THE BOYS OF FALL are all ready to tee it up and kick off for this year’s football season, but that’s not the only thing that kicks off in September — so does Central Florida’s fall gardening season. Now is the time to approach things a little differently in regard to your landscape’s health.
It’s time to plant annual flowers and vegetable plants. Also, if you’re looking to transplant any trees and shrubs, now is a good time.
Here is an additional tip for fall gardening: Check your soil’s pH, or acidity level, before you plant. We’ll do that for you for free at Doty’s; just make sure that your soil samples come in dry.
It’s also time to fertilize your lawn. The heavy rains of August have washed out any nutrients in the soil. This month is an opportunity to ensure that your grass receives quality nutrients. Be sure to check for chinch bugs, sod webworms, mole crickets, and fungus. If you have any weak patches of grass, there’s still time to seed, plug, or sod them.
You can feed your azaleas, gardenias, camellias, and ixoras with a good acid-type fertilizer, but those poinsettias should have been pruned for the last time before Christmas by Sept. 10.
CREDIT
column by WILLIAM R. “BILL” DOTY
BIO: William R. “Bill” Doty is owner of Doty Farm and Garden Supply, Inc., founded in Winter Haven in 1954. Bill graduated from Winter Haven High School and Florida State University. Growing up, he learned valuable lessons in listening and asking questions and was a student of the family business. Bill shares his knowledge with his customers daily and with readers of Central Florida Ag News monthly.
