Indoors

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  (C) iStockphoto

  Dig and repot herbs growing outdoors, or take cuttings to pot up and grow indoors.

• Bring houseplants that spent the summer outdoors back indoors before night temperatures fall below 55 degrees. Gradually decrease light to acclimate plants and help reduce leaf drop. Check for insects and disease before putting them with other plants.
• Plants, such as tuberous and waxed begonias, impatiens, fuschia and geraniums, may be dug from the ground or containers and repotted for indoor enjoyment during the winter. Cuttings also may be taken, rooted in a growing medium and repotted for the winter.
• Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus can be forced into bloom. Provide plants 15 hours of complete darkness each day for about eight weeks. Keep temperature at about 60 to 65 degrees.
• Poinsettias should be kept in complete darkness for 15 hours daily from about Oct. 1 to about Dec. 10.
• Begin stocking up gardening supplies before they are removed for the season from retailers’ shelves. Pots, potting mixes, fertilizers and other products may be harder to find later in the season.

General landscape

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  Evergreen needle drop. Photo courtesy Un. of Nebraska Extension

  Don’t be alarmed if evergreens, especially white pine and arborvitae, drop needles. All evergreens shed needles at some time, but not all at once like deciduous plants do.

• Apply high-nitrogen fertilizer to lawns at the rate of 1 pound actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. Here’s more info on taking care of established lawns.
• Plant container-grown or balled-and-burlapped nursery stock. Mulch well and keep newly planted stock well watered until the ground freezes.
• Reseed bare spots or put in new lawns using a good quality seed mixture. Fall is the best time to do lawn repairs or put in a new one.
• Early fall is a good time to apply broadleaf weed killers. Follow label directions and spray on a calm day to prevent drift.
• Continue watering gardens, shrubs and trees if rainfall doesn’t reach an inch or more every week or 10 days. It’s important for plants to go into cold weather with adequate moisture.
• Prepare new beds now for planting next spring. The soil is usually easier to work in the fall and fall-prepared beds allow for earlier plantings in spring. Beds may be mulched with compost, chopped leaves or other organic material during the winter, if desired. Avoid fall tilling when there’s a chance of soil erosion.
• Apply a layer of organic materials to garden beds in the fall. This includes rotted or composted manure, compost, chopped leaves or a slow-release organic fertilizer.
• Plant, transplant or divide peonies, daylilies, poppies, iris, phlox and other perennials.
• Order spring-flowering bulbs or purchase locally. Begin planting them at the end of the month. Planting too early can cause top growth to sprout before winter; allow four to six weeks for good root formation before ground freezes.
• Dig tender bulbs, such as cannas, caladiums, tuberous begonias and gladiolus, before frost. Air dry and store in dry peat moss or vermiculite.
• Cut flowers in the garden for drying and use in everlasting arrangements. Strawflower, statice, baby’s breath, celosia and other plants can be hung upside down in a well-ventilated dry area.

Vegetables and fruits

• Dig onions and garlic after tops fall over and necks begin to dry.
• Plant radishes, sets for green onions, lettuce and spinach for fall harvest.
• Thin fall crops, such as lettuce and carrots, that were planted earlier.
• Harvest tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons and sweet potatoes before frost; cover plants with blankets, newspapers (no plastic) to protect from light frost.
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  'Honey Bear' acorn squash. Photo courtesy All-America Selections

  Harvest winter squash when mature (skin is tough) with deep, solid color, but before hard frost.

• Harvest apples, pears, grapes, ever-bearing strawberries and raspberries.
• Remove raspberry canes after they bear fruit.
• Keep area around apple (including crabapple) and other fruit trees clean of fallen fruit, twigs and leaves to reduce insects and disease carryover.

Indoors

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  (C) Photo Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp

  Take cuttings from plants such as impatiens, coleus, geraniums and wax begonias to winter over indoors. These are called herbaceous cuttings. Root the cuttings in media such as vermiculite, perlite, peat moss or planting soil instead of water. Keep them moist.

• Begin stocking up gardening supplies before they are removed for the season from retailers’ shelves. Pots, potting mixes, fertilizers and other products may be harder to find later in the season.

General landscape

• Check trees and shrubs that have been planted in recent years for girdling damage by guy wires, burlap or ropes.
• Keep newly established shrubs, trees, perennials, ground covers and grass well watered during dry spells. New plants should receive an inch of rain every seven to 10 days.
• Don’t fertilize woody plants now. It stimulates green growth that will not have time to harden off before winter.
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  Bagworm on arborvitae. Photo courtesy Purdue University

  Hand prune and destroy bagworms, fall webworms and tent caterpillars.

• Have soil tested for fall fertilization requirements if it has been three years or more since the last analysis.
• Begin seeding new lawns or bare spots in established lawns in late August or, preferably, September. Fall is the best time to repair or start a new lawn.
• Order spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting. Store in cool, dry place. Plant in late fall and early winter.
• Sow seeds for biennials or transplant seedlings for blooms next year.
• Spade or till soil for fall bulb planting; add a moderate amount of fertilizer.

Vegetables and fruits

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  Spinach 'El Grinta' (Spinacia oleracea). Photo courtesy National Garden Bureau

  Complete fall vegetable planting by directly sowing seeds of carrots, beets, kohlrabi, kale and snap beans early this month. Lettuce, spinach and green onions can be planted later in August and early September. Thin seedlings as required.

• Harvest onions after tops yellow and fall. Cure them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated area. The necks should be free of moisture when fully cured, usually about a week.
• Harvest potatoes after the tops yellow and die. Cure before storing.
• Pick beans, tomatoes, peppers and squash often to encourage more production.
• Harvest watermelon when the underside ground spot turns from whitish to creamy yellow; the tendril closest to the melon turns brown and shrivels; the rind loses its gloss and looks dull; the melon produces a dull thud rather than a ringing sound when thumped.
• Harvest sweet corn when kernels are plump and ooze a milky juice when punctured with a fingernail. If the liquid is watery, it’s too early; if doughy, it’s too late.
• Pears are best ripened off the tree. Harvest pears as soon as color changes, usually from a dark green to a lighter green, and when the fruit is easily twisted and removed from the spur.
• Prune out and destroy raspberry and blackberry canes that bore fruit this year. They will not produce fruit again and could harbor insects or disease.

Indoors

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  For best selection, order spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting. Many bulb merchants will wait to ship the bulbs until closer to planting time, which usually is late fall and early winter. Photo courtesy Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center

  Keep an eye on houseplants that have been set outdoors to make sure they are watered properly. Hot summer breezes can quickly dry them out.

• Propagate houseplants by taking cuttings from vigorously growing plants. Root in moistened growing medium, such as perlite, vermiculite or soilless mixes. Keep moist, enclosed in plastic and out of direct sunlight until rooted. The amount of time it takes to root varies according to plant and growing conditions.

General landscape

• Supplement rainfall to newly planted nursery stock, gardens and lawns if needed to supply 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water each week or 10 days.
• Container-grown plants can be planted anytime, but make sure new stock is well watered.
• Keep grass at 3 ½ to 4 inches tall to conserve moisture.
• Don’t remove clippings from the lawn unless grass is excessively tall. Clippings return nutrients to the soil and do not contribute to thatch buildup.
• Apply mulch around young plants and in flower and vegetable gardens to conserve soil moisture and control weeds. Do not allow mulch to touch stems or trunks.
• Remove water sprouts (from trunk) and suckers (sprouts from roots) on fruit trees, including crabapples and other ornamental trees. See illustration below.
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  Illustration courtesy www.tlcfortrees.com

  Pinch off faded rose blossoms and other flowers. Deadheading, or picking off the faded flowers of many perennials and annuals keeps them blooming longer and tidies up the plants.

• To rejuvenate summer-stressed plants, cut annuals and perennials back by about one-half, water well and apply an application of water soluble fertilizer.

Vegetables and fruits

• Start seeds of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and ornamental kale and cabbage for late summer plantings and fall harvest.
• Harvest tomatoes, squash, okra, peppers, beans and cucumbers frequently to encourage further production.
• Complete succession planting of bush beans and sweet corn.
• Standard sweet corn is at its peak for only a day or so. The super sweet corn maintains its peak quality longer. Harvest when silks begin to dry and kernels exude a milky, rather than watery or doughy juice when punctured.
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  Broccoli seedlings. Photo courtesy National Garden Bureau

  Make sure potato tubers, carrot shoulders and onion bulbs are covered with soil to prevent development of green color and off flavors. Apply mulch to keep them covered.

• Allow blossoms on newly planted strawberries to develop for a fall crop.
• Prop up fruit tree branches that are loaded heavily with fruit.
• Harvest raspberries when fully colored and easily separated from stem. After harvest, prune out fruiting canes.

Indoors

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  (C) Stockxpert.com

  Houseplants will need more water and fertilizer during summer growing period.

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Indoors

• Move houseplants to a shady location outdoors when danger of frost has past, usually mid-May. The soil in the pots will dry out faster outdoors, so check it frequently.

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Indoors

• Prune, repot and clean houseplants as needed.
• Fertilize houseplants as new growth appears. Follow label directions.
• If not done already, sketch garden plans, including what to grow, spacing, arrangement and number of plants needed.
• Order seeds and plants as early as soon as possible.

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Indoors

• Prune, repot and clean houseplants as needed.
• Fertilize houseplants as new growth appears. Follow label directions.
• Sketch garden plans, including what to grow, spacing, arrangement, number of plants needed and sequence.
• Order seeds and plants as early as possible for best selection.

  read more»

Indoors

• Keep houseplants close to bright windows. Check soil for dryness before watering.
• Examine produce, tender flower bulbs and roots stored for the winter for rot, shriveling or excess moisture. Remove and discard damaged material.
• Sketch garden plans, including what to grow, spacing, arrangement and number of plants needed.

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Indoors

• Repot house plants as they out grow current pots.
• Pot amaryllis bulb.

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