September Landscape Tips

Balance is everything in a garden. Wiping out all the pests is not a realist or even a desirable goal. Without aphids, lady beetles would starve. If we don't share the leaves of our plants with caterpillars, we would not experience the joy of watching butterflies. Without fungi or bacteria nothing would breakdown to recycle back into the system. Everything has its place and purpose. Select plants that are resistant to known pests, keep them healthy (stressed plants are more vulnerable to pest problems), tolerate a little "damage", and marvel at the many tiny and grand "battles" of nature keeping your yard in balance. 

Turf Tips:

• If you plan to over-seed your Bermuda, stop fertilizing. You'll be over-seeding next month.
• If you are not planting a winter lawn, add about 10 pounds of Ironite for every 1,000 square feet.

Tree/Shrub Tips:

• If you didn’t fertilize your citrus during August do it now. Use ammonium sulfate. This last fertilizing will help make larger fruit. Lemons can be picked as needed later in September even though the fruit is still green. Lemons will not get sweeter, just juicier. Truly ripened limes will turn yellow. This is a good time to get inside your citrus trees, trim out the water sprouts and clean out any dead wood.
• Continue to deep water on the summer schedule, which is about once a week for shrubs and every two weeks for trees. Water native shrubs every two weeks and native trees once a month.
• You may begin planting non-frost sensitive trees and shrubs from containers. Soil temperatures are still warm enough to help roots establish quickly. After planting, water deeply. Dig a planting hole about three times the diameter of the root ball and no deeper. 

Flower Tips:

• It's okay to give your summer flowers one more dose of fertilizer. 
• If you're planting fall/winter annuals, hold off a few weeks...it's a little early.  Make sure when you're selecting plants at the nursery that you are buying flowers for the right season.  Often times, the summer annuals will be really inexpensive and placed near the front of the garden center.  If you aren't sure, ask a professional.