Planting
- Sow poppy seeds.
- Milkweed seeds can be sown now to support monarch butterfly larvae next spring and summer.
- Daffodil bulbs planted every other week until November will extend their blooming time next spring.
- Plant cyclamen, primrose, euryops, violas, snapdragons, and calendulas now for holiday color in December.
- Begin transplanting lettuces to beds and continue to do so every two weeks.
- Transplant nursery-grown winter vegetables.
Maintenance
- Fertilize winter vegetable crops with a top dressing of compost or an evenly-balanced fertilizer.
- Start removing and redirecting tired, disease-free summer vegetable plants to the compost pile. Renew vegetable beds with compost to feed the soil for next season.
- Dig, divide, and replant overgrown perennials as they finish blooming. Weed beds, add compost, and replant.
- Dethatch and aerate lawn.
Pest and disease control
- Use row covers to keep cabbage loopers, aphids, and whiteflies from winter vegetable crops.
- Keep diseased plants out of compost pile.
- Hand pick or vacuum remaining insect pests in the garden.
- Look for tomato hornworms early in the morning and at dusk, when they are chomping on plants.
- Net grapes from marauding birds. Hanging mylar strips or old CDs to reflect light and startle birds can cut down on fruit loss.