Monthly Tips

 October in Central Texas: Folks, It's Time to Plant!

There comes a magical moment every year in Central Texas.

You walk outside early one morning, take a sip of coffee and realize you're not immediately sweating through your shirt.

Fall has arrived.

Well… Texas fall, anyway.

It may be 58 degrees this morning and 91 by Thursday, but we'll take what we can get.

More importantly, October signals the beginning of one of the best planting seasons of the entire year in Central Texas.

A lot of homeowners think spring is planting season. And spring certainly has its place.

But around here?

Fall is where the smart money is.

🌳 Trees: Plant Now, Thank Yourself Later

Let's start with trees.

If you've been wanting more shade around your home, October is a great time to quit talking about it and start digging.

Fall-planted trees have an important advantage: time.

Instead of being planted right before the brutal heat of summer, they have the cooler months ahead to begin establishing their root systems.

The top of the tree may slow down or go dormant as winter approaches, but below ground those roots can continue settling in whenever soil conditions are favorable.

Then spring arrives and your tree isn't starting from scratch.

That's a mighty nice advantage when July and August eventually come knocking on the door with a flamethrower.

Native and well-adapted trees are especially worth considering. Depending on your property's size, soil, drainage and available space, there are plenty of good Central Texas choices.

The important thing is choosing the right tree for the right place.

That cute little tree sitting in a nursery pot today might eventually become a 40-foot tree.

Don't plant it three feet from the house unless you're hoping to become very good friends with your roofer.

 🌿 October Is Native Landscape Season

If you've been thinking about replacing part of your traditional landscape with something more water-wise, October is a fantastic time to start.

And we've got to clear something up.

Xeriscape does NOT mean cactus, gravel and three sad rocks.

Somewhere along the way, folks got the idea that saving water meant giving up color.

Not even close.

Central Texas native and adapted landscapes can be full of red, yellow, purple, pink, blue and white flowers.

Think autumn sage, mealy blue sage, Texas sage, esperanza, lantana, red yucca, native grasses and dozens of other plants that bring texture, movement and seasonal color into the landscape.

Then come the bonus visitors.

Butterflies.

Bees.

Hummingbirds.

Other beneficial insects.

Suddenly your yard isn't just something you mow every Saturday. It's alive.

And once properly established, a thoughtfully designed native landscape can require less supplemental water and maintenance than a yard filled with plants that were never particularly happy about living in Texas in the first place.

 🌼 Want Spring Wildflowers? October Is Your Month.

Every spring Texans fall in love with our roadsides again.

Bluebonnets start blooming. Indian blankets and other wildflowers join the show. People pull over for pictures, children sit in the flowers, and somebody inevitably tries to get a Labrador retriever to look at the camera.

Then somebody says:

“I want this in my yard!”

Good.

But here's the secret:

That spring wildflower garden starts in the fall.

October is an excellent time to sow many native spring wildflower seeds in Central Texas.

The biggest mistake is treating wildflower seed like grass seed.

You don't necessarily need rich garden soil and a bunch of fertilizer. In fact, too much pampering can work against you.

What you DO need is good seed-to-soil contact.

Throwing $50 worth of wildflower seed on top of six inches of mulch isn't planting.

That's feeding expensive seed to the birds.

Prepare the area properly, get the seed in contact with the soil, and let Mother Nature start doing her part.

Then have patience.

Gardening occasionally requires doing something and then resisting the overwhelming urge to mess with it.

🥬 Fall Vegetable Gardens Are Back!

Now let's talk groceries.

October is prime fall vegetable gardening time in Central Texas.

Depending on the weather and planting dates, we're talking about cool-season favorites such as:

Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, carrots, radishes and plenty more.

If you've only tried vegetable gardening in spring and summer, give fall gardening a shot.

There is something deeply satisfying about walking into your backyard on a cool evening and picking something that's going to be on the dinner table 20 minutes later.

And there's considerably less satisfaction in doing that when it's 104 degrees and the mosquitoes are carrying away small children.

 💧 Cooler Weather Doesn't Mean “Turn Off the Water”

Here's another October mistake.

The temperature drops 15 degrees and everybody suddenly forgets plants need water.

Your landscape will generally require less water as temperatures cool and days shorten, but newly planted trees, shrubs and perennials still need consistent moisture while establishing roots.

That doesn't mean drowning them.

It means checking the soil instead of watering automatically because Tuesday happens to be your watering day.

Stick a finger in the soil.

Dig down a little.

See what's actually happening.

Your plants don't own calendars.

 🐻 The Grizzly Bottom Line

October isn't when gardening ends in Central Texas.

October is when some of our best gardening begins.

So this month:

Plant that tree you've been talking about.

Start converting part of the lawn into a native landscape.

Get those wildflower seeds on the ground.

Plant a fall vegetable garden.

Add some pollinator plants.

And start building the landscape you've been saying you'll get around to “one of these days.”

Because we've learned something about one of these days.

It has a terrible habit of turning into next year.

If you aren't sure what to plant, where to plant it or how to turn that struggling piece of yard into something beautiful, come see us.

At Grizzly's Hidden Falls Nursery & Landscaping, we'd rather help you choose the right plant the first time than sell you the wrong plant twice.

Bring us your questions.

Bring us your measurements.

Heck, bring us pictures of that ugly corner of the yard that's been driving you crazy for five years.

We'll figure it out together.

October is here, Central Texas.

Quit thinking about planting and let's get our hands dirty.

— the Grizzly Family

Grizzly's Hidden Falls Nursery & Landscaping

www.hiddenfallsnurserykilleen.com