October in the garden means maintenance and cleanup

Feel the crisp air in the morning? October means it’s time to focus on maintenance and cleanup in the garden. The experts at OSU Extension have a list of to-dos to get your garden ready for winter.

Maintenance and cleanup:

• Recycle disease-free plant material and kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps into compost.
• Drain or blow out your irrigation system and insulate valve mechanisms in preparation of winter.
• Use newspaper or cardboard covered by mulch to discourage winter and spring annual weeds or remove a lawn area for conversion to garden beds. For conversion, work in the paper and mulch as organic matter once the lawn grass has died.
• Clean and paint greenhouses and cold frames for plant storage and winter growth.
• Harvest sunflower heads; use seed for bird feed or roast for personal use.
• Dig and store potatoes; keep in darkness, moderate humidity, temperature about 40 F. Discard unused potatoes if they sprout. Don’t use as seed potatoes for next year.
• Harvest and immediately dry filberts and walnuts at 95–100 F.
• Ripen green tomatoes indoors. Check often and discard rotting fruit.
• Harvest and store apples; keep at about 40 F with moderate humidity.
• Place mulch over roots of roses, azaleas, rhododendrons and berries for winter protection.
• Trim or stake bushy herbaceous perennials to prevent wind damage.
• To suppress future pest problems, clean up annual flower beds by removing diseased plant materials, overwintering areas for insect pests; mulch with manure or garden compost to feed the soil and suppress weeds.
• Cover asparagus and rhubarb beds with a mulch of manure or compost.
• Clean, sharpen and oil tools and equipment before storing for winter.
• Store garden supplies and fertilizers in a safe, dry place out of reach of children.
• Prune out dead fruiting canes in raspberries.

Planting and propagation:

• Dig and divide rhubarb. (Should be done about every 4 years.)
• Plant garlic for harvesting next summer.
• Propagate chrysanthemums, fuchsias and geraniums by stem cuttings.
• Save seeds from the vegetable and flower garden. Dry, date, label, and store in a cool and dry location.
• Plant ground covers, trees and shrubs.
• Dig and store geraniums, tuberous begonias, dahlias and gladiolas.
• Pot and store tulips and daffodils to force into early bloom, indoors, in December and January.