Now that fall weather is upon us, October is a great time to enjoy working in your gardens and landscapes. Use these tips to transition your garden from summer to fall:

• Now is a good time to get a soil test for your lawn, landscape beds, and vegetable gardens, allowing enough time to get the results and apply what’s needed to prepare for the spring growing season.

• Do not apply any more nitrogen fertilizers to lawns. As soil temperatures cool, warm-season lawns will being going dormant for the winter. Added nitrogen after August can encourage growth at the wrong time of year and increase winter injury.
• Think you are done fertilizing the lawn for the year?  Not quite! An application of potassium or potash fertilizer from in late summer into early fall will help improve winter hardiness.  Apply 1.5 pounds 0-0-60 (muriate of potash) or 2 pounds of 0-0-50 (potassium sulfate) per 1,000 square feet at 4 to 6 weeks before first expected frost.
• The autumn leaf fall can be pretty, but it can also suffocate a lawn if this spent foliage isn’t raked up every few days, a risk that’s especially true for newly established lawns.

• Now is the time to be planting pansies in the landscape for that show of color in the winter months.  Plant pansies in well-drained soil.  After planting, add mulch, water thoroughly, and continue to check the water for the first three weeks until the roots are established.
• October is a great time to plant trees and shrubs in the landscape.  Remember to not plant them too deep!  Provide some water to newly planted plants up until the first frost.

• As herbaceous perennials begin to die back, October is a good time to apply a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch to protect the root system through the winter.  Mulch also conserves moisture and controls weeds.
• Do not be alarmed if evergreens like pines, junipers, arborvitae, and yews begin to shed their interior needles.  It is natural for them to do this during this time of the year.
• Now is the time to start bringing in houseplants for the winter.  Before doing so, clean up the plants and inspect them to make sure you aren’t bringing in an unwelcome insect or pest.
• To help prevent black spot on roses next year, after leaf fall, rake up and discard the summer mulch and debris from under the plants, and replace with a fresh winter mulch.

• Now that your vegetable garden is harvested for the year, don't forget to remove leftover plants.  Plants left in the ground over the winter may increase insect and disease problems next year.
• Instead of leaving your vegetable garden area bare over the winter, plant cover crops like rye or crimson clover.  This will help prevent erosion in the garden and add organic matter to the soil when you turn it under in the spring.
• Before you forget, make a note of any particular varieties of vegetables planted this year that you liked or performed well as well as ones that did not.  Such information can be very useful when planning next years' garden.

• Sign up for the Wayne County Extension Gardening email list to receive timely gardening tips.
• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
• Visit the North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox to discover more plant ideas for your garden.