What Are October Garden Tasks?
Prime Time For Fall Planting
Fall is perfect for planting as daily temps create the ideal situation for new plants to get established. The warm soil and cooler air encourage strong root growth with less transplant stress. Try your hand at something new like garlic and shallots, plant a patch of color with California wildflowers, or add to your winter menu with a cool-season veggie. Maintenance tasks include planting cover crops, dividing overcrowded perennials, and checking in on your lawn before winter arrives.
Plant Edible Bulbs
October is the perfect time to plant garlic and shallots for a delicious harvest next spring and early summer. Tuck cloves and bulbs into well-drained soil in a sunny spot, with the pointed end facing up.
Feed Your Soil Naturally
October through November is the perfect time to sow cover crops in any garden bed that you won't be using to grow winter vegetables. Often called "green manure," cover crops like crimson clover, fava beans, peas, and vetch, improve soil structure, suppress weeds, reduce erosion, and add valuable organic matter and nitrogen to the soil.
Divide Perennials
Fall is the perfect time to divide and replant crowded perennials. Daylilies, bearded iris, salvia, yarrow, coreopsis, penstemon, and ornamental grasses, all benefit from a little extra space to grow. Dig, divide, and replant now to encourage healthier plants and more blooms next season.
Sow California Wildflowers
October is the perfect time to sow California native wildflowers such as California poppies, tidy tips, lupines, clarkia, baby blue eyes, and larkspur. Scatter seeds in a sunny spot and allow the winter rain to help them establish. A little effort now will reward you with a spectacular spring display that pollinators will love.
Roses Take Their Final Bow
October often brings one last spectacular flush of roses before winter arrives. Continue deadheading spent blooms, keep plants well watered during warm spells, and enjoy the season's grand floral finale before winter pruning season begins.
Cool-Season Veggie
October is prime planting season for a productive fall and winter vegetable garden. Set out transplants of broccoli, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, with many more options available. You can also sow seeds directly for carrots, radishes, arugula, parsley, sugar snap peas, and more!
Other Timely Tasks for October
- October is one of the most enjoyable months in the Sacramento Valley garden. Fall is for planting! Warm days in the upper 70s to low 80s and cool nights in the 50s, create conditions that are ideal for establishing new plants. Warm soil and cooler air encourage strong root growth with less transplant stress. With a potentially wet El Niño winter ahead, now is the perfect time to plant trees, shrubs, perennials, vegetables, bulbs, and wildflowers so they can take full advantage of winter rains and get a head start on spring.
- As temperatures cool and rains begin, gradually reduce irrigation to help prevent fungal diseases and conserve water. Apply a winter fertilizer like Jonathan Green® Winter Survival Fall Lawn Food to lawns and overseed thin fescue areas. Apply a pre-emergent herbicide to help prevent winter weeds such as annual bluegrass, chickweed, and oxalis.
- Before nighttime temperatures dip into the upper 40s, move tender plants indoors—like orchids, ficus, and philodendrons. Give each plant a thorough inspection for spider mites, mealybugs, scale, whiteflies, and aphids before bringing them inside. As days get shorter and growth slows, keep in mind that most houseplants need less frequent watering to stay happy and healthy all winter long.
