Plant:

  • Perennial ryegrass planted early in the month will over-seed warm-season turf.
  • Cool season vegetables such as lettuce, spinach and arugula. Here is the suggested fall vegetable planting schedule. North Central Texas is in Region III.
  • Garlic at the end of the month.
  • Cool-season annuals such as pansies, pinks, snapdragons, Iceland and California poppies.
  • Flowering cabbage and flowering Kale.
  • Trees and shrubs do well planted while they are dormant because the roots will be better established by growing season.
  pansies
Prune:

  • Continue mowing at the same height you have mowed all summer. Not sure what is proper height? AggieTurf has the answer, based on the type of grass.
  • Remove spent flowers and seed stalks.
  • Remove dead and dying leaves and dead limbs from shade trees.
  • Before bringing in hibiscus, bougainvilleas and other tropical plants, trim them back and reshape them.
 crepe myrtle
 Fertilize:

  • If bringing patio plants indoors, cut back on fertilizer during the winter.
  • Apply a complete-and-well balanced, water soluble plant food to new bedding plants to get them off to as quick a start as possible.
  • Apply a quality high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen lawn food early in the month.
 tropical plant
Watch For:

  • Grub damage shows up on dying grass that has no roots intact. If you see 4 or more per square foot of the C-shaped white larvae with legs apply imidacloprid but not until next August. Click for treatment details.
  • If dying leaves pull loose easily from St Augustine runners, it is probably Brown Patch or Large Patch. Apply labeled fungicide and water only in morning.
  • To eliminate grasses and other weeds from plots intended for spring planting, spray glyphosate — a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide.
  • Plant Elbon cereal rye to entrap nematodes in flower/vegetable gardens. In January, plow under.
Thanks to Neil Sperry for information from his “Texas Gardening Calendar” and the “Texas Gardener Magazine” magazine. Other sources that helped include PLANTAnswers Garden Calendar, “Texas Garden Almanac” by Doug Welsh and “Texas Gardener’s Resource” by Dale Groom and Dan Gill.