Gardener’s To-Do List for October

Zone 7

• Bring zonal geraniums and vacationing houseplants indoors before the first frost.
• Thin the radishes, carrots, and turnips you sowed last month; then sprinkle the bed with 1 inch of compost.
• Dig up sweet potatoes before winter rains cause them to split and rot.
• Set out garlic cloves and continue to plant onions.
• Sow late spinach to overwinter; it will resume growing in spring.
• Clean up the blueberry patch: Prune broken or diseased limbs, and thicken the mulch with a layer of pine needles or shredded oak leaves.