[Image: Croaton]As cool weather approaches, enjoy more time in the garden. Fall is an ideal time to plan next year’s garden.
A visit to the Fall Garden Show on October 18-19 at the New Orleans Botanical Garden in City Park will give you ideas for your landscape and garden projects. This annual event has plants for sale, educational programs, wonderful garden displays, a kid’s discovery area, and a scarecrow trail.
The Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans will be hosting an exhibit on “Vegetables in Your Garden…$$$ in your pocket.” Gardeners will find tips on saving money by growing their own healthy produce. Also, Master Gardeners will be selling hanging baskets of lettuce so you can have your own “Salad Bowl to Go.”
Please enjoy the information and tips that we share in the October GNO Gardener. Timely topics on digging caladiums, vegetable crops, and treating brown patch are offered to help you with your fall garden.
Happy Halloween!
The Flower Garden | The Edible Garden | The Healthy Garden | The Garden Shed
It’s time to:
-
Finish
digging up your caladiums by mid-October. Leave the foliage attached and lay them out to dry after brushing off any dirt. Store bulbs in a frost-free location in boxes, paper or net bags. If your bed is well drained and mulched, you may consider leaving the bulbs in the ground.
- Plant some cool-season bedding annuals: alyssum*, annual phlox, calendula*, dianthus, larkspur*, petunia, nicotiana, poppies*, snapdragon, sweet pea*and Virginia stock* (*direct seed). But it's still too early for pansies and violas, which are prone to fungus diseases that can cause root rot during hot, wet weather. Wait until November to introduce these fall favorites to your landscape.
- Overseed your lawn with annual or perennial rye this month or in November to keep your lawn green through the winter. Evenly spread about 10 pounds per 1000 square feet over a newly mowed lawn. Water every day or two if the weather is dry, and don't mow until you see the rye grass emerging.
- Begin planning which new trees and shrubs you want to add to your landscape. Prime planting season for hardy trees and shrubs begins in November and runs through March.
- Dig, divide and transplant perennials except those that are blooming now or will bloom in the fall.
- Plant new perennials, ground covers and hardy perennial vines now through early December.
- Start collecting leaves that begin to drop from deciduous trees. Store in plastic bags to use as mulch or add to your compost pile.
- Lightly fertilize bulbs now in active growth: Louisiana iris, calla and spider lily.
Early fall gardening tips from LSU AgCenter experts follow:
Ornamental Grasses Ideal For Low-Maintenance Landscapes. Ornamental grasses are an often-overlooked group of herbaceous perennials that thrive in our climate and will grow beautifully with minimal effort. [Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter]
Plan Color Scheme for Your Cool-season Landscape
October is a transitional month in Louisiana flower gardens. Many warm season annuals have finished or are finishing, and gardeners' thoughts are just beginning to turn to cool-season bedding plants for fall, winter and spring color. [Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter]
Gardening In Shade Can Be Enjoyable
When the proper plants are selected for shady areas, the results can be beautiful and enduring. [Dan Gill, LSU AgCenter]
Culture Calendar for Cool Season Grasses
The cultural activites for lawn care may be the same on warm-season and cool-season grasses, but they are often 180 degrees opposite in timing. This chart covers the entire state of Louisiana with its two cold hardiness zones. Recommended cultural activities in north vs. south Louisiana will vary by 2 to 4 weeks in when they start and end because of the start of spring and fall seasons. [Thomas Koske, LSU AgCenter]
It’s time to:
- Plant transplants of these vegetables: beets, broccoli (by mid-month), cabbage, carrots, cauliflower (by mid-month), celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, garlic toes, kale, kohlrabi, leaf and semiheading varieties of lettuce, leeks, mustard, onions, radishes, shallots, Swiss chard.
- Plant cool-season annual and perennial herbs: rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, French tarragon, chives, garlic chives, borage, burnet, cilantro, mints, lemon balm, lavender, catnip and dill.
Harvesting Your Garden Produce
Maturation processes occur in vegetables that permanently change their taste, appearance and quality if they are not harvested at the proper stage of maturity.[Thomas Koske, LSU AgCenter]
Newest Cultivars of Vegetable Crops
These NEW cultivars were some of those added to last year’s 2008 LSU AgCenter Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide. [Thomas Koske, LSU AgCenter]
Expected Vegetable Garden Yields
Expected yields from a good southern vegetable garden will vary, but estimates can help plan the planting scheme for the garden. [Thomas Koske, LSU AgCenter]
Gather more tips for your edible garden from the LSU AgCenter publication, Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide.
Fall Is for Football... and Brown Patch!
Fall is the time to treat for brown patch, the most common disease on warm-season turfgrasses.[Donald Ferrin, LSU AgCenter]
Soil - The Foundation of Healthy Plants
A wide variety of soil types are in Louisiana. Talk to your parish county agent about what the soil is like where you live. A soil test, available through your parish LSU AgCenter Extension office, will tell you a lot about the type of soil(s) your site has. [Bobby Fletcher, Jr., LSU AgCenter]
Plow in Fall, Not Spring
Gardeners often wonder whether plowing or tilling should be done in the spring or late fall, but LSU AgCenter horticulturist Dr. Thomas Koske says working the soil in late fall has several advantages over the traditional spring plowing. [Dr. Thomas Koske, LSU AgCenter]
Choose Leaf Blowers Carefully, Use Them Safely
With fall comes yard and garden cleanup – especially leaves. For many homeowners, a leaf blower can be an efficient and effective grounds maintenance tool, according to Dr. Dick Parish, an engineer at the LSU AgCenter’s Hammond Research Station. [Richard Parish, LSU AgCenter]
Support our local Farmer's Markets. There are several good ones in our area:
- Crescent City Farmer's Market
Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Uptown Square, 200 Broadway
Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon
Downtown 700 Magazine Street at Girod
- Gretna Farmer's Market
Every Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Huey P. Long Avenue between 3rd and 4th Streets in Gretna
- Upper 9th Ward Farmer's Market
Every Saturday
1 pm - 4 pm
3500 St Claude ("Holy Angels")
482- 5722
Plant Sale – Fall Garden Show
New Orleans Botanical Garden October 18-19, 2008
10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Shop unusual and native plants thoughout the Botanical Garden and Garden Show. Admission is $6 adults, $2 children 5-12, free for children under 5 and Friends of City Park.
Landscaping 101: Plant placement in the Landscape
Wednesday, October 22 7:00 p.m.
The lecture will focus on the proper knowledge in plant placement with considerations towards plant size, light requirements, soil conditions and plant species compatibility for optimal plant growth. Regan Contois is a registered landscape architect who has worked on many commercial, residential and public park projects. Admission is $10. For more information, call (504) 483-9386. More educational events at the NOBG.
We know what it means to garden in Orleans ... Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard too!
Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans
Serving Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes