Timely Tips

What to Do in October 2026
Weekly Gardening Timely Tips from
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County

Oct. 11 - 17

Perennials: If planning to create a new bed next year, you may get a jumpstart by removing grass or groundcover this way: Cover the area with corrugated cardboard and/or a thick blanket of newspaper, and top with mulch. Next spring once the soil can be worked, remove any perennial weeds that survived the winter, amend the soil if needed according to a soil test, and you’ll be ready to plant.

Flowers: Asters and mums may bloom longer if protected before a forecasted hard frost. Cover them before nightfall or when frost is predicted (even a bed sheet will work) but remember to remove the cover the following day as it warms up.

Fruits and Vegetables: Harvest or cover less-hardy vegetables to protect them from frost. Start thinking seriously about fall cleanup around fruit trees. To discourage rodents, clean up fallen fruit, grass and weeds around fruit trees and consider protecting trunks with hardware cloth. Remove spent vegetable plants and discard any that are infested with disease or insects. Bury disease-free plants that are infested with aphids, other minute insects, or mites. Add pest and weed seed-free remnants to the compost pile. Keep up with the harvest of late maturing apples, pears and other tree fruit. If American persimmons are not completely ripe when picked they are unpleasantly astringent. Asian persimmons hardy to our region may be picked near-ripe and finished off the plant.

Trees and Shrubs: Continue to prune dead, damaged and diseased plant parts, but save regular pruning of most trees and shrubs for early spring. Wait until after the first frost to prune oak trees. At this point, oak trees will be entering dormancy and less likely to be exposed to the beetles that carry oak wilt. Invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF) adults are laying eggs now. The insects are especially attracted to tree of heaven and grape vines, but their eggs can be deposited on many surfaces in addition to trees. If you live in, plan to travel, or have recently returned from a place where SLF is established, be sure to check your vehicle and any items kept outdoors for hitchhiking lanternflies or their eggs, and remove all before traveling (a flashlight and mirror may be helpful in hard to see spaces).

Lawns: Last call: If you haven’t yet fertilized the lawn, apply fertilizer now according to a soil test, and finish up for the season. Cool-season grass is perking up again, and since fewer weeds germinate in fall there should be less competition to create dense turf for next spring.

Houseplants: Ficus, hibiscus and some other houseplants often shed their leaves when they are moved indoors. This is less likely if plants are brought in before the heat goes on. Though this is not the best time to prune most houseplants, those that do not go dormant in winter indoors may be pruned a bit (no more than ¼ to ⅓ of the total depending on type) if they are too large. Provide plenty of sun for sun lovers and bright indirect light for shade lovers. To avoid size issues next year, prune overgrown specimens back when you first move them outdoors in late May.

General: Make a date to have the gutters and downspouts cleaned out. When these clog with leaves, water may enter the home and cause structural damage. Clogged gutters also provide a good habitat for mosquitoes.

Oct. 18 - 24

Perennials: Continue planting spring-flowering bulbs such as crocus, daffodils and hyacinth. At your wit’s end from animals digging up bulbs? Protect new bulbs from critters that dig up the bulbs by planting them in hardware cloth cages or enclosing a whole trench with this metal mesh. Here’s an informal experiment to try. If lining a trench with hardware cloth is not an option, try planting standard size tulip and daffodil bulbs (not short varieties!) more deeply than usually recommended. These may be less likely to be dug up, and there is a chance that some might last longer before needing division.

Flowers: Cannas and dahlias may successfully overwinter with protection outdoors if you are in a warmer location in Westchester Co. (USDA Zone 7). If you are in a cooler spot, dig the tubers and rhizomes up once a hard frost has killed back the tops. At that time, trim off the dead foliage and allow them to surface-dry in an airy, frost-free place before storing. Store in a dry place that remains above freezing (optimally about 35° to 40°F) in paper bags, or in a single layer in an airy container. Check stored tubers occasionally to make sure they do not shrivel. If needed, sprinkle very lightly with water to rehydrate the plants and allow the surfaces to dry again before returning to storage.

Fruits and Vegetables: Continue harvesting fall crops. Warm season vegetables such as beans, peppers, tomatoes, and vine crops can be damaged when temperatures dip below about 50 to 55°. If an early frost is predicted, cover plants with a sheet just before sundown. Remove the sheet in the morning when temperatures start to rise. Consider removing plants where there is little left to harvest. Add healthy spent plants to the compost pile.

Trees and Shrubs: Pruning woody plants that have not fully hardened off may result in slow-healing wounds that can become diseased. Most woody plants are best pruned in early spring or right after their flowers fade, especially those that have already set next year’s flower buds this season. An exception is oak. If you need to prune, do this during the dormant season to reduce the risk of oak wilt disease.

Lawns: Don’t let leaves remain on the lawn over the winter because they’ll smother the grass. A thin coating of light, dry leaves that disappear into the lawn may be moved into the grass. Rake leaves that are too wet or dense to mow, then compost them or use them as mulch in a perennial garden where they can provide winter protection for beneficials if voles are not a problem in your location. If voles are present, mulch the garden after the ground has frozen.

Houseplants: Unlike most other potted plants, Christmas cactus and potted azaleas may remain outdoors until night temperatures drop to about 40° F. This can foster abundant blooming. Gardenias set flowers when night temperatures drop to about 62. If possible, find a cool, sunny spot indoors during the winter.

General: Inspect the yard for empty pots or other items that might not withstand winter, clean them and store them in a frost-free place until next year. Remove or empty containers that may collect water that harbors mosquitoes (some may be active in temperatures as low as 50°F). Take delicate containers indoors.

Invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF) adults are laying eggs. The insects are especially attracted to tree of heaven and grape vines, but their eggs can be deposited on many surfaces in addition to trees. If you live in, plan to travel, or have recently returned from a place where SLF is established, be sure to check your vehicle and any items kept outdoors for hitchhiking lanternflies or their eggs and remove all before traveling (a flashlight and mirror may be helpful in hard to see spaces).

Last updated October 17, 2026