Pima County Gardening Seasonal Reminder - October

• Warm-season flowering plants and vegetables (squash, melons and summer – not fall – harvested varieties of corn)
  can be removed to make room for cool-season ones. Consider adding them to your compost if not diseased.
• Do not perform major pruning on trees or shrubs unless plants are very leggy, unsafe or intruding on walkways. Protect newly-planted citrus from low temperatures.
• Prune roses lightly if you did not perform this task in September. Remove weak or spindly canes which are less than
  pencil-sized in thickness. The major annual rose pruning is recommended for mid-January to mid-February.
• Ensure you have frost cloth ready to avoid being caught off guard by a sudden freeze warning. Use it to protect coldsensitive plants. Be aware of your plants' frost sensitivity and how cold it gets in various parts of your yard to be
  prepared to cover them when necessary.
• When temperatures begin to dip, bring frost-sensitive potted succulents indoors, including all adeniums and
  pachypodiums, and certain euphorbias. Give them a sunny spot until nighttime temperatures reach the mid-50’s.
• Mulching (3 inches or more) helps your plants withstand the colder temperatures coming later in the month. Keep the
  mulch a few inches away from the trunks.
• Plan and implement hardscaping & water harvesting projects while the temperatures are cooler.
• If you notice powdery mildew, no treatment is recommended as it comes and goes as temperatures fall. If it’s on aged
  plants, remove and trash the plant (not compost it). Soft bodied pests indicate an annual plant is at the end of its life.
• Although turfgrasses are highly water-intensive, if you have them, overseed your Bermudagrass with annual rye or other
  winter grasses once the daytime temperatures are < 90 ⁰F and it is in the 60s overnight. Be sure to cut your
  Bermudagrass short before overseeding.

• Plant trees and shrubs of all types early in the month. Warm soil temperatures and cooler air
  temperatures combine to provide ideal conditions for the establishment of new landscape plants. Although it may
  seem counter-intuitive, trees in smaller 5-15-gallon containers will establish and grow faster. Select and plant trees –
  including citrus varieties - so that the top of the root ball is level with or slightly higher than the surrounding soil.
• Early in the month sow seeds outdoors (or plant starts) of vegetables such as arugula, beets, broccoli, carrots,
  brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, spinach, kale, lettuce, leeks, bok choy, and spinach.
• By mid-month, sow from seed vegetables and herbs such as cilantro, dill, Mexican oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary
  and thyme.
• Plant cool-season annual flowers now so that in Spring they will flower. Examples are petunias, penstemon,
  snapdragons, violets, alyssum, dianthus, and calendulas.
• Plant perennials such as Angelita and Blackfoot daisies, black dalea, desert mallow, evening primrose, germander,
  Mexican honeysuckle, penstemon species, red justicia, Russian sage, salvia species and verbena.
• Soil temperatures remain warm enough to plant or transplant cacti and succulents into the ground. Winter transplants
  experience delayed root growth due to cool soil.

• Fertilize roses of all varieties for the last time this calendar year.
• Fertilize new plantings of flowers and cool-season vegetables with a high-phosphorus mixture for root growth.
  Continue fertilizing your established flowers and vegetables.
• It is past time to do any citrus fertilization until the new year.

• Adjust your irrigation frequencies (not length of time) for October.
• For lawns, consider shifting your irrigation start/end times as it cools to more daylight hours to prevent fungal growth.
• If you brought potted succulents indoors to protect them, water these very sparingly during this time.
• Water newly planted native and desert adapted plants (not cacti or succulents) with a gradually less-frequent
  schedule.

Ten Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden

Selecting and Planting a Saguaro

How to Transplant a Cactus

Cactus, Agave, Yucca, and Ocotillo

Irrigating Citrus Trees

Overseeding Winter Grasses into Bermuda grass

Fertilizing Home Gardens in Arizona

Citrus Fertilization chart for Arizona

Efficient landscape watering

Landscape management practices for passive water harvesting

Harvesting rainwater

Container trees and shrubs

Training and pruning fruit trees

Planting and staking trees

For more information on any of these topics, search our database of Extension publications going back more than 100 years housed in the University of Arizona Campus Repository.