October This month is the perfect time for planting in the low desert. It’s cool enough now to set out those seasonal flowers and vegetables that love our fall and winter months. PLANT Scatter wildflower seeds. Keep area moist until germination. Cover area with bird netting. Plant sweet peas for fragrant color in midwinter. Sow seeds of root crops such as beets, carrots, turnips, onions, salad greens and peas. TRANSPLANT Put in cool-season color annuals such as petunias, stock, snapdragons, dianthus, lobelia, poppies and alyssum. Set out transplants from the cabbage family. Plant desert-adapted trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, ornamental grasses, and cacti and other succulents. PREPARE Prepare beds for bulbs such as ranunculus, iris, anemone, freesia, tritonia, rain lily, amaryllis, crocosmia and spider lily with rich organic soil and well-decomposed compost. Mix phosphorus fertilizer (which promotes blooming) into the bottom of the planting hole. Over-seed Bermuda lawns with rye grass between mid-October and mid-November. Provide at least six to eight hours of full sun daily for vegetables to be most productive. Repel garden pests by planting herbs such as oregano, rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme and lavender. Their aromatic oils deter most insects. PRUNE Remove the last of the warm-season flowering plants. Divide your clumping perennials such as day lilies and Shasta daisies. WATER Rainfall helps out with irrigation this month. However, don’t rely on it with new plants. Water citrus deeply to the tree canopy every two weeks or so. Ease your plants into cooler weather by watering thoroughly and then gradually lengthening the time between waterings. FERTILIZE Continue fertilizing with slow-release products to promote blooms. Do not fertilize new growth on citrus. It is frost sensitive. TIP OF THE MONTH This month is the time to hit the local nursery in search of winter garden color plants. Dig a hole for each plant as deep as the container but several inches wider. Amend the soil with organic matter. Before planting, soak the plant and container in a bucket of water until it is well drenched. Let drain. Gently tap the pot to loosen the plant (if necessary, turn the pot upside down while securing the plant in your hand). If the roots are tangled and coiled, carefully loosen them. Place the plant in the hole so the top of the root ball is even with the soil surface and fill in with amended soil. Press down the loose soil and water thoroughly.