To all the lovely people,

Wow, September is almost here! Here is a short list of the September "To Do's" in the garden.

Please write with any questions.

Paul

Gardener’s To-Do List

for September

To-Do List for Zone 9

• Plant winter lettuce, peas, carrots, cole crops, and Asian greens.
• Harvest winter squash and pumpkins before frost, when their skin is hard enough to resist pressure from your thumbnail.
• Set out transplants of calendula, primroses, larkspur (Consolida ambigua), snapdragons, bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus), stock (Matthiola incana), and pansies.
• Refrigerate spring bulbs for 6 weeks to plant later this fall.
• Pick ‘Bartlett' pears for ripening indoors, but allow Asian pears and ‘Seckel' pears to ripen on the tree.
• Protect grapes from birds and wasps by covering the ripening clusters with brown paper lunch bags.

To-Do List for Zone 10

• Prune poinsettias for holiday bloom.
• As grasshopper numbers die down, plant tuberoses (Polianthes tuberosa), gloriosa lilies, amaryllis, and other subtropical bulbs and rhizomes.
• Plant okra. It’s your last chance of the season.
• Seed cucurbits and herbs, and set out transplants of tomatoes, peppers, and onions.
• Repair or replace drip irrigation lines.

Work in soil amendments, including compost, bonemeal, and greensand.