Gardening by the Moon Weekend To-Do
An idea as old as agriculture, based both folklore and superstition but there are scientific ideas to back it up.
- Lunar Phase: Saturday, October 31; Halloween: Sunday, November 1; Daylight Savings Time ends ( turn your clocks back): Waning Half Moon begins on Sunday, November 1
- Saturday-Monday: Moon in the sign of Cancer/Leo - Plant for root growth, harvest, and control pests
- As Daylight Saving Time ends, adjust your irrigation clock and exterior lights. You should also reduce both the frequency and duration of watering of each station.
- The growing season will conclude shortly, yet fall planting continues until the soil becomes too muddy to plant.
Later in the Week
- Now is the time to remove soaker hoses from flower and vegetable beds for winter. Before storing them, spread them flat on a driveway or pavement, remove the end caps, and flush them with water once they air-dry, coil, and store them.
- Stop watering deciduous fruit trees, as they will soon enter dormancy and drop their leaves
Other Things To-do
- Now is an excellent time to plant California natives. Buckwheat, Ceanothus, Tryon’s, and native bunchgrass thrive once they are established in the fall.
- Once half the leaves have dropped, you may apply Liquid Copper to Peach and Nectarine trees for Peach Leaf Curl, then repeat the treatment in February.