October 7 2006 Timely Tips

GARDENING CALENDAR

TEXAS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION

BEXAR COUNTY

BY DAVID RODRIGUEZ

October 7, 2006

  • Bulb planting should be going on now. If your nursery does not sell pre-chilled tulips, you will need to chill them. Place them in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator, not the freezer, for four to six weeks. Other bulbs will not require this treatment.
  • For beautiful fall color trees in your landscape, consider planting Chinese Pistache, Chinkapin Oak, Texas Red Oak, and Sierra Red Oak. These trees are long lived, hardy, and will provide you shade during the hot summer.
  • Brown patch may show up in your lawn during the fall. If you have brown circular patches, treat them as soon as possible. This is a fungus, so avoid walking through the patches because you can track the fungus into other parts of the lawn. Consider applying a fungicide such as: F-Stop, Turficide or FungAway to the brown patches.
  • This is an excellent time to plant shrubs and trees. There may be specials on container grown plants at nurseries in October so watch for them.
  • Perennials which are overcrowded can be divided and transplanted this month. If the flowerbed looks good, you don’t need to disturb it. Fertilize now with a 6-2-4 or 4-2-3 analysis.

David Rodriguez is County Extension Agent-Horticulture with Texas Cooperative Extension in Bexar County. For more information, call the Master Gardener “Hotline” (210) 467-6575 or visit our County Extension website at http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu

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