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It's October, so it's natural to think autumn.
Sure, our temperatures don't seem to have dropped yet and the trees are still green, but at least summer is officially over.
Read on for some ideas for growing your garden, especially after a long summer, but first some announcements.
Brevard Discovery Park is open to visitors. Brevard Discovery Park will be open to visitors from 9am to 11am on the first and third Wednesday of each month starting October 5th. During the BDG Visitor Day you can explore attractions in Poinciana including the Pollinator and Botanical Gardens, Rain/Swamp Gardens, Bromeliad Gardens, Florida Native Gardens, Coastal Parks, Gardens and Royal Shade Park.
Volunteer Master Gardeners will be working in the garden during BDG open days and will be available to answer your gardening questions. The park is located at 3695 Lake Drive in Cocoa.
Volunteers are needed at Brevard Discovery Gardens. BDG is looking for volunteers to help with gardening and nursery care, tree propagation, watering, etc. If you love playing in the dirt and want to learn more about gardening, volunteering at Brevard Discovery Gardens is a great opportunity. To become a BDG volunteer, call the Brevard County Extension Office at 321-633-1702 and dial 2.
Become a master gardener. If you enjoy gardening, continuing to learn (how to cultivate living soil), making new friends, and helping others, consider becoming a UF/IFAS Brevard Extension Gardener. The Master Gardener 2023 class will be held from January 11 to March 22 on consecutive Wednesdays from 9 am to 3 pm. Price $200.
Volunteer requirements are 30 hours of volunteer service at the UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County office in Cocoa (where education continues), 40 hours working at the Brevard Discovery Garden, visiting the My Brevard Yard or Master Garden offices, or a combination of these options. and five hours in the Master Gardener Clinic for a total of 75 hours in the first year alone.
Master Gardener interns who complete the semester and volunteer hours by November 1, 2023 will receive a Brevard County UF/IFAS Master Gardener certificate and badge at the Master Gardener meeting in December. If this sounds interesting to you, email me at sasc@ufl.edu for the Gardener Master's Class of 2023 application.
More from Sally Scalera:
Try adding compost to your garden instead of compost. If you are growing your own garden, consider watering artificial fertilizers in October and pollinating gardens, trees (you will definitely benefit from this), fruit trees, vegetable leaves and other plants with liquid microbe pollination.
"How do plants grow in the Tosahachi Wildlife Management Area and other natural areas?" Have you ever thought that? After all, no one releases fertilizer into the forest until the trees grow.
The soil around plant roots growing in natural soil contains a complete soil food web of aerobic bacteria, soil hogs, mycorrhizal fungi, protozoa and nematodes (predators). Plants share some of their carbohydrates with soil microorganisms in exchange for the nutrients and water they need to grow, such as rooting.
How does this create a win-win situation? If you would like information on how to turn waste into living soil, email me at the above email address.
Fewer days means less downtime. Shorter days will start to slow down grass growth to the point where you don't need to mow every week. If you have weeds, be sure to cut them to prevent the seeds from growing. Mowing is an important method of weed control, so you should mow at least once every two weeks.
Replace summer flowers with winter flowers. If your flowers are not growing well, switch to winter flowers such as alyssum (with a pleasant smell), calendula, chrysanthemum, dianthus and geranium (these plants require full shade in summer but can withstand full sun in winter), petunias, snapdragons. , pansy, flowering tobacco, wall flower (also fragrant) and ornamental radish.
Stop cutting the poinsettia plant. No more cutting poinsettias and creating colorful wreaths just in time for Christmas.
Now is the time to plant strawberries. If you want to plant strawberries, the planting time is now until October 25. If you want to buy bare root plants now, Chandler, Uso Grande, Sweet Charlie, Silva, Lucullus and Red Ruby are recommended.
Now add vegetables. Vegetables that can be planted in October are watercress, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, scallions (can only be planted in October), chopped onions (green and leek), cabbage, carrots, broccoli, celery, chicory, cabbage and Indian cabbage. Escarole, cabbage, kale, lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and chickpeas.
Make your own carrot and radish slices using toilet paper and glue. Place a ruler in the center of the toilet paper and apply glue every centimeter. Place one carrot seed on the other sticky dot, then place an onion seed between each carrot seed.
Seeds are also used for salad dressing. For an article (with photos) on creating your own seed bar, email me at the above address.
Plant your vegetables. Vegetables that can be sown in October to plant in the garden in November are watercress, beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chicory, cabbage, endive / escarole, cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, mustard and peas (English) and snow. ); Spinach, Swiss chard and kale.
You can find them at the farmers market. If you've never been to the Brevard County Farmers Market, check out facebook.com/brevardcountyfarmersmarket to see which vendors will pique your appetite. The Farmers' Market is held at Wickham Park Pavilion on Thursdays from 3-6pm.
Sally Scalera is the Urban Horticulture Officer and Chief Horticulture Coordinator at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
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This article originally appeared in Florida Today: Here's what's happening at Space Coast Arena in October
