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From YouTube: Garden Chores - October
Description
Keeping up with the seasons in your garden can sometimes be tricky. When do you plant for Spring? When do you harvest your vegetables? How do you keep those critters out of your garden? Learn to improve your green thumb with the answers to those and much more.
Join Master Gardener Linda Blue of the North Carolina Office of Cooperative Extension for need-to-know gardening tips and chores for the month of October. For more information you can call the office of Cooperative Extension at (828) 255-5522.
A
October
can
be
a
wonderful
time
of
year
to
spend
some
time
outside
and,
of
course,
catch
up
on
those
lawn
and
gardening
chores.
Now,
if
you
did
not
take
care
of
that
lawn
in
september
october
is
still
an
excellent
time
to
do
that
in
western
north
carolina
we're
growing,
mostly
fescue
lawns,
and,
of
course,
we
want
that
grass
not
only
to
be
healthy,
but
to
be
as
drought,
resistant
and
pest
resistant
as
possible.
A
If
you
did
not
put
your
fertilizer
application
down
in
september,
go
ahead
now
and
use
that
slow
release
fertilizer
to
put
down
a
rate
of
about
a
pound
of
actual
nitrogen
per
1000
square
feet.
Now
a
lot
of
us
still
have
bare
areas
in
the
lawn
after
a
long
hot
dry
summer.
It's
almost
starting
to
get
a
little
bit
late
for
reseeding
early
in
the
month
of
october.
A
You
can
still
go
ahead
and
get
some
grass
seed
into
those
bare
areas
by
the
end
of
the
month.
It's
getting
late
to
be
sure
of
getting
good
results
with
that,
however,
by
the
end
of
the
month.
What
are
we
thinking
about?
But
of
course
raking?
Those
fall
leaves,
and
you
don't
want
the
leaves
to
get
too
deep
on
the
lawn.
A
If
you
have
a
bagging
attachment
for
your
lawnmower
a
lot
of
times,
it's
very
convenient
to
just
collect
the
leaves
in
your
bag,
which
will
chop
them
and
make
them
a
good
addition
to
your
compost,
pile
now,
while
you're
doing
that
leaf.
Raking.
Don't
forget
about
your
fruit
plantings
around
your
fruit
trees
as
well
as
your
berry,
bushes,
not
only
raking
up
those
fallen
leaves
but
pick
up
any
fruit.
A
A
Don't
forget
about
cleaning
up
in
the
vegetable
garden
once
those
summer
vegetable
crops
have
finished,
don't
leave
them
in
the
garden,
go
ahead
and
get
those
pulled
out
and
either
add
them
to
the
compost,
pile
or
get
them
tilled
right
into
the
garden
soil,
if
you're
growing
winter,
squashes
and
pumpkins,
you
do
want
to
try
to
get
all
of
those
harvested
before
frost
which
can
damage
the
skin.
You
can
even
do
some
planting
this
time
of
year.
A
Oh
it's
probably
late
to
do
any
direct
seeding
of
anything
other
than
lettuce
and
maybe
a
little
bit
of
spinach
or
or
kale,
but
you
can
still
set
out
some
plants.
This
is
still
okay
to
set
out
plants
like
your
kale
or
your
swiss.
Chard
these
plants
don't
mind
some
below
freezing
temperatures
and,
as
a
matter
of
fact,
these
cool
season
vegetables
will
do
well
and
can
even
still
be
harvested
on
into
november
and
december.
A
You
can
also
still
plant
onions
and
garlic.
Actually
middle
of
october
is
the
best
time
in
western
north
carolina
to
set
out
your
bulbing
onions
and
your
garlic
plants
for
garlic.
You
can
simply
go
to
the
grocery
store
and
purchase
a
bulb
of
garlic,
select
your
biggest
cloves,
and
then
you
just
shove
them
right
down
into
the
soil
about
an
inch
deep
and
a
couple
of
inches
apart
here.
Pretty
soon
they'll
send
up
these
little
leaves
a
lot
like
these
onion
leaves
that'll
stay
there
all
winter
and
take
off
and
grow
in
the
spring.
A
A
As
you
are
doing
that
cleanup,
it's
probably
tempting
to
do
some
pruning
on
your
shrubs.
This
is
not
a
good
time
of
year
to
do
any
major
or
severe
pruning.
However,
if
you've
got
some
of
these
stray
shoots
that
need
to
be
cleaned
up
a
little
bit
a
little
snipping
here
and
there
isn't
going
to
hurt
anything
while
you're
in
the
landscape.
If
you
have
hemlocks,
this
is
a
good
time
to
be
checking
those
for
any
signs
of
the
hemlock
woolly
adelgids.
A
This
is
a
good
time
of
year
actually
to
treat
those
trees
with
the
insecticidal
soap
or
horticultural
oil
or,
if
you've
not
done
the
systemic
soil.
Drench
treatment
in
the
last
year
october
is
actually
a
good
time
to
go
ahead
and
do
that
as
well.
This
is
also
a
good
time
to
do
some
planting,
trees,
shrubs
and
even
your
flowering
perennials.
A
If
you
plant
those
in
the
fall,
their
root
systems
will
grow
most
of
the
winter,
allowing
that
plant
to
develop
a
good,
strong
root
system
before
spring
arrives
when
the
plant
has
to
start
producing
new
growth.
Now,
of
course,
you
want
to
water
those
plants
in
really
well
after
you
have
gotten
them
planted
and
check
them
a
couple
more
times.
This
fall
to
make
sure
they
don't
dry
out
and
water
them.
A
Well,
during
the
winter
months,
watering
usually
isn't
a
problem,
but
then
it's
really
easy
to
forget
those
plants
next
summer
so
do
remember
to
keep
these
plants
watered
next
summer
since
they're
not
going
to
be
well
established.
Yet
you
can
also
do
some
more
planting
this
time
of
year
with
things
like
pansies
and
the
ornamental
cabbages.
A
The
ornamental
cabbages
might
not
live
all
the
way
through
the
winter,
depending
on
how
cold
it
gets.
The
pansies,
however,
love
cold
weather
planting
them
in
the
fall.
They
will
grow
in
the
fall.
They'll
stay
out
here
all
winter
and
come
spring
they'll
put
on
a
nice
growth
spurt
and
they'll,
really
look
nice
well
into
the
early
part
of
summer.
A
Don't
forget,
though,
that
pansies
are
small
plants,
so
don't
be
too
skimpy
use
plenty
of
them
and
try
not
to
put
them
any
more
than
about
six
inches
apart
or
nobody's
ever
even
going
to
see
them
october
is
a
good
time
to
be
outside
working
in
your
yard.
If
you
have
additional
questions
about
your
fall,
gardening
activities
give
us
a
call
at
the
cooperative
extension
office.