Because Life Should Be Beautiful

Gardening Tips

Flowers:

  • Root cuttings of favorite summer annual to winter-over indoors.
  • Plant pansies, adding compost and fertilizer to the bed.
  • Divide and transplant spring perennials.
  • Dig up tender summer bulbs, dry them for a week, then store them in peat moss in a dry location protected from freezing.
  • Fertilize azaleas and camellias by mid-October, if needed.
  • Add more mulch to beds if necessary. Fallen leaves make great mulch.
Trees:
  • Plant container and balled and burlapped plants - cooler temperatures will make it less stressful for plants to establish roots.
  • Transplant evergreens, making sure roots are kept moist.
Lawns:
  • Plant cool season grass when daytime temperatures average 70 degrees and nighttime temperatures average 50 degrees.
  • Water warm season grasses until they go dormant.
Edibles:
  • Plant onion sets now until mid-November.
  • Harvest sweet potatoes before the first frost.
  • Cultivate the top few inches of soil to interrupt the life cycle of insects that over winter in the ground.
Tips of the month are provided by the South Carolina Midlands Master Gardener Association.  For more information on this association please visit their website at http://www.scmmga.org/