September

Flowers & Ornamental Grasses

Flowers & Ornamental Grasses

• Fill voids and replace weatherworn annuals in gardens and containers with mums, asters, pansies, ornamental kale and other fall annuals. 
• Start purchasing spring flowering bulbs now for the greatest selection of varieties and healthy bulbs.
• Always call 811, a free underground utility locating service, before preparing the garden bed or placing plants in the ground.
• Wait until the soil cools to begin planting spring flowering bulbs. This is usually after a hard freeze but before the ground freezes. Those in milder climates may need to plant precooled bulbs during the winter months.
• Plant animal resistant spring flowering bulbs or protect other bulbs from digging and damaging wildlife.
• Continue planting perennials when the soil is warm and the air is cool – perfect conditions for helping new plants become established.
• Begin planting perennial seeds in properly prepared soil.
• Keep watering as needed. Make new plantings, evergreens and moisture-loving plants a priority.
• Mulch the soil to conserve moisture, insulate roots and suppress weeds.
• Take cuttings of annuals you want to over winter indoors.
• Move tropical plants indoors as temperatures drop into the 40’s and before the first killing frost.
• Dig cannas, dahlias and other tender bulbs after the foliage has yellowed or a light frost kills the leaves.
• Dig, divide and transplant spring and summer-blooming perennials that have outgrown their location, failed to flower, flop open or died out in the center.
• There’s still time to dig, divide and move crowded and poor flowering iris.
• Dig and divide peonies you want or need to share and move.
• Stop deadheading perennials to increase winter hardiness and encourage seedheads to form, providing food for the birds and winter interest for you.
• Extend your fall floral display by covering tender flowers by late afternoon when frost is in the forecast.
• Evaluate the fall color in your mixed borders and perennial gardens. Consider adding some fall bloomers, those with colorful fall foliage or decorative seedheads.
• Remove and destroy insect-infested and diseased plant material to reduce the risk of future problems.
• Allow healthy pest-free perennials to stand for winter. They provide food for wildlife and habitat for beneficial insects.
• Improve the soil in annual flowerbeds by shredding and digging fallen leaves into the top 8 to 12” of soil once the growing season has ended.

Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs

Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs

• Create beautiful and edible fall garden containers. Colorful leaf lettuce, kale, mustard and vibrant Swiss chard cultivars brighten any fall combination.
• Add short season and frost tolerant vegetables like lettuce, radishes and beets to the garden or containers.
• Pinch out the growing tips and remove new blossoms on tomatoes and vine crops to promote ripening of the existing fruit.
• Harvest eggplants when the fruit reaches full size and skin is glossy.
• Pick muskmelon when the fruit stem starts to separate from the melon.
• Harvest watermelons when the fruit are full sized, dull colored and the portion touching the ground changes from white to cream.
• Harvest winter squash and pumpkins when fully mature and before the first damaging frost.
• Dig sweet potatoes before the first frost.
• Harvest full sized potatoes suitable for storing when the tops die.
• Make one fall harvest of rhubarb before the first fall frost. Cut the stems back to ground level and add them to the compost pile after a hard freeze.
• Continue harvesting herbs as needed and for preserving.
• Plant garlic cloves in the middle to the end of this month.
• Keep watering as needed. Make new plantings a priority.
• Extend the bounty of the season by covering tender plants with floating row covers when frost is in the forecast.
• Improve the soil in annual vegetable gardens by shredding and digging fallen leaves into the top 8 to 12” of soil once the season has ended.
• Leave healthy asparagus stems stand for winter.
• Harvest apples when the indentation by the stem turns from green to yellow and the fruit can easily be twisted off the branch.
• Continue picking pears when they turn from dark green to yellowish green and before they start falling from the trees.
• Harvest plums when fully colored and sweet.
• Pick grapes when the tip of the bunch appears mature and tastes sweet.
• Harvest early-ripening fall raspberries when fully colored and sweet.
• Compost pest-free plant material.

Groundcovers & Vines

Groundcovers & Vines

• Fall is an excellent time to plant perennial vines and groundcovers. Always call 811, a free underground utility locating service, before putting the first shovel in the ground.
• Select and plant vines and groundcovers that provide fall color.
• Make fall cleanup easier. Cover groundcover plantings with netting to capture and remove fall leaves.
• Move tropical vines indoors as temperatures begin to hover in the 40’s.

Indoor & Holiday Plants

Indoor & Holiday Plants

• Purchase some extra spring-flowering bulbs for forcing.
• Improve your indoor air quality by adding a few easy care houseplants to your indoor garden.
• Isolate and acclimatize plants as you move them indoors for winter. Monitor and manage pests as needed.
• Stop watering your amaryllis if you plan to force it into bloom by letting it go dormant in a cool dark location for 6 to 8 weeks.
• Adjust your watering schedule to accommodate the changes in light intensity, daylight and other indoor growing conditions.
• Consider investing in artificial lights if your indoor plant collection or plants moved indoors for winter have outgrown the available window space.

Lawns

Lawns

• Fertilize your lawn with a low nitrogen slow release fertilizer, like Milorganite, in early September to encourage healthy dense growth that is better able to compete with weeds.
• Continue to mow high as long as your grass continues to grow.
• Now is a great time to plant cool season grass (bluegrass, fescue and perennial rye) seed whether starting a new lawn, filling bare spots or overseeding existing turf.
• Overseed warm season grasses with cool weather tolerant perennial rye for a green lawn all winter long.
• September and October are excellent times to core aerate cool season lawns growing on compacted soil or with more than ½” of thatch.  
• A healthy lawn is your best defense against weeds. If you must intervene, spot treat broadleaf weeds (dandelions, violets and plantain) growing in cool season grass lawns.
• Wait for a hard freeze when treating creeping Charlie (ground ivy).
• Mow, don’t rake, fall leaves. As long as the pieces are smaller than a quarter and you can see the grass blades, the lawn will be fine.

Trees, Shrubs & Roses

Trees, Shrubs & Roses

• Fall is a great time to plant trees, shrubs and hardy roses. The soil is warm and air is cool, aiding in their establishment.
• Always look up for overhead utilities and call 811, a free underground utility locating service, before digging in.
• Evaluate the fall foliage, fruit and bark color in the landscape. Plan new additions that provide additional color to your fall landscape.
• Replenish mulch around established plantings of trees, shrubs and roses as needed.
• Keep watering as needed. Make new plantings, evergreens and moisture-loving plants a priority.
• Do not fertilize trees, shrubs and roses if these plants go dormant for winter.
• Recycle fall leaves using them as a soil mulch in perennial plantings, a soil amendment in annual gardens or convert them into compost.
• Limit pruning to only dead, diseased or hazardous branches.
• Those in cooler climates should stop deadheading roses allowing them to prepare for winter and form attractive rose hips to feed the birds and add color to the winter landscape.
• Monitor trees for fall webworm. Nature usually keeps the populations in check. Remove and destroy fall webworm nests if needed.
• Remove and destroy any gypsy moth egg masses found on tree trunks.
• Don’t be alarmed by black and orange boxelder bugs congregating on the southside of your home. They are annoying, but not harmful.
• Begin installing animal barriers or applying repellents as needed to protect trees, shrubs and roses from hungry wildlife.