Why fall beats spring here
A tree planted in April has eight weeks before 95-degree days. A tree planted in October has until the following June, and it spends the whole winter growing roots while the top is dormant. The same goes for shrubs, perennials, groundcovers and cool-season vegetables. If you only do one big planting project a year, do it in fall.
September: lawn and prep
Put down a fall pre-emergent in the first half of September to stop henbit, chickweed and poa annua (the winter weeds that show up in February). Feed the lawn in early September — it is the most important feeding of the year for Bermuda and St. Augustine — and stop by the end of the month. Watch St. Augustine for brown patch as nights cool. Start amending beds with compost and expanded shale so they are ready.
October: plant everything
- Trees and shrubs — the whole tree yard is fair game. Live oaks, red oaks, cedar elms, Chinese pistache and crape myrtles, plus hollies and boxwood for structure.
- Perennials and natives — salvia, Turk's cap, black-eyed Susan, ornamental grasses. They will look modest now and huge by May.
- Mums for the porch now, pansies and violas once soil temperatures drop into the 45–70° range, usually mid-October on. Plant pansies 6–10 inches apart in full sun; they bloom all winter and explode in March.
- Spring bulbs — buy tulips and hyacinths now and chill them in the refrigerator 6–8 weeks before planting in December. Daffodils go straight in the ground in November.
- Vegetables — broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, kale, carrots, radishes and garlic (plant cloves in October or November for a June harvest).
November: bulbs, mulch and the last of the color
Plant daffodils, finish the pansies, and put a fresh 2–3 inches of mulch on every bed before the first freeze — mulch insulates roots the same way it shades them in summer. Pull summer annuals as they fade. Leaves are free mulch and compost; mow them into the lawn or pile them on beds.
Trees: plant them right
Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball but no deeper; the top of the root ball (the root flare, where the trunk widens) should sit at or slightly above ground level. Backfill with the soil you dug out — no amendments in the hole, or the roots will never leave it. Water in deeply, mulch 3 inches deep out to the drip line, keep mulch off the trunk, and stake only if it will not stand on its own. Then follow the tree watering schedule. The full step-by-step is in the tree planting guide.
And, of course, October means pumpkins
The Rockwall Pumpkin Patch opens at the nursery every October — grab a pumpkin and a live oak on the same trip.
Written by the Nursery Professionals at Landscape Source Nursery, 167 Ole West Lane, Rockwall. Questions? Call (469) 698-0037 or send us a note.