Episode 2: Time to Enjoy
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
ATXGardens Podcast Episode 2 Oct 2 2025 Script
Voiceover/Formal Intro
Informal Intro
Hey there! Thank you for joining me today for Episode 2 of my new podcast, airing on October 2, 2025. I am Colleen Dieter, a landscape consultant at ATXGardens.com. Some of my customers told me that they wish they could get alerts or reminders from me about what to do in their yards and I figured a podcast would be a good way to keep everyone in the loop about what is happening in our Austin and Central Texas Gardens. Today's episode is all about What to do in your garden in the first half of October.
Sponsor note
Before we get to our gardening to do list, This episode is sponsored by my landscape consulting business, ATXGardens.com. I help my customers by alleviating their anxieties about their yards. During a consultation you can ask me anything- about what to plant, how to care for your soil, tree problems, lawn maintenance, anything you can think of. You can make an appointment with me for a landscape consultation at your property at ATXGardens.com. Alright now let's get to the show!
Anecdote
This week I met with Karina in East Austin. She has a very small yard and she wasn’t sure what options she had to fit anything into it. She is wishing for a pocket prairie, fig tree, privacy from the busy street where she lives, rainwater management and vegetables. During our consultation we figured out how to fit all of those elements into her yard, and at the end of the consultation Karina was ready to get to gardening. Make an appointment today at ATXGardens.com.
General
Adjust your irrigation system for cooler weather. Austin Water announced on September 2, 2025, a return to Conservation Stage Drought Water Use Restrictions because Lake Travis is almost full again after our much-needed summer rains Good news for gardeners. Check out your watering day schedule on their website, link in the show notes.
Do not trim your trees, shrubs or perennials now. Trimming at this time of year stimulates new growth, and we need the plants to stop actively growing in order to get ready for winter. Plus most perennials are getting ready to bloom so if you trim them now you will be removing flower buds and then they won’t flower.
Do not feed your plants with fertilizers after October 1. The fertilizer will stimulate new growth now and at this time of year we want the plants to stop growing. A little compost, seaweed or other soil amendments are great to use instead of fertilizers now. How do you know the difference between a fertilizer and a soil amendment? In general, If the package has 3 numbers on the front showing Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, that is a fertilizer rather than a soil amendment. Seaweed is particularly good to have on-hand for winter months when the weather fluctuates wildly and plants get stressed. Seaweed is an exception to the general rule because it does have the 3 numbers on the front but 2 of the three are zeros, and there’s only 1 # potassium so it’s not really feeding much, I don’t consider that one to be a fertilizer. You can purchase that via my Amazon Affiliate link in the show notes or on my website.
Like I mentioned on the last episode, fall is a very good time for soil testing. You can send a sample to Texas A&M Soil Lab, Texas Plant and Soil Lab or any soil lab in the US to find out what nutrients your soil is missing. I recommend it especially for vegetable gardens and fruit orchards. Soil testing can be a fun science experiment and a way to get to know your home a little better.
October is time to plant and transplant any type of plant, so get to it! At this time of year, most of the plants are reaching their maximum size. If your landscape is looking a little crowded or overgrown, when too many plants are covering each other up, it is a good time to take some plants out and move them to open spaces or give them to a friend.
Are you cleaning up your summer plants that have faded? I am pulling common sunflowers out of my yard, that have gone to seed and are dying, which is normal for them, they die after they make seeds. I am harvesting some of the seed heads to save for next spring and also to share with other gardeners! I am the founder of Central Texas Seed Savers, and we support seed libraries around our region. We are seriously short on seeds right now and need you to bring us seeds to any APL library branch. Bastrop library is also looking for seeds right now and it wouldn’t surprise me if the other suburban and exurban libraries were running low too. Check with your librarians to see if your library has a seed collection, and bring any seeds to share. Pack them into paper bags or envelopes, seal the package up really well, write the name of the plant and the year the seeds were collected and the words “for the seed collection” on the bag or envelope. Or keep the seeds to bring to a seed swap this fall, more details later in the show about upcoming seed swaps.
September was hot and dry after all, and you may be feeling some fatigue from watering plants, I definitely am. If you have been planting or transplanting new plants, be sure to keep them well-watered to get them established. I have a few tools that help me make the job easier including the handy-dandy little round yellow sprinkler that I use for watering large patches of perennials. It’s available on my website, ATXGardens.com in the store listed under tools and there’s a link in my show notes. Thanks to my friend Leah for recommending it.
Woody Plants
I have also been digging out sapling trees in my yard lately and transplanting them and giving them to friends, and they have a very deep roots and that makes it hard to dig them out. I use a tool called the Root Slayer for digging out small trees and it works great. See the show notes for my Amazon Affiliate link. Thanks Rodger at Natural Gardener for introducing me to that tool.
October is the best time to plant woody plants like trees and shrubs, and that also includes woody vines like native Crossvines and Carolina Jessamine. Planting now as they are going dormant gives them plenty of time to get settled before summer heat sets in. Now is a good time to shop for trees because many go on sale as they start to loose their leaves and the nurseries want to make room for seasonal stuff like pumpkins and Christmas trees. Even though the trees are loosing their leaves and don’t look good, dormancy is the best time to plant. Visit your locally-owned garden center for the best tree and shrub choices.
Some of your established trees will start loosing their leaves in October and November. If you are new to Austin you may notice that there are many trees that do not loose their leaves in the fall, especially Live Oak trees, so named because they keep their leaves all winter and look “live”. Keep as many leaves as you can and use them as mulch in your planting beds and vegetable garden. Chopping them up with a leaf vacuum or a lawn mower makes them even better for all of your plants.
Hopefully you are enjoying a second round of blooms on your roses for the fall if you have repeat bloomers in your garden.
VII.Sponsor Break-Middle of the Podcast commercial
Hi all, this is Colleen Dieter and you are listening to the ATXGardens Podcast. You know, I give plenty of garden advice on the show, but there’s nothing like meeting in person to get the best information for your plants and landscape. And that's what I can do for you. vsit ATXGardens.com. As a Certified Arborist and Professional Gardener,I've been giving advice to do -it -yourselfers for over 20 years. I help my customers by alleviating their anxieties about their yards. Visit ATXGardens .com to book a consultation with me. During the consultation, we'll walk through your yard together and answer all of your questions. Also at ATXGardens .com, you can shop Colleen’s favorite things, that’s gardening, apparel, tools, and books that I often mention during the podcast. From trees to vegetables to wildflowers, I'm here to help. Make an appointment at ATXGardens.com.
VIII.Perennials and bulbs
Plant perennials and ornamental grasses now. Perennials are plants that grow up in spring, bloom in summer and fall and then the tops die in winter, then they grow back again in spring. Examples include lantanas and indigo spires salvia.
We are also so lucky in Austin to have cool-season perennials that start growing up from the ground now. Some of my favorite plants are perennials that have the opposite life cycle of a typical perennial, like white yarrow, spiderworts and lyre leaf sage. They grow back from their roots in fall, they are green all winter, bloom in early spring and then their tops die in summer. Then next fall they do it all over again. They usually grow under trees and adapted this life cycle to take advantage of the extra sun that comes through when the trees loose their leaves in winter. These plants may be showing up in nurseries at this time of year when they start looking good again.
It is also a good time to divide perennials, bulbs and your yuccas and agaves. That root slayer I mentioned earlier for digging up tree saplings is also good for dividing agave pups from the mother plant. On ATXGardens.com you can purchase my 3 volume set of booklets called ‘Let’s Care for Texas Plants’ that has a diagram and instructions about how to care for and divide bulbs and perennials.
Nature stuff
I have noticed that butterflies start visiting my garden in larger numbers around the time when the tree leaves start falling, and sometimes out of the corner of my eye I find it hard to distinguish between falling leaves and fluttering butterfly wings. Is it safe to assume that butterflies evolved to look like falling leaves to confuse predators? I saw the first few Monarch butterflies traveling through on their migration route to Mexico about two weeks ago. Very thrilling.
While October is one of the busiest times for gardeners, it is also maybe the best time to enjoy the garden in Austin! Actively rebel against the current pop and political culture climate that actively disconnects us from nature and humanity. Isolation is the true enemy and connection is the cure. Sit down in the garden this month as often as possible, invite friends over to share a beverage and real, meaningful, conversation and pass along plants and seeds. Slow down and enjoy the spaces you created with your beloved partners: the plants and our home, Central Texas.
Vegetables
October is time to plant cool season veg. Add some compost to the soil and then plant your cool season crops that will live through the cold weather this winter. Arugula, radishes, Swiss chard, mustard, turnips, bok choy, beets, collards, carrots, lettuce and kale can all be planted by sowing seeds directly into the garden soil. Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbages can be planted in the garden as small plants now. You can also plant Artichokes and their cousins Cardoons as small plants. Now is the time to start onions from seed and it is also time to plant garlic cloves directly in the ground.
If you are letting any part of your vegetable garden rest in the winter, plant a cover crop now. Alfalfa, rye, clovers, texas bluebonnets and Austrian winter pea are just a few of the many cool season cover crops to choose from that could be planted now. Cover crops feed and protect the soil while the garden and the gardener are resting.
Get ready for freezing weather that could come as early as November 15, which is hard to believe but true. Even though our cool season veg can survive cold weather, they can be damaged by freezes and that damage will set them back so they don’t produce as much good food for you, and they can be more vulnerable to pests when they are damaged. To keep your cool season vegetables thriving, be ready with some floating row cover fabric, cloches, or blankets or sheets to toss over them when a freeze is forecast. My friend Cristen from Small Town Farm, also a CTSS volunteer, gave me a great tip about protecting small plants by turning a mason jar upside down on top of them to act as a tiny cloche or mini-greenhouse. Options for protecting your vegetables from freeze damage abound, so do some research and figure out which strategy works best for you and start gathering your materials now so you aren’t freaking out when the first freeze comes.
Herbs
Take out your basil and make some pesto and stick it in the freezer to use this winter. All warm season annual herbs should be removed around this time of year to make room for your cool season annual herbs. Does your basil have seeds in the dead flower heads? Bring them to the library!
Start cool season annual herbs like cilantro, parsley, dill, calendula and fennel can all be planted in October. These are plants that will only live through this fall and winter and they will go to seed and then die when it gets hot next spring. These plants will thrive this winter if you provide them with some cover during freezes.
Be sure to add compost to your planting areas before planting anything new, and mix a little decomposed granite in with it for good drainage for your mediterranean herbs like thyme and oregano. Plant those perennial herbs now. Perennials are plants that live for longer than one year.
XIII. Wildflowers
This is the best time to plant wildflower seeds, especially early spring bloomers like bluebonnets and pink evening primrose. My friends at Native American Seed have the best wildflower seeds. Do not buy mixes from big box stores that often have non-native, invasive plants mixed in. Check out Native American Seed at seedsource.com, link in the show notes.
XIV. I have a bunch of events and classes coming up and y’all are invited!
Sunday October 12 9:30-11:30 the CTSS Heirloom Fruit Tree Preservation Project, which includes me, is doing a talk about the Importance of Preserving Heirloom Fruit Trees. It’s at the AWU Center for Environmental Research at Hornsby Bend in Southeast Austin.
Satruday October 18 Healing Roots and Wings Festival at Givens Park from 11-4, I am teaching a Basic Organic Vegetable Garden class from 12-2 there.
Saturday November 1 CTSS Fall Festival at GreenSleeves Nursery in Pflugerville. Nessa from Microlife and Jay from Texas Gardener Magazine will be speaking and I am putting together a very special presentation about seed saving. Food, drinks, raffles and all kinds of fun. Purchase tickets on CTSS website. All proceeds go to CTSS, preventing extinction of our special Central Texas Plants through seed sharing!
Saturday November 8 CTSS Annual Seed Swap at the Ausitn Public Library Central Location downtown, always tons of fun, I look forward to it every year. This year it is in the gallery area of the library which is new and is going to be delightful. Join us between 11 and 1. Bring any seeds you have to share whether they are packaged commercial seeds, or still attached to twigs from your garden. Even if you don’t have seeds you can still come a get seeds. Veg, trees… any kind of seed. All are welcome. The event is free and you don’t need to register. Just come!
Saturday Nov 8 that same day, my gardening bestie and my co-host for the Horticulturati podcast, Leah Churner has a landscape that she designed called “Pollinator Paradise” included in the Garden Conservancy tour! Please get a ticket and say hi to Leah. I will be stopping by to congratulate her and see that gorgeous garden after the seed swap.
Monday Nov 17 Williamson County Master Gardeners Monthly Meeting starts at 6:30. I will be presenting on Tree Planting.
More information about all of these events will be available on my website ATXGardens.com.
XV.Conclusion:
Alright friends, that is it for this episode!
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Check out the show notes- THANK YOU!
XVI.Show Notes:
Make an appointment or shop at ATXGardens.com
Connect on Instagram @atxgardens_
Find your watering day if you are an Austin Water Customer. https://www.austintexas.gov/department/find-your-watering-day
Maxicrop Seaweed: https://amzn.to/3VpnG30 Amazon Affiliate commissions earned.
Little round yellow sprinkler: https://amzn.to/4n98ljt Amazon Affiliate commissions earned.
Root Slayer for digging up sapling trees: https://amzn.to/4mjFc3G Amazon Affiliate commissions earned.
“Let’s Care for Texas Plants” maintenance guide: https://www.atxgardens.com/store-books-and-info
Native American Seed for wildflower seeds: seedsource.com No commissions earned, I just love them.
