Western Mountains and High Plains
Clean-Up the Garden
Remove old cornstalks, frozen vines, and plant debris from the vegetable garden. Add the healthy materials to the compost pile and discard the diseased materials. The home compost pile generally doesn't generate enough heat to kill harmful disease spores.
Weeds left in the garden will go to seed and produce hundreds of new weeds next year. Now is the time to be vigilant and get the weeds before they can disperse their seeds. Dispose of any weeds with seed heads as the compost pile is not the place for them.
Tidy the Rose Garden
Rake and remove leaves from under your rose bushes. This helps to reduce the incidence of fungal diseases like powdery mildew and black leaf spot. Leaves also provide a breeding ground for some insect pests that overwinter in the rose garden.
Shut Down the Water Garden
Start moving tender aquatic plants indoors if you desire to hold them over for next year. Choose a cool, nonfreezing location indoors. Place the pots of aquatic plants in a waterproof tub with some water to keep them damp. They don't need to be submerged as deeply as they were outdoors.
Plant Garlic Bulbs
Garlic needs a cold treatment of 40 degrees F for a few months to induce bulbing. Garlic cloves should be planted before the end of October. This will allow enough time for root development but not above-ground shoot growth.