SEPTEMBER GARDEN TIPS
Landscaping done now will be well established next spring and summer.
Plant
-
Start all types of turf this month.
-
Replant liriope and mondograss to expand their plantings.
-
Wildflower seeds should be sown. Seeds sprout and plants establish in fall and winter,then bloom in spring.
-
Plant fall perennials - mums, etc.
-
Divide spring bulbs early in month and daylilies, iris, Shasta daisies, violets, coneflowers, oxalis, amaryllis and other spring and summer flowering perennials late in month.
Prune
- Shape shrubs if needed but save major pruning for late winter.
- Root-prune plants you intend to transplant this winter.
- Remove seedheads and browned foliage from perennials that have finished blooming.
Fertilize
- Spring flowering shrubs and vines benefit from high phosphate fertilizer to promote bud set this fall.
- Apply high-nitrogen fertilizer to turfgrass early in month for warm season types and late in month for cool season grasses.
- Treat for iron deficiency. Chlorotic plants will have yellowed leaves with dark green veins, most evident on the newest growth. Use a product that contains both iron and sulfur.
- Apply pre-emergent herbicides early in month to prevent germination of annual bluegrass, fescue grass, ryegrass, dandelions, henbit, chickweed and clover. Water lightly.
- Apply MSMA to eliminate competing grassy weeds (including St. Augustine) from Bermuda early in month.
- Treat poison ivy and other broad-leafed vines to kill them before they begin to go dormant.
- For new flower and vegetable beds in spring, spray now with glyphosate to kill existing weeds and grasses prior to frost.