Alas!

 

October 2022

Pickaway to Garden

 

Alas!

By Paul Hang

 

A poet once wrote, “Autumn is in the air. Alas!” Alas? It is the only season with two names and each summons slightly different emotional reactions in me. Autumn refers to a period after vigorous activity and before decline. A melancholy and sad reference to the resignation that some things, summer, youth, (gardening?) are over. Fall on the other hand is the obvious reference to the color changing and falling leaves. October is definitely autumn, or fall. Take your pick. The month has a dual nature.

 

A list of signs that October has arrived sends me on a roller coaster of feelings.  What reactions do they have for you? Signs such as: buckeye nuts on the ground and in the stands at “The Shoe,” other nuts like hickory, walnuts and political candidates with their ubiquitous ads, signs and debates. Doughnuts and apple cider, apples, pears, pumpkins, gourds and squash, persimmons and paw paws. Harvesting of corn and beans, raking leaves. Hot chocolate and marshmallows, goldenrod and asters. Blue jays and wood smoke returning to the neighborhood. I’m sure you can think of others. The month’s biggest holiday Halloween arrives with its witches, ghosts, ghouls, owls, bats and spiders and their blowup look- a-likes, and don’t forget the trick or treating goblins gobbling up enough of your sugar to drive their parents mad.

 

Sure, the days are getting windy, shorter, and colder, frost and even snow are likely before the month is out. The green is fading and turning to brown. We are reminded of growing older as the year winds down and winter approaches. Once the trees lose their leaves they can take on an ominous and even spooky appearance especially with the backdrop of a moonlit crisp night sky. And then, there is Indian summer!

 

October seems contradictory. It conjures up moods of sadness and happiness. Why be sad? I don’t know about you but sometimes I am relieved when the gardening season winds down. We need a respite. Rather than be melancholy I am glad to take a break. Enough of being buffeted about with these conflicting emotions for there are things to do in the garden, or not.

 

Things to do in the garden:

 

Hot caps and covers should be made handy in case a frost or freeze is forecast. Remember that the coldest temperature usually comes a little after sunrise. The earth radiates heat away and the sun hasn’t climbed high enough to begin heating us. If you can protect your plants now, a couple more weeks of warmth is likely to follow, with more vegetables and flowers to harvest. Average first frost for south central Ohio is October 23.

 

Bring in the houseplants. Make sure you don’t bring in any bugs with them; a good blast of water from your hose can wash most of them off. Bring the pots into a sheltered spot for a week or so to help the plants acclimate before shocking them with the warmer temperatures of your home. Look up how to overwinter geraniums, begonias, coleus and other summer bloomers.

 

In October, and even into early November, you can plant garlic and shallots. Cloves from store-bought garlic may not work as some are treated to delay sprouting. You can also order favorite varieties from seed catalogs. Separate the cloves and plant 4 inches apart. They will sprout a few inches and take off in spring.

 

Dahlias, glads, tuberous begonias and cannas should be dug and stored in a cool dry place. Most basements are too warm. Caladiums, on the other hand, should be stored at 65 - 70 degrees. Go to ohioline.osu.edu and bring up Factsheet HYG-1244-92 to get specific information on storing Summer Flowering Bulbs.

 

You can still divide day lilies and iris. Cut back the iris leaves to four-inch fans. Stop feeding your roses but don’t stop giving them water. Consider cutting back your roses halfway if they stop blooming. If you have dormant roses you can still plant them. Spring bulbs can be planted as soon as you get them. Plant them at a depth three times their length; place some bulb food in the hole with them. For a better display plant them in odd numbered groups, not single file. For more impact, plant them in a triangular shaped group with a point facing the spot from where they will be viewed.

 

If you planted trees this year (it is still a good time, until the ground freezes) protect the trunks from gnawing rabbits and other varmints with hardware cloth or the plastic wrap made for this purpose. Even older trees can benefit from this if you’ve experienced this damage in the past. Research the variety you want to plant. Some trees including evergreens are best planted in the spring.

 

It is still the best time to fertilize your lawn. Use a high nitrogen soluble product. You can still sow grass seed. Leave seed heads of native coneflowers and Black-eyed Susans for the birds. Also leave stems for overwintering insects. You can put off most cleanups (but not in the vegetable garden) until next spring! Add mulch around perennials after the ground freezes, assuming it will.

 

You can do soil tests now and apply the recommended amendments so they can be working their way into the soil before spring. Contact the OSU Extension office for instructions and bags for samples. The office can also be contacted with your gardening questions at 740-474-7534.