October

Dig up, or cut back, tender bulbs like cannas, dahlias, and tuberose. 

My zone is warm enough that I don’t need to dig up these tender bulbs & rhizomes, but anyone further north than me probably does. As soon as the foliage dies back after the first frost, we cut ours back to the ground and cover them with a layer of mulch. In your zone, you may need to cut back the dead foliage and dig up the bulbs, then overwinter them in a shed, greenhouse or garage. 

Top up your compost pile. 

Tender summer vegetables have reached the end of their life. Place them in the compost now, along with dried leaves, the last batch of mown grass, straw or hay, dried corn stalks, and other autumnal refuse so your compost is well-rotted down by spring.  

Bring in pots & garden décor that can’t take hard freezes. 

Terra cotta, ceramic and some plastic will shatter or crack in hard freezes. If you can bring them in, it’ll save you the expense of having to replace them. 

Weed. 

The weeds got away from you. Of course they did — they’re evil. But now is the time to clear everything out to have a blank slate for spring.  

Prune roses. 

Roses are one of the only plants that benefit from a hard prune in the fall. Prune climbing roses, or other tender roses, back to about ten to twelve inches. They’ll send out verdant new growth in the spring. 

Plant garlic. 

Garlic needs a certain number of cold hours to properly bulb up, so the earlier in fall you plant garlic, the better off it will be. I target mine for October, but your plant time should be partially dependent on how cold your nights are.  

Succession plant fall & winter vegetables.

We begin planting fall and winter vegetables — like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, fava beans, carrots, turnips, beets and winter greens — in late August, and I’ll continue to do so into October. The earliest sown crops will begin to mature and ripen in early winter, while October-sown crops may not begin to mature until February and March. This succession sowing helps ensure that you have green foods in the “hungry gap” months of early spring: when the weather is warming and vegetables are growing, but not harvestable yet. Late-fall sown vegetables will mature precisely in time.

We protect our fall and winter vegetables with row covers, plastic sheeting, and cold frames. Different vegetables need different coverage, and some need none. We find that plastic sheeting and cold frames make the vegetables easier to harvest (no digging through wet, frozen ground) and the small amount of protection gives plants a slight edge that keeps them growing through the cold. We usually won’t cover our plants until December or January, when the truly cold and wet weather hits.

Manure your beds. 

As the garden comes to its slow-down period, it’s likely that at least some of your soil is left bare. Now is the time to put “hot” (i.e., fresh) manure on that ground — allowing it plenty of time over winter to rot down and be safe for planting in spring. 

Harvest and preserve. 

October brings the final big vegetable harvest of the year: pumpkins, winter squash, and sweet potatoes. All of these plants need to be seasoned for storage, which is a fancy way of saying that the plants are left to dry and create a thick skin. Place squash and pumpkins in full sun to do this. Place sweet potatoes in a dry, dark, relatively cool area. Once they’re well-seasoned, these vegetables are fine to store in baskets in a pantry or on shelves in a garage or basement. This is also the time of year that I typically bring in the last of my last sowing of beans. 

Bring tender plants inside. 

Before your first frost, bring in tender plants like succulents, pelargoniums, citrus trees and any tropical plants inside — either indoors or into a greenhouse or cold frame.  

Rake up and save fallen leaves.  

For the love of God, don’t throw them away. Mulch your beds, add them to your compost bins, or pile them to one side and leave them until spring — by which time they will have decomposed into leaf mould.  

Harvest or buy-in livestock feed.  

Harvest or buy-in hay for livestock winter feed. If you grow other feeds (oats, mangels, sunflower seeds, etc.), harvest, dry and store them properly. Be sure to choose pest-proof and weather-proof storage. Mice and rats can chew through plastic, and I’ve seen raccoons work latches. Smart little buggers. 

The green livestock feed you’re growing (or in my case, the weeds — like chickweed and sorrel — I allow to grow as green feed) would be ready for their first harvest about now. I pick them all back, leaving the roots, and they’ll regenerate in a few weeks. For larger animals, I would just allow them to feed directly on the pasture but move them out as soon as it’s cropped close to the ground to ensure the plants will regenerate throughout winter.