Weekly Garden Tip

October 1, 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

This time of year usually brings increased activity for gardeners. We’re now approaching the end of our rainy season and you may have to watch plants on a more regular schedule to insure that they don’t suffer from moisture stress. Also it’s a time of year that people start thinking about fall and winter bedding plants and if you’re into vegetable gardening most of our vegetable gardens are started this time of year as well.

Activities in the landscape such as trimming back plants and installing new ones also goes on at a high level this time of year and if you’ve visited any of our retail garden centers in recent weeks you’ll notice that they have an abundance of plants.

Also in the landscape weed control and general maintenance activities should be completed soon so you don’t have a lot of that to worry about during the winter season when there’s a lot of other activities you’d rather do than working in the landscape.

If you’re having problems with weeds in flower beds, you can use weed killers that are non selective to spot treat weeds if you’re careful not to get any splashed on desirable plants or you can hand pull the weeds and then install a 2 to 3 inch mulch layer to insure that weeds don’t start back up again within a short period of time.

Landscapes that have a lot of plants that are not as dark green and healthy as they should be would benefit from being fertilized and generally your fall fertilization takes place in October or early November. Use good quality fertilizers and irrigate following fertilizing to get the fertilizer into the soil where the roots can absorb it.

Insect activity might still be around in large enough amounts to cause concern especially on small plants. Inspect the landscaping on a weekly basis and look for pests of any type and if any are showing up in large numbers identify the problem pest and then decide on a control program if needed.

There are many types of plants in the landscape that have few if any problems, but others seem to draw pests like a magnet and you always have to be watching them to safeguard them from being eaten up or having leaves damaged by sucking pests.

This time of year because of lower temperatures does make it a little bit more comfortable to be working outside if you enjoy doing that, however, with the days getting shorter you don’t have as much time in the evening to do gardening activities as you did earlier in the year.

If you have landscape questions or problems that arise that aren’t easily identified, you can get some free advice anytime from the Palm Beach County Extension Service. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.