October Gardening — Part 1

Mid-October has brought us cooler days and nights and the pleasure of the change of seasons. Here are some suggestions for things to do in the yard and garden during the rest of this fine month. 

Cool weather reminds us that tomato vines cannot tolerate freezing temperatures. Follow these tips to harvest and store green tomatoes:

• Leave fruit on the vines up to the last week before a frost is imminent. The average date of the first frost in Atlanta is November 13th; in Tifton, it is November 21st; here in middle Georgia it is somewhere between these two dates.
• After picking, remove stems and soil. 
• Sort out fruit that have a bit of pink showing around the stem. These will ripen quickly on a sunny window sill.
• Select remaining green fruit that have reached mature size and turned whitish-green.
• Wrap individual tomatoes in sheets of newspaper or paper towels. Place gently in a cardboard box in your basement or in a cool room.
• Green tomatoes will ripen slowly in this type of storage. Check often for signs of rotting. 
• For best flavor, remove from the box and place in a warm window a few days before you need them. For any leftover fruit, find a good fried green tomato recipe. 

For you fruit growers, rake out and replace all the mulch and dead leaves under peach, pear, apple, and crabapple trees. In doing so, you will help prevent diseases on next year’s leaves. 

Clean all the old vines from tomato cages before putting them away for the winter. Some pests have the ability to overwinter in plant debris such as vines, stems, and leaves. 

Plant some flowering cabbage and kale, dianthus, parsley, and snapdragons when daytime temperatures fall into the 80’s or 70’s consistently. Cabbage and kale will provide excellent color in your landscape, especially once the night temperatures fall into the 40’s and below. These lower temps cause their color to greatly intensify. Dianthus is a reliable and profuse bloomer in the fall and will most likely survive the winter and shine again in the spring. Snapdragons will do likewise. Parsley is a hardy and cheerful companion to all of the above and to the pansies and violas you may have already planted. Try some!

Now is an excellent time for soil testing. As I stated in a recent article, autumn is a good time to take soil samples in your lawn and garden and to apply lime if the recommendations call for it. A soil test will measure the acidity or alkalinity of the soil and the levels of the major elements needed for plant growth: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and others. It takes time to alter the chemistry of the soil. Now is the time to begin the process. 

If you have an amaryllis plant outside, now is the time to dig it up if you wish to force it into bloom. Remove the leaves after they dry down and store the bulb in a cool, dry place. Repot and water around Thanksgiving for a striking indoor Christmas presentation.

Dig, divide, and replant perennials such as daylilies, Shasta daisies, irises, Black-eyed Susans, achillea, coreopsis, etc. now.  

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was born and raised. He can be reached at (478) 954-1507 and timlewis1@windstream.net.