Written by: Jan Dash
August Through September
- Continue to control weeds in garden beds and lawns
- Mow lawns and mulch clippings
- Continue to water lawns; do an irrigation system efficiency check
- Overseed lawn bare spots
- Continue to water container plants, flower beds and vegetables
- Remain vigilant for insects on vegetables and herbs
- Harvest and preserve vegetables, fruits and herbs
- Build a cold frame to protect any cool season vegetables you plant
- Continue to add layers of material to compost bin, stir as needed
- Deadhead flowering plants to promote re-flowering
August
- Plant cool season vegetables such as spinach, kale, carrots, radishes, lettuce, chard, beets, turnips, bok choy, broccoli raab, mustard greens
- Remove seed heads from plants you don’t want to self-seed
- Evaluate the vegetable garden; note what to change, leave, or add next year
- Buy perennials on sale to fill in or expand flower beds
September
- Fertilize lawns for the last time
- Plant cool weather vegetables early in the month
- Prune and shape summer blooming shrubs
- Remove warm season annuals as they fade; plant fall blooming annuals (mums, pansies, ornamental kale)
- Plant trees and shrubs now, before the ground freezes
- Divide and transplant perennials if needed
- Cover tender plants with row cover if temperatures dip below freezing
- Consider moving tender herbs inside to overwinter
- Get out your birdfeeders and suet holders if you took them down in the spring
- Collect seeds from plants you want to propagate next year or donate to All Pueblo Grows Seed Lending Library
October
- Clean out vegetable beds; mulch or plant cover crops such as annual rye, clover, alfalfa, vetch
- Blow out and turn off sprinkler system; insulate outside hose bibs and faucets
- Remove rain barrels; clean, disinfect and put away until spring; reattach downspouts
- Clean and store bird baths if you aren’t leaving them out for winter use
- Mulch or rake leaves to cover planting beds 1.5 to 2 inches deep
- Core aerate lawns
- Plant spring flowering bulbs
- Divide and transplant perennials if not done in September
- Leave seedheads on ornamental grasses for winter interest and birds
- Create brush piles in out of the way parts of the yard as shelters for birds and wildlife using branches and leaves
November
- Water on days over 40 degrees, as needed
- Clean, sharpen and put away tools
- Wrap trunks of trees under 2 years old to protect from freeze damage
- Plant seeds needing cold stratification such as milkweed and larkspur
- Walk the yard to take stock of planting beds that might need to be reduced or expanded and if any shrubs and trees need to be planted or removed
- Start bulbs indoors for winter cheer (paperwhites, hyacinths, amaryllis)
December
- Water on days over 40 degrees, as needed
- Start planning for next year’s gardens!