Long Island Horticultural Society
What's Going on in the Garden
October To Do List
Go plant Shopping! Take advantage of fall sales at nurseries. Take extra care when planting; most of these plants will be root-bound. You can cut up to a 1/3 of the base of root ball off or cut a deep cross into the root ball and tease the roots apart. Dig a hole twice as wide as the pot but only as deep as the pot. Back fill the hole and water in. We get enough rain in October so Mother Nature should do the rest of the watering for you.
Reseeding Your Lawn, fall is the best time to reseed your lawn. The weather is comfortable enough to work in, we get ample rain in October and you have a month to add fertilizers before the Nov. 1 cut-off date. No fertilizers can be put down after that as run-off pollutes our coastal waters.
Plant fall bulbs for spring flowers. Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus, Fritillaria and other spring blooming bulbs are planted now. They can be planted up until the ground freezes but why wait until you can't feel your fingers, do it now. Bulbs get planted at a depth equal to 2 1/2 times the length of the bulb. So if your tulips measure 2 inches from top to bottom you need to dig a hole 5 inches deep. Too deep for squirrels to dig up. To protect smaller bulbs from being eaten, like Crocus or Anemone inter-plant with Daffodils or Fritillaria as these smell bad to squirrels and they wont go near them.
You can still divide and plant Bearded Irises.
Are your Iris not blooming as well as they have in the past? You probably need to divide them. Slide a shovel underneath the mat of rhizomes and lift them up. Break off the new rhizomes and re-plant them. Irises need good air circulation, excellent drainage and full sun to bloom. Video Tutorial about Iris can be found here
Save seeds for next year's Seed Swap. More on Saving Seeds here.
Make a Jack O'Lantern.