Edging the beds prevents the lawn from creeping in and taking over the bed.
To rid your houseplants summering outdoors of whiteflies before bringing them indoors, use moth crystals, because in my experience, insecticidal soap will not work!
In the evening, drape a clear plastic bag over the whitefly infested plant, and place a small Styrofoam coffee cup inside the bag with a few moth crystals inside.
Overnight, the concentrated vapors from the moth crystals will asphyxiate the adult whiteflies.
This will not kill the eggs, so you need to repeat the procedure every night for a week to completely kill them.
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Here are some other things to try to accomplish this month:
WEEK ONE
• Plant daffodil bulbs now, making sure you soak the soil weekly through the fall. Use one teaspoon of Espoma Bonemeal or Bulbtone per hole when planting.
• Don’t prune spring-flowering shrubs like forsythia, azalea, camellia, holly, lilac, rhododendron, and viburnum. They’re within three weeks of completing bud formation for next year’s flower bloom.
WEEK TWO
• Now is also a good time to take your Christmas cactus outdoors and spray with insecticidal soap, allow it to dry and bring back indoors and place in bright, indirect light. If you have been summering your plant outdoors, bring it in now. Nighttime temperatures in the fifties will trigger the plant to begin its bloom cycle, which means it will flower in October or November if left outside.
• To help roses to harden off and mature for winter, stop using water soluable fertilizers about six weeks before frost. Let the last blooms develop into rose hips. This causes the plant to undergo chemical changes that slow its growth, stop its blooming, and help prepare it for dormancy and hardens off the canes for winter.
WEEK THREE
• This is a great time to weed, edge, fertilize, and mulch flower beds. Edging the beds prevents the lawn from creeping in and taking over the bed. Scratch up the soil around the perennials and shrubs and get all the weeds out. Remember to remove and discard every infected scrap of foliage and prune out all dead or diseased branches and discard in trash (do not compost).
• Rake away and destroy mulch under roses that have had blackspot, powdery mildew and other problems. Allow the soil to dry out, then apply fresh mulch.
WEEK FOUR
• Turn off all outdoor lighting when possible to prevent millipedes from mating and overwintering in the lawn. This threat is usually over by the end of October.
• Keep maturing vegetables picked to keep the plants producing. Watch nighttime temperatures and cover when necessary to keep them producing. You still have time to clear out old faded crops and replant seeds of lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach, and turnips for fall and early winter harvest.
(Editor’s Note: Ken Morgan is the owner of Robin’s Nest Floral and Garden Center in Easton, Md.)
