Perennials - Perennials should be cut back after blooming and reset this month (October). Perennials set now will be established and ready to grow in the spring. Some of the biennials tend to become perennials in our gardens, and occasionally a half-hardy annual lives on and on.

If you have not yet cleaned up all litter or garden trash, be sure it is done this fall. Do not provide a winter home for insect pests.

Chrysanthemums - October is the month of heaviest bloom for this queen of fall flowers. The most important thing to remember is to provide plenty of water for them. They are heavy feeders (which should have been taken care of in September) and heavy drinkers. Visit the fall shows and gardens of chrysanthemums and write down names of varieties you like and try them another year. The fall shows are wonderful places to see the best in the seasonal flowers. Keep a close check on the weather, and before killing frost lift clumps of chrysanthemums and put in the garage or basement for continued bloom. A few may even be potted and kept in the house. An additional month of flowers may be had in this way.

Soil Preparation - In open spaces in the garden, dig the soil deep, adding a little complete fertilizer. Or plant some type of cover crop and turn it under for a green manure. Soil preparation can go on all year in a garden. Just turning the soil will keep it in good tilth.

Miscellaneous - Take cuttings of herbaceous plants like the donkey ears plant and root them for next year’s garden. Many gardeners carry over plants of all kinds like the donkey ears plant simply as rooted cuttings taken during October. The cutting wood should be firm and seasoned, and not soft and succulent, for best results. Plant pansy seeds for transplanting next month. Pansies are the chief source of bloom in many winter gardens. Continue planting the garden lilies started last month.

Visit the countryside and gather seed pods, weeds and flowers for drying. Many interesting materials are available for winter bouquets, and October is the month for collecting and drying them. Divide and replant peonies, or plant new ones, this month.

We’ve created an outstanding resource for you on donkey ears plant. Visit us at http://www.plant-care.com/kalanchoe-donkey-ears-i809.html. Don’t reprint this exact article.

A yard full of delphiniums! How does that prospect strike you? I tried such a scheme 10 years on in my city lot, with only a 43-foot frontage, grew so many I literally sent a truckload of them to a trade show for decoration and still had so many left that it was almost impossible to tell any had been cut.

At first I thought my “yard full of delphiniums” idea was going to be a flop. The seedlings came along well enough and plants looked promising. But, by the first of June that year no more than a dozen had flowered. Then I went away for a week.

When I came back, I was flabbergasted. The yard had been transformed. I sat in the car and feasted my eyes on the most gorgeous sight I had even seen row upon row of magnificent bloom. Stalks were 4 to 6 feet high, some as tall as 7 feet, with 36 to 54 inches of bloom. There were blues, purples, mauves, lavenders, whites and bi-colors of every description.

I got out of my car and inspected them in detail. They were so brilliant that people passing by stopped and asked to come in to see them. Next to getting good stock, the important thing is care of it. My garden was thoroughly prepared for the seedlings as they came along. It was spaded and both compost and well rotted cow manure were put in.

Here is where you go to town on fertilizers It doesn’t matter what your soil is - loam, clay or sand - throw away the books and put in all the compost and manure your pocketbook will stand.

Mine was heavy clay soil. I trenched the bed two spades deep, put compost and manure in the trench and covered it with the next spade row of soil. Then, I raked it level and planted the delphiniums 18 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart.

Planting

To set the begonia plants and delphinium plants out, I opened up a hole by taking out a shovelful of topsoil. I next put in a 2-1/4-inch potful of some complete fertilizer such as Vigoro plus another 2-1/4-inch potful of bone meal and mixed this with the soil. Then I put the soil back and opened up a smaller hole for the seedling. Being careful not to break the root ball, I inserted the seedling in the hole and firmed the earth around it with my fingers. Each growing tip or crown was at soil level. Each newly set row of begonia plants and delphinium plants was thoroughly watered.

From then on, it was just ordinary garden culture. I watered when necessary and always in the morning so that foliage would be dry at night. This discourages mildew. I kept weeds hoed out by shallow cultivation. Since I had been careful in properly preparing the soil and planting, little additional care was necessary from then on.

Whether you purchase or grow your transplants, well-grown 6 to 8 week old plants are best for the majority of these vegetables, except celery which should have a longer period of growth. The transplants should appear stalky and well grown showing every sign of receiving ample light. Tomato transplants will be about 6 to 8 inches high. Sometimes these transplants are sold in Hats without separation. Although they may be more expensive, plants grown in flats in individual containers like peat-pots, will transplant best and get off to a quicker start.

Bean seeds do not germinate successfully until the soil has warmed up somewhat. So there is little advantage in starting them too early. They are very tender and easily damaged by frost.

Some transplants benefit by watering them in with a weak fertilizer solution. These are known as starter solutions. Some companies sell some of their high analysis fertilizers in packages specifically for such use. Follow the manufacturers directions in using the fertilizer in this way.

Sweet corn addicts find plenty of varieties to suit their taste in home garden planting. Some prefer the old fashioned strains because of their sweetness and tenderness; others prefer the higher yields of the many hybrid sweet corn varieties available commercially.

Gardeners in the extreme north of the western region, particularly in the higher altitudes, are not quite so fortunate. The season is not long enough to mature these varieties successfully each year. To help fill these needs, earlier maturing kinds have found a place in some seed catalogues.

Glad Planting Time

May is the month to plant gladiolus corms out west. It is well to plant any time after the leaves start coming out on trees and shrubs. You can choose from a variety of best shade trees. This varies from late April until late May, depending on locality. Some plantings may be made at two week intervals up until the last of June to insure blossoms until frost. A better way to get succession of bloom is to select varieties whose blooming dates vary from early to late in the season. In general, smaller size corms bloom later, so planting corms in a variety of sizes will also aid in bloom succession.

Soaking corms in fungicide dips aids in reducing glad diseases. Plant #1 size corms from four to six inches deep (deeper in a light sandy soil) and smaller corms somewhat shallower, according to their size.

Dont plant dahlia tubers until danger of killing frosts is past. Plant the tubers so the eyes or buds are about four inches below the ground level. Make sure, when planting dahlia tubers, that a bud is present at the top of the tuber, otherwise no plant will form. Large clumps can be cut into a number of smaller divisions as long as one makes sure that each division has a bud at the base of the crown.