October, 2024
Fall Color
Do you want to add a dab of fall color to your containers or garden? Here are a few suggestions for you. Lettuce, parsley, Bright Lights Swiss chard and some of the mustard varieties are good choices for containers. We will also have flowering cabbage and flowering kale too.
Pansies
It’s pansy time! We already have some at the nursery but there is more coming. Pansies do well in the cool winter months. When planted in autumn they will last until April or May depending on the weather.
Plant them in full sun to part shade in well drained soil. Apply a mild fertilizer when planting and about every four to 5 weeks in spring. Pansies do best when the night temperatures are below 65 degrees. They do not like to be in constantly wet conditions. They have few pest problems but slugs and snails love them so you may have to control them from time to time.
Pansies and violas come in many colors. Some with faces and some solid colors. There is also a variety called Freefall and one called Cool Wave that are trailing! Pansies can withstand temperatures in the single digits and freeze solid then bounce right back with blooms when they thaw out.
Snapdragons
Snapdragons should also be fall planted here in the south. If the plant has a flower, break off the flower before you plant. This causes the plant to side branch creating a much fuller plant with lots of blooms. They come in almost every color but blue.
Snapdragons do their best when planted in full sun but can tolerate some light shade especially in the afternoon. Fertilize about every six weeks with an all purpose fertilizer.
Just a note all parts of the snapdragon plant are considered safe for dogs, cats and horses. While they are considered safe for humans you wouldn’t want to be using them to make a tea or for herbal medicine.
Try Growing Something Different for Fall! by Sue Whitfield
Nothing screams fall like the ubiquitous round yellow mum and the orange pumpkin but there can be so much more to the fall garden! There’s grasses to consider such as Hameln fountain grass or plants with interesting foliage such a tractor seat lingularia. Blooms don’t have to be yellow, orange and bronze! Let’s take a look at what is blooming today, October 1!
Japanese Anemone is a carefree perennial that grows to 2 feet tall and prefers part shade but tolerates morning sun. It spreads neatly in the garden once established. The seed heads are entertaining, reminding me of something one might see growing on the ocean floor or an oblong boll of cotton with poppy seeds sprinkled inside.
Confederate Rose is the quintessential pass along plant! Easy to root by taking spring cuttings. Not a rose,but is actually in the Hibiscus family. Dies to the ground in winter but quick to jump back up in the spring. Can get as tall as 6-12 feet so best for the back of the border or as a specimen plant. I once caught a glimpse of 3 mature specimens planted in a triangle on top of a hill in someone’s front yard. Covered in bright pink blossoms that resemble the tissue paper flowers we made as children, that was definitely a show stopping sight! Full sun/part shade.
Most people are familiar with Camellia Japonica which blooms in the winter months preferring shade, but its relative Camellia Sasanqua blooms well in the sun. Bloom time is lengthy with different varieties flushing out at different times during the fall and winter. They come in several amazing colors with some varieties having single petals and other’s with multiple petals. Can get 6-14 feet tall, 5-7 feet wide.
Camellia Sinensis is a third variety of camellia. If you don’t have this in your garden you need to because it so unusual! With buds reminiscent of stud pearl earrings and blooms resembling tiny goose neck lanterns, this guy will light up your next dusk football party if planted near your patio or deck. Here comes the piece that many people may not know, the leaves of this camellia are where your tea comes from! Who knew tea comes from a Camellia of all things! Full sun/ part shade. Can grow to 10-15 feet but can keep trimmed to 6-8 feet.
So there are some fun choices for interest now to serve as the prelude to our traditional fall foliage that we anxiously await every year! What am I gonna try new this year? Something different for a trellis or arbor. I’m going to give Climbing Aster a go. Airy, fragrant lavender pink blooms! Can’t wait for the show! Happy fall ya’ll!
Fall Planting
Fall is an excellent time to plant trees and shrubs as well as perennials. The cooler temperatures and more abundant rainfall helps to develop a stronger root system and gives a jump start on spring. Plant your trees and shrubs in a hole twice as wide as the container and only as deep as the plant was in the container. It is always good to add a little compost or Black Kow to mix with the existing soil. Remember to water in your plant to remove all air pockets. If there is no rain for awhile you will have to water.
Don’t forget about the vegetable garden. The fall garden is actually my favorite. You can grow kale, Swiss chard, broccoli as well as many other vegetables that can be planted in the fall. Lettuces can be direct seeded into the garden but try to sow seed for lettuce about every 10 days to lengthen your harvest. It is best to direct seed beets and carrots as well as turnips for turnip greens.
Fall is is good time to add to the herb garden too. Parsley grows well in the cooler months and stays green all winter.
Rotate your crops to a new location. This helps prevent the build up of pathogens and pests when one species is grown continually in the same area.
Muscadines
What can you do with all those muscadines? Well, you could make jam or you could make wine but how about something a little different to add to your receipe box. Why not make a muscadine pie or muscadine cobbler. Here is my recipe for a Muscadine Pie.
3 pounds (approximately 2 quarts) of bronze or purple muscadines
1 Cup Sugar
3/4 cup Cornstarch
Topping
6 Slices White Bread, Crusts Trimmed
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Stick Of Unsalted Butter, Melted
1 Egg
Remove the skins from muscadines and cook pulp until it softens. Put through food mill to remove seeds. Return pulp and skins to pan and cook together with sugar until skins are softened. Add the cornstarch. (I mixed with a little water to dissolve cornstarch.) Bring mixture back to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes stirring constantly.
Place filling in a buttered 9X13″ pan. Make sure that the filling is at least 1 1/2″ thick. Place bread on top of fruit filling and pour butter and egg mixture evenly over bread. Bake in 350° oven 30 to 40 minutes until top is brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Note: The Petals muscadines are very large and you can just cut them in half and pop out the seeds and cook the skins and pulp together
Garlic
Garlic and onions can be planted this month. Garlic is easy to grow. It takes a very little space in the garden and is extremely frost hardy. Break the head of garlic into cloves and set the cloves 2 to 4 inches apart and about 2″deep root side pointed down. Using the largest cloves will give you the biggest heads of garlic when you harvest. Plant in a sunny location. Garlic likes well drained soil with a PH of 6.5 or 7. Lime the soil if you haven’t done so recently and work in a little fertilizer, bone meal or fish meal into the soil.
Once planted, water in the bulbs. Mulch the planted area with straw to keep weeds down.
I usually harvest my garlic about mid May. Allow the harvested bulbs to cure in an airy , shady dry spot for about 2 weeks. Bulbs should be ready to store when the wrappers are papery and the roots are dry. I put mine upstairs in my barn for about a week or two then cut off the stops.
Bulbs
Our spring bulbs should be here soon. Shop early for the best selection
Winter Protection
Don’t let a frost sneak up on you! Make sure that your garden hoses are all drained and your irrigation pipes winterized. Now is the time to check out the condition of your winter cloth. If it is getting a little tattered this would be the time to replace it. We use this cloth in our nursery to cover the citrus trees but you can also use it in the vegetable garden or for any plant you wish to protect from freezing. I cover my vegetable garden and have fresh lettuce most of the winter. This cloth comes in 15 foot and 30 foot widths. We custom cut pieces for you to any length.
We have pre-cut 15X25 foot lengths for $30.00
Wildflower Seeds
October through January is the time to sow these seeds. Many of these seeds require the cold weather to germinate. Sow the seed using 4 parts sand and 1 part seed. This helps disperse the seed so that you won’t get clumps of plants in one place and none in another. Prepare the bed by lightly tilling or raking the area then throwing out the seed. Water! When spring arrives you will have a marvelous display. The seeds are sold by the tablespoon or teaspoon depending on the size of the seed for $2.00
Here are a few flowers that love to show off in the fall.
Tibouchina a native of Brazil sometimes referred to a Princess Flower or Glory Bush and Purple Glory Bush. It does well in Zones 8 through 12. In my garden it flowers in the fall but in warmer climates it will flower all year.
Salvia Madrensis, a North American native, has butter yellow flowers from September to frost. A tall perennial often reaching 7 feet. Prefers full sun and well drained soil.
Bluebird Smooth Aster, Michaelmas Daisy has beautiful bluish green leaves with lavender blue flowers. They are hardy in zones 4-8. The like full sun but will tolerate partial shade.