Garden Tasks by Month | October in Zone 5
Dear Garden Diary,
What can I say other than "Spectacular! Spectacular!"
Millions of leaves turning gorgeous shades of blood orange, scarlet, crimson & burnt umber.
Brightly coloured chrysanthemums and end of summer asters compete hastily with the flashy leaves and airy ornamental grasses for a piece of attention. Everywhere I turn, it is just simply stunning. I only wish this season lasted more than just three or four weeks.
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| A view of the side of our house in October. The changing leaves take center stage. |
Between trying to soak it all in and decorating the garden for Halloween, I look forward to my garden tasks now more than ever before.
Why?
Because raking leaves is my favourite thing to do. And after that, sitting out on a crisp, brisk evening and enjoying a cozy bonfire is sheer delight.
xoxo
Pia
What Tasks/ Chores to do in my Garden in October?
A Garden Maintenance Checklist for Zone 5
Leaf Collection
☐ Time to pull out the rakes and get started with raking up those fallen leaves. Bag them up for compost collection, but not before you've had a chance to jump in the big leaf pile!
Plant Spring Blooming Bulbs
☐ Now is the time to plant spring blooming bulbs like daffodils, tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, snowdrops, alliums etc. Check out my best bulbs to plant for a spring bloom.
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| One of my garden beds in April full of tulips. I plant tulip bulbs now in October, for them to bloom in April. |
Decorate with Dried Flowers & Leaves
☐ Decorating
with dried leaves, grasses and other botanicals is a great way to bring
the outdoors in and extend the autumn season a little longer. See a
couple of my arrangements and ideas.
☐ Dry flowers like hydrangeas and golden rods and use them to make Fall wreaths for yourself and the neighbours. See how I made my goldenrod wreath.
☐ Maples,
gingkos and oaks amongst other trees will start to turn color this
month. Dry leaves to create pretty Fall decor. See how I made an easy maple leaf garland and striking autumn leaf suncatchers for my windows.
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| One small way I bring the outdoors inside. A small vignette of stunning fall leaves arranged on my mantle. |
Decorate for Halloween
☐ Buy pots of brightly colored mums for the front steps and deck. Alternatively, just stick the entire pots into the garden beds to introduce pops of color.
☐Decorate for Halloween with mini haystacks, sheafs of corn, ornamental kale and cabbages and various pumpkins and gourds.
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| Happy pumpkins in the garden bed. |
Lawn Care
☐ Dethatch and Core Aeration
- This should ideally be done once a year. Schedule a core-aeration, if you didn't do it in Spring.
- It should be done when the grass is still actively growing and the weather is not overly wet.
- Do
the screwdriver test, to see if the lawn needs to be aerated. If you
cannot push a screwdriver easily into the lawn, the soil is overly
compacted and needs to be aerated.
Divide and Plant Perennials
Plan for next year
☐ Make rough sketches of the garden (empty spots, places to plant bulbs or move plants to) to help plan for next year.
Enjoy!
☐ Sit
outside as much as possible and enjoy the garden. This is a wonderful time to light an outdoor fire and enjoy cool, crisp, bug free evenings and watch the rising of humongous harvest moons.
☐ Take plenty of photos of the garden. Compare them over the years and in different seasons to see how the garden has progressed.