Radio Show Recap
This Week in Your Lawn & Garden
- Keeping Bugs Out | Stinkbugs, Asian lady beetles, and other nuisance pests are attempting to move in where it’s warm! Protect your home by treating windows, door jambs, the garage door, and the perimeter of your home with Ortho® Home Defense.
- Feeding Evergreens | Anytime now through November is your window of opportunity to feed evergreens with Holly-tone® and Iron-tone®. Do not feed other types of plants, just evergreens.
- Protecting Trees from Deer | This is the time of year bucks begin rubbing tree trunks, causing severe damage in some cases. Protect young trees with a vinyl wrap, or spray a repellent like Plantskydd® in the area to keep them at bay. Wraps will also help protect younger tree trunks from winter sun scald.
- Getting Ready for Houseplants | After 1-2 light frosts in the coming weeks, it will be time to bring houseplants back inside. Treat their soil now with Bonide® Systemic Houseplant Insect Control granules, and spray the leaves with Neem Oil or Insecticidal Soap 3 times, 3 days apart before they are brought indoors.
- Lifting Summer Bulbs | Leave tender flowering bulbs like canna, dahlia, and gladiolus in the ground until a hard frost starts to shut them down in the next couple weeks. At that time, lift them gently, remove foliage & soil by hand, and place them on a table in the garage to dry and cure for 7-10 days. Do not wash. Pack in a box with dry peat, perlite, or vermiculite, and sprinkle with sulfur dust. Store in a cool, dark, dry place.
- Cutting Plants Back | Cut back perennials that are yellowing, and clear garden debris to prevent pests from overwintering. Leave standing ornamental grasses to enjoy winter interest and to provide seeds for birds. Avoid pruning trees & shrubs this time of year, so as not to trigger new growth in the plants as they’re going dormant for winter. Only prune the 3Ds (dead, damaged, or diseased branches).
- Caring for the Lawn | Fall is the best time to work on the lawn.
Lower the mower 1 notch every week, getting down to 1.5 inches by the first week of November. This helps prevent long, matted grass blades that lead to snow mold over winter. Use the mower to mulch leaves into the lawn for added nitrogen.
Feed existing lawns with Espoma® Organic Fall Winterizer or Scotts® Step 4 to add much-needed nutrients and a boost of potash that will support roots as we go into winter.
Address any remaining weeds you have now. Apply Weed Beater® Ultra to eliminate lawn weeds (doesn’t kill grass), and KillzAll® or Captain Jack’s® DeadWeed Brew to kill off garden bed weeds or pesky poa annua (these products are general herbicides, so be careful to protect desirable plants). Sprinkle Preen® to prevent new weeds from germinating this fall and taking hold over winter.