Gardening Tips For October

Do you envy the way your neighbor’s garden looks in early spring or summer? Chances are it’s because of the year-round care they give the garden.

• The night before season's first light frost is expected, cover sensitive plants with blankets, sheets or protective cloths. Remove protection the next morning. Hardier geraniums and roses may bloom for weeks after the first frosts. Mums, too, may change their color a bit but will keep on blooming.
  
  
• Keep gathering leaves. You can never have too much compost, mulch or organic matter in the soil.
  
  
• Plant late-season purchases of perennials or move and rearrange old ones to improve your planting plan. Group plants according to water needs as well as sun requirements.
  
  
• Dig up and bring a few geraniums indoors. They can be replanted in containers or stored hung upside down, bare root in a cool, dark location.
  
  
• Remember those poinsettias you brought inside? Put them in a room that receives no light at night or cover them with a large box after 5 p.m. Give them bright light during the daytime. They need these short days for 6 to 8 weeks in order to bloom for the holidays. This same procedure works to get a Christmas cactus to bloom.