September 2009 Gardening Checklist

Bag of tulips ready for fall planting

Photo courtesy Netherlands Flower Bulb
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• Dig and repot herbs growing outdoors, or take cuttings to pot up and grow indoors.
  
• Bring houseplants that spent the summer outdoors back indoors before night temperatures fall below 55 degrees. Gradually decrease light to acclimate plants and help reduce leaf drop. Check for insects and disease before putting them with other plants.
  
• Begin stocking up gardening supplies before they are removed for the season from retailers' shelves. Pots, potting mixes, fertilizers and other products may be harder to find later in the season.
  
• Don't be alarmed if evergreens, especially white pine and arborvitae, drop needles. All evergreens shed needles at some time, but not all at once like deciduous plants do.
  
• Plant container-grown or balled-and-burlapped nursery stock. Apply Preen Mulch Plus to help retain soil moisture, moderate soil temperature and keep weeds from sprouting. Keep newly planted stock well watered until the ground freezes.
  
• Continue watering gardens, shrubs and trees if rainfall doesn't reach an inch or more every week or 10 days. It's important for plants to go into cold weather with adequate moisture.
  
• Plant, transplant or divide peonies, daylilies, poppies, iris, phlox and other summer-blooming perennials.
  
• Order spring-flowering bulbs or purchase locally. Begin planting them at the end of the month. Planting too early can cause top growth to sprout before winter; allow four to six weeks for good root formation before ground freezes.
  
• Dig tender bulbs, such as cannas, caladiums, tuberous begonias and gladiolus, before frost. Air dry and store in dry peat moss or vermiculite.