden’s palette.
Begin by examining the status of your landscape and inventory your tools and equipment. Now is the time to replace dead and damaged plants and modify and repair your drip systems. Remember that as your plants grow, your irrigation systems needs to be modified or expanded.
Nurseries and home centers will have fresh supplies of trees, bushes, and plants in stock available to you to plant. October’s weather is ideal for adding and acclimating new additions.
If you haven’t done so, apply fertilizer like Miracle-Gro throughout your landscape to prepare it for next year’s growing season.
In late October when the leaves on deciduous trees and bushes fall, commence your annual cleanup to remove debris that can damage the landscape.
As we move into cooler temperatures and decreased daylight, most plants enter a period of dormancy and you can then begin your major annual pruning. We wait for this time so that any pruning will not stimulate new growth that may be damaged by an early frost.
Palm trees should be pruned first since we want new fronds to acclimate to the cooler temperatures. Flowering bushes and plants should be pruned to remove damaged stems and spent blooms.
This will stimulate Fall blooming and encourage robust growth in the Spring. Heavy pruning of flowering plants, however, should take place when all blooming ends in December.
Do not prune fruit trees until they go dormant later in the season. Non-Blooming plants can be pruned and shaped now as well.
Treat the soil around any Agave plants with a systemic insecticide. During the summer, the Agave weevil lay eggs under the soil that will hatch in the Spring and the larvae will eat their roots and kill these plants!
Have any questions? Contact me at: ThePlantWhisperer28@gmail.com
