Gardening Tips > September

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General Gardening Tips

• Fall is a great time to plant trees, shrubs, bulbs, perennials, grass seed and sod. Plants that are planted in the fall enjoy cooler temperatures and ideal growing conditions that allow roots ample time to grow into the surrounding soil. Beaver Bark Gift & Garden Center carries only the healthiest, most beautiful plants from the country's finest growers. Be sure to use Beaver Bark Starter Plant Food when planting.
• Plants and trees that provide color in the month of September include beautyberry, crape myrtles, cotoneaster, viburnums, hypericum, hydrangeas, potentilla, pyracantha and butterfly bush.
• There are lots of perennials with interest now including coreopsis, scabiosa and ornamental grasses.
• Add a touch of fall to your landscape by planting hardy mums now.
• Do not prune azaleas, rhododendrons and other spring flowering shrubs because they have already set their buds for next year's blooms. If you feel these shrubs do need to be pruned, however, you can prune them now, but you will sacrifice next spring flowers.
• Time to transplant peonies or divide them if you wish to multiply your plants.
• Spring blooming bulbs are in stock at Beaver Bark Gift & Garden Center. Purchase now for the best selection and plant them in October. Plant iris, tulips, crocus, daffodils and many others for glorious color next spring.
• Add a touch of fall to your home and landscape with hardy mums.
• Time to put away the beetle traps until next year.

Lawns

• September is the best month of the entire year to seed your lawn. This includes both seeding a new lawn and reseeding (overseeding) an established lawn to make it thicker and healthier.
• If you need to, you can lime, fertilize and seed your lawn all in the same day. Otherwise, seed and fertilize the same day and then lime later in the fall.
• If needed, fall is a great time to aerate and/or dethatch the lawn. If you decide to do one or both of these, they should be done prior to seeding.
• If you like, you can topdress the lawn with Orgro, an organic compost, to improve heavy compacted, clay soil. Topdressing can be used alone or along with aeration, seeding and fertilizing.
• If you do plan to aerate, dethatch or rototill (for total renovation), thoroughly soak the soil a day or two before you start your project or perform your project a day or two after a good rain.
• September is also a good time to apply a grub control to your lawn such as Dylox (or Milky Spore as a long-term control).
• Now is also a good time to control weeds growing in the lawn, however you cannot weed kill and seed the same day. If you choose to kill weeds in the lawn first, you must wait three weeks to seed your lawn. Or, if you seed first, you will need to wait until the new seed has germinated and been mowed at least twice before applying a weed killer.
• If you want to prevent winter annual weeds from germinating in the lawn, you can apply Portrait in September, but this would prevent you from seeding now. You will have to wait 60 days to seed, which means you would probably need to wait until spring to seed the lawn.

Tips on applying weed killer:

• Do not apply weed controls on newly seeded areas.
• Do not apply weed controls on windy days.
• Do not apply weed controls near or on the edge of waterways.
• Do not apply weed controls when temperatures are above 85 degrees F.
• Do not allow children or pets to play on lawns freshly applied with weed controls. Wait until weed control is dry if you applied a liquid weed killer. If you applied a granular weed control, wait one week.
• Always check the label of weed control products and follow the labeling instructions.

Feeding the Lawn

• Fall is the best time to feed your lawn with a good quality, slow-release lawn food, with at least two feedings between the months of September, October, November and December.

Seeding the Lawn

Seeding rates:
8 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. on new lawns.
4 lbs./1,000 sq. ft. when overseeding.

Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

• Time to continue with fall crops. You can still seed beets, radishes, turnips, and leaf lettuce.
• Merrifield has ready to go plants of cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collards and lettuce.
• Hinder deer repellent can be used on fruits and vegetables.
• Spray fall crops with Thuricide to protect them from cabbageworms.

Houseplants

• Time to bring houseplants back indoors. If needed, spray them first with one of the following products: Schultz Houseplant Spray, Safer Houseplant Spray or Ortho Rose & Flower Insect Killer. You can dust the soil with insecticide granules to prevent bringing in ants, wireworms, sow bugs, etc.
• Repot pot bound plants with Merrifield Potting Mix.
• Fertilize your houseplants with Jack's Classic, Peters Plant Food or Osmocote through November, and then stop feeding them until February.

Additional Information

For more information to help you garden more easily and successfully, stop into the garden center.