Monthly Gardening Tips

MONTHLY GARDENING TIPS SEPTEMBER FOR FRESH COLOR FOR THE EDIBLE GARDEN It’s almost time to plant spring flowering bulbs! It’s harvest time! • A wide selection of daffodils, tulips, and crocus will reward • Pick winter squash when the spot touching the ground you with early spring color. changes from white to a cream or gold color. • Be sure to use G&B Soil Building Conditioner and bone • Dig potatoes, onions, and garlic when the tops die down; meal or bulb food at planting time. store in a cool, dark location. • Bulbs also make great additions to your fall/winter container • Apply mulch to carrots, parsnips, and beets for winter plantings with winter pansies or violas planted over the top. harvesting; use G&B Soil Building Conditioner. • Bulbs should be arriving at our garden centers the first or Continue to plant cover crops in the vegetable garden as second week of September and can be planted as late as space opens up. Cover crops are beneficial because they: Thanksgiving, but October is the best month for planting. • Compete with weeds • Improve the soil while they are growing • FOR THE LAWN & LANDSCAPE Add nutrition when they are turned under in early spring Edibles to plant this month: garlic (bulbs), radishes, spinach, Start a new lawn or over-seed patchy ones now kale, chard, lettuce, mustard greens through mid-October. It’s also prime time to aerate and repair existing lawns. Seed a new lawn with 7–10 pounds of seed per 1000 square feet; use half this amount if over-seeding. • G&B Organic Lawn Fertilizer, lime, Soil Building Conditioner, FOR THE INDOORS grass seed (sun, shade or sun/shade blend) Houseplant care: Divide and conquer: Dig up and split large patches of iris, • Clean the foliage, check for insects, spray, repot, and peonies, daylilies, and other spring blooming perennials. fertilize, if necessary. • Bring houseplants indoors if they have been outside. • Use a sharp spade or cultivation fork to dig. • This is the last “active” growing month for indoor plants • Use a pruning saw or Hori Hori knife to divide the clump. before they begin to go dormant for winter and the last • Replant with Malibu Compost and G&B Starter Fertilizer. chance for repotting, etc. for the year. As weather cools and regular rains return, plant or transplant If you have kept an amaryllis from last year: trees, shrubs and perennials for a jump-start on spring. • Stop watering it now and allow it to go dormant for 4–6 • Use G&B Starter Fertilizer when planting/transplanting. weeks in a basement, shed, or garage. • Water in with Root Master B-1 or Malibu Bu’s Brew Compost • Then, repot it and bring it back into a warm, bright room to Tea to help quickly establish a healthy root system and re-bloom this winter. boost microbe levels in the soil.

JUST FOR FUN IN THE GARDEN SHED Take cuttings from maturing outdoor herbs to grow Pro-active pest control can greatly improve your indoors during winter (also works with Coleus). garden’s productivity: • Try cutting several 2 to 4-inch long stems from rosemary, • Control slugs now to reduce your garden’s breeding basil, thyme, and sage—place in water for a few weeks population. Use bait traps or non-toxic Sluggo, Sluggo Plus, indoors while new roots grow. or Bonide Slug Magic. • Once small root mass has formed, gently transplant into • Apply beneficial nematodes to rhododendrons and azaleas container with G&B Potting Soil. suffering from root weevil damage; if unsure, bring a leaf • Supplement with artificial grow lights if plants begin to sample to the garden center for diagnosis. yellow or do poorly.