Late-October Garden To-Do List
Well, here we are at the date of the average first frost, but. . . the 10-day forecast looks balmy. ☀️ Are you in the, “yay! I’ll savor every day of tomato harvest I can get” camp? Or maybe you said goodbye to the summer garden weeks ago? The bees and butterflies are happy I still have zinnias and tulsi blooming, so I will let them feast as long as they want to.
Whether you are done with summer or still hanging on, there are still a few things to do in the garden.
Winding down: Read through the end of season checklist and see if you can get started on any of these chores yet. If you have a fall garden growing strong, you may space out these tasks over a few weeks.
Planting: as long as it’s warm, why not try another sowing of lettuce, radishes, spinach, carrots, kale, and arugula from seed? They will grow slowly, but a little fresh harvest in January is better than nothing IMO.
It’s garlic time! Place it in an area where you can leave it alone for 9 months. Read the full Grow Guide.
Other bulbs can be planted now for spring harvest: onion and shallot sets (they look line tiny bulbs) often do well when fall planted.
In the flower column, it’s time to add daffodils, tulips, alliums, snowdrops, and hyacinth to your flower beds. These are fun to plant in your containers too. Bury them 6” down underneath a planting of pansies and violas. You’ll have color all winter and then the bulbs will push up through the pansies to bloom in spring.
Harvest: We are seeing fresh fall-planted lettuce, arugula, and radishes ready to harvest in gardens all over town. Many kale plants are also putting on size and can be harvested from, especially as baby greens, which are extra tasty.
Cilantro, dill, parsley, and chives are looking great, too.
Keep harvesting your tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and okra.
If it feels like your tomatoes are taking forever to ripen, lean into it. It’s a great time to cook fried green tomatoes or make a green tomato relish.
Many gardens have lovely oregano, thyme, lemon balm, rosemary, and sage at the moment. A snip of fresh herbs in your eggs or salad is always a win.
Dig and cure your sweet potatoes.
Thinning: Thin root veggies to final spacing. Typical spacing is 1-2 inches for radishes and carrots and 3-4 inches for beets. Simply snip the unwanted seedlings at soil level with a pair of scissors.
We often recommend harvesting just the outer leaves of each lettuce plant, but if they are planted close together and getting fairly large, you can snip out some entire plants at soil level to give the remaining plants more room to bulk up. Same with kale or spinach of you planted them in bunches.
Pests: I have seen evidence of squirrels or chipmunks digging small holes in garden beds over the past couple of weeks. I suspect they are looking for water in the soil, or looking for a good spot to bury nuts. If they are disturbing your tiny seedlings, use a cloche to protect the plants. Keep an eye out for aphids (spray off with water) and caterpillars (spray affected plants weekly with BT).
Feed: If you haven’t yet added compost to your garden beds this fall, do that now. You can also add a layer of leaves to your beds to serve as insulation and to slowly break down and feed the soil over winter.
Journal: While it’s fresh in your mind, write down your reflections on the season. What tasted great? What do you want more or less of next year? And start shopping for next year’s garden journal. I’m kind of in love with this one. Or maybe this one. Can you tell I like planners?
