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Plant

· It is time to prepare for the fall garden. Young vegetable plants grow better and produce more, if they’ve been growing in the garden for at least one month before the first hard freeze. The beginning of September is when you start cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, rutabaga and cauliflower seeds in flats. It takes about 6 weeks to get a nice sized transplant from seed and October 15 (planting date) is only six weeks away. Some fall vegetables such as beets, carrots, mustard, lettuce, radishes and greens do not transplant well.

· By this month about all that is left in most vegetable gardens are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra and sweet potatoes. Remove all the old spent vegetables like beans, squash, cucumber vines and cornstalks. Time to clear the way for the fall crop of onions, carrots, leaf lettuces, radishes, mustards, turnips, spinach, kale and other "sallet patch" greens. Sow these as early in the month as you can (for the onions, of course, you will use onion sets or plants).

· Peas can be planted now for spring harvest.

· Plant new strawberry plants at the end of the month.

· Now is a good time to remove old flower stalks, blooms, and bedding plants that no longer look their best and replace them with the fall bedding plants. There are new fall pansies and violas, many choices and types of the flowering kale and cabbage.

· Perennial phlox should be divided about every third or fourth year. Early fall and early spring are the best times to plant and transplant them. Divide big clumps into thirds.

· Garden centers are full of interesting cultivars now, and it’s the perfect time to plant them. Fall-planted specimens will out-perform their spring-planted counterparts for at least the next two seasons. That’s because root development is favored during the first winter.

· Start looking for bulbs at local nurseries. Don’t plant these until after the winter rains cool the soil. Store indoors, or where temperature is cool.

· Spring-flowering bulbs can be divided and replanted. Daffodils will be the bulbs most likely to need this consideration.

· Set out new chrysanthemum plants.

· Groundcovers will become well- established if planted now.

· Transplant any evergreen trees or shrubs that need moving.

· Tall fescue lawns should be seeded. Remember to mulch the newly seeded areas with wheat or barley straw.

· Lawns that suffered dieback from drought, chinch bugs or disease can be safely sodded now.

Fertilize

· Fall is also a good time to test your soil, especially to determine the pH which tells you the acidity of the soil. Strongly acidic soils are corrected with an application of lime. Keep in mind that it takes a few months for the lime to react with your soil, and that you may need to reapply lime every few years.

· Another helpful lawn amendment is a layer of compost. This will replenish lost nutrients and rebuild the soil’s organic matter, improving its capacity to hold moisture.

· Now is the time to fertilize and lime your tall fescue according to the soil samples. Do NOT fertilize warm season grasses.

Prune

· Prune growing tips of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants and squash. Keep harvesting regularly to channel energy to the less mature fruits.

· This is NOT a good time to prune trees and shrubs because pruning will stimulate new growth. That new growth will not have enough time to harden before it turns cold.

· Any dead or diseased wood can be pruned out anytime of the year.

Water

· The effects of the summer drought may just now be showing up on large trees. Watch for discoloration, drying, dieback, and premature leaf-fall as signs that the tree is being affected. Use a watering spike placed intermittently around the perimeter of the tree’s roots or coil a long soaker hose in concentric rings around the base of the plant radiating out with the rings until you reach the edge of the leaf canopy. Turn on the water and water thoroughly and deeply.

· Pay particular attention to supplying adequate water to those trees that were newly planted this spring.

· Gardens and lawns lose about an inch of water per week, more if it is unseasonably warm. Water to replace those losses.

· It’s more critical than ever to water in early morning in order to discourage fungal diseases that could gain a foothold in foliage left wet overnight.

Pest Control

· Pesticides should be used sparingly! Use only when needed and always follow the label instructions.

· Insects and diseases can be more severe in the autumn, keep a close eye on your fall vegetables.

· Spray the following landscape shrubs for the following insect pests: arborvitae, hemlock and juniper (spider mites), azalea and pyracantha (lace bug) and euonymus (scale).

· Peach tree trunks should be sprayed to eliminate peach tree borers.

· Continue with rose spray program.

· Examine your flower, groundcover and shrub beds for seedlings of privet, trumpet creeper, Bermudagrass, sweetgum, hackberry, oaks, elms, maple, blackberry, sedges and other unwanted weeds. If they are already well-established, wait for soaking rains to soften the ground when they’ll be a little easier to pull. A pair of pliers may also help get woody plants out of the ground.

· Did you have weeds last spring before the grass started growing? These would have been cool-season weeds which germinated last fall. A pre-emergence herbicide (weed preventer) applied now will help reduce the recurrence of the same weeds next spring (unless they are perennials like dandelions). Avoid pre-emergent herbicide applications on newly- planted, weakened grass or in dense shade or newly-seeded wildflower plantings.

· Homeowners can continue to apply an insecticide for lawn grubs in early September, if not done in August.

· The hot, dry weather could encourage chinch bugs which can turn St. Augustine into what looks like a drought-stricken lawn.

· The trunks of dogwoods, flowering cherries, crabapples, flowering peaches, and flowering plums are easily damaged by the overzealous weed-eater operator. Even the slightest damage may make an entrance for borers or other damaging insects. All trees in the landscape are susceptible to this type of damage. One way to avoid this is to apply a layer of mulch around the base of all trees. This eliminates the need for weed trimming around the base, conserves moisture and looks nice.

· Bait for slugs and snails now, during mating season, for fewer problems next year.

Odd Jobs

· A good way to spend some of your time this time of the year is to observe and write notes on how your plants performed. Take the time to jot down your observations. How much sunlight are the flowerbeds getting? Did the plants seem happy and bloom well in their present location? Were the flower colors complimentary to the house or did they create visual chaos? Keeping a journal, even if you only write in it weekly, will help guide your plant choices next year. The placement of colorful, annual flowerbeds will change as your permanent landscape plants mature.

· Photograph your gardens and containers for a record of the year’s triumphs and frustrations.

· Flowering crabapples’ fruit will be ripening. The larger fruited varieties are spectacular in the fall. You can also make delicious jelly from them. Use these fruits as the pectin or "jellying agent" for other jellies, jams and butters.

· It is a good idea to pick pears before they fall to the ground. If you wait until the fruit hits the ground, you have to contend with the yellow jackets and wasps congregating on the fallen bruised fruit. Picking before the pears are completely ripe is fine, as pears will continue to ripen inside, if left out of the refrigerator.

· The secret of good Christmas cactus flower bud production involves temperature and dark (photoperiod) control. To flower plants need bright light, night temperatures between 55 and 65°F and long nights - 13 hours or more of continuous darkness each day is required before flowering will occur. Long nights should be started about the middle of September and continued for eight weeks.

· Mark trees in the woods to be transplanted next March.

· Clean up and put away unused gardening equipment so it will be ready for the spring.

· Destroy any dead vegetable plants by chopping, burning, or plowing under.

· Late in the month prepare houseplants to reenter your home. Bring them inside a little each day and rid them of insect pests.

· Look for spring flowering bulbs to plant in October.

· You can get last year’s poinsettia to flower by placing it in total uninterrupted darkness for 15 hours a day, starting the last week of the month and continuing through Thanksgiving. Do NOT leave in darkness all day.

· Refurbish mulch to control weeds.

· Turn your compost pile again before the fall leaves start coming in.

· Harvest herbs and dry them in a cool, dry place.

· Cleanup under your fruit trees. Pickup or mow over the bad and overripe fruit that has dropped and is unusable. Cut off any branches broken due to over-loading with fruit. The pruning cut should be smooth and flush with an adjoining limb.

· Pick up dead limbs and mow more often under your pecan trees. This will make picking up the nuts much easier. If you have a bumper crop, you might consider shaking the trees for one easy weekend of picking.

· Take cuttings to overwinter indoors.

· Cure winter squash for storage. Place in a cool, sheltered shady spot for about one month.

· If you enjoy growing wild flowers, collect seed for your garden from summer bloomers for sowing next spring. Take Darwin’s advice and choose those that flourished in your garden. Also, save seeds from favorite self-pollinating, non-hybrid garden flowers such as marigolds, cosmos, gomphrena, coneflower, coreopsis, Rudbeckia and zinnias by allowing the flower heads to mature. Lay seeds on newspaper, turning often to dry; then store in glass jars or envelopes in a cool (40 to 50° F), dry, dark place.