September Gardening Tips

Birds and Wildlife

Continue to provide fresh water for the birds. It is still hot outside. Keep bird baths full of water.
Watch for ruby-throated, rufous, and black throat hummingbirds as they make their way south. Place hummingbird feeders near a window so you can observe them. Favorite hummingbird bushes include firebush, lantana, pentas, hibiscus, and cape honeysuckle.
Attract butterflies to your gardens by planting mist flower, lantana, butterfly weed, and purple aster. Attract hummingbirds by planting cardinal lobelia, trumpet vine, lantana, Turk’s cap, and Mexican bush sage.

Know flowers’ mature heights and widths and plant for maximum visibility.
Add compost to your flowerbeds for a little extra kick that tired flowers need.
Flowering annuals can be transplanted now: alyssum, calendula, dianthus (pinks), flowering cabbage and kale, pansies, petunias, phlox, Shasta daisies, snapdragons, and stock. If temperatures remain unseasonably hot, gardeners would be well advised to wait until October to transplant most of these cool-season flowering plants. Keep the soil moist to ensure proper germination and growth. Protect seedlings from pillbugs with baits and insecticide (Sevin) dust barriers for two weeks after germination occurs
Continue to feed patio plants and hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertilizer such as 20-20-20 or Hasta-Gro.
Rejuvenate heat stressed geraniums and begonias by lightly pruning, fertilizing and watering.
Be sure to fertilize roses one last time for continual blooming. Using Orthene for insects and Funginex for diseases is a tried and true combination.
Divide perennials such as daylily and iris now. Give half to the neighbors and transplant the other half. Add generous amounts of compost to all beds.
If you order bulbs for spring, now is the time to order them. Put them in a paper bag in the fridge crisper (not the freezer) 6-8 weeks before planting.
Plant bluebonnet seeds about 1/2 inch deep now to allow them to germinate in the fall. Water thoroughly.

Keep your pecans watered if you want full nuts. One inch per week over the area covered by the crown of the tree is sufficient.
Cut back to the ground the dying canes on your blackberry bushes. You can maintain new canes at about 3-4 feet in height and force out many productive side branches.

Caladiums need plenty of water this month. It wouldn’t hurt to fertilize them with about 1/2 pound of 19-5-9 slow-release lawn fertilizer per 100 square feet of bed.

Plant trees and shrubs this month. Check out the requirements for trees and do your planning before planting any. Find out the mature height and width. Don’t plant any tree closer than 25 feet to any structure. Dig the hole the same depth as the container the tree came in and 2-3 times as wide. Don’t add anything to the soil when you replace it—the tree needs to learn to live in soil you plant it in. Add 2-3 inches of native mulch in a circle about 6-8 feet across. Don’t place the mulch up against the trunk of the tree— leave about 6-8 inches. Water the new tree once per week for the first season. Place the hose at the base of the tree and let it barely run for a couple of hours so that it approximately fills the hole you dug.
Once established, shrubs normally don’t need any more water than they get from rain.
If you prune your oak trees, be sure to paint as soon as you cut.

Cut way back on the lawn irrigation this month to avoid brown patch. If you already have brown patch in the lawn, you can do one of two things—leave it alone as it will normally heal itself next spring; or treat it with a good fungicide. Be sure to follow label directions. Brown patch is usually a sign of standing water. Fill in the spot over the winter with sand or top dressing until the spot is level with the lawn.
This is a good month to plant Bermuda to get it established before winter sets in. Keep the seeds MOIST for about 10 days or so— until the seeds sprout. Then back off on the watering.
Lawns have been expensive to maintain during the prolonged heat and drought. Those with lawns still alive will have to beware of the brown patch fungus that occurs during cool, moist fall conditions.

Protect young seedlings from hot sun.
Tender seedlings and transplants MUST be protected from the hot sun as well as spider mites, stinkbugs, grasshoppers and deer. A protective cover that provides a bit of sun protection is called Grow-Web (also sold as Plant Guard, Plant Shield, ReeMay). Old sheer-curtains do a great job. Mulching with oak leaves does a great job, too. 3-4 inches of leaves help keep the soil cool, stops weeds from germinating, and helps hold in the moisture. Use of a cover will be required to provide early cold and frost protection (protects plants from temperatures in the low 30’s) so that cold-sensitive plants such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplants can ripen the fruit before the first hard freeze (below 32 degrees F. for several hours) occurs.
Fertilize young tomatoes and peppers when they have fruit about the size of your thumb. Use about 1 cup of slow-release fertilizer for every 10 feet of row. If you didn’t get your tomatoes in last month, there is still time although your production will be severely limited. Be sure to use one of the “hot name” tomato varieties because they mature quicker.
Vegetable crops benefit from a side dressing of fertilizer to enhance their growth and production potential. Use one cup of 19-5-9 slow-release lawn fertilizer per 100 square feet of planting surface.
It’s time to plant squash, bush beans, cucumbers, radishes, carrots, beets, sweet corn, and potatoes.