Indian summer has arrived

Do you get the feeling that we’re living on “borrowed time?” Now that we are well into October, the end of our growing season must be very near. As of this writing, we’ve had no frosts...yet. That could change by the time this hits print.

Indian summer is defined as starting in mid-October and having sunny and clear days reaching about 70 degrees. The leaves have turned color but have not fallen from the trees. Sounds about right.

A lot of us are still battling the yearly invasion of ash aphids. Luckily, they only “bug” us for three or four weeks. That’s plenty. It makes me thankful that none of the other varieties of aphids have wings.

If you are a garlic lover, now is the time to get it planted. Just pull the individual pieces off the garlic clove and plant in a nice sunny spot. People either love garlic or hate it; there doesn’t seem to be an in-between.

Now is a good time to go out and cut down the raspberry canes. Cut the brown canes to the ground. (Those bore fruit this summer and won’t again.) Cut the tops off the green canes to bring them down to about 4 feet in height. These will bear fruit next summer.

Gladiola corms can be dug now. Just shake off the dirt and cut the tops off. These can be stored easily; an old nylon stocking works well. Just hang them in a frost-free area until spring.

Hold off on digging the dahlia tubers until a week to 10 days after the tops have been hit with a “good” frost. (Is there such a thing?) More on storing them later.

Be sure to take cuttings of any coleus plants you want to save over winter. Don’t wait too long as coleus cannot take any frost and will turn black in a hurry.

If you plan to trim your deciduous trees or shrubs you have two choices: do it before the leaves fall, or after they’ve fallen. Just don’t do it while they are falling.

Speaking of trees, our fall color is gorgeous again this year. Who needs to travel to Vermont to see it? Stay home and save your money. Remember what happened a few years ago? In 2009, we had no fall color. Instead, we got three record breaking nights starting on Oct. 10. By the 12th, the thermometer went down to 15 degrees. Because of the extreme cold, the leaves just turned brown and fell off.

Bring in holiday (Christmas) cactus plants before the nights get any colder. They need a period of cool temperatures in order to set their buds, but they don’t want to be frozen. If your plant doesn’t have any tiny pink buds, it has probably been in the house all summer. To get it to “bud up,” you’ll need to put it near a cool window for a few weeks. That should do it.

And now the thought for the day: “Housework won’t kill you, but why take a chance?” Most of us gardeners would rather dig in the dirt than do housework. I know I would. Any day.

Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently serving as secretary for the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column appears in The Press every other Sunday from early March until late October.