🌱 The Garden Wise Journal — October 2026
“Gardening is more than a hobby; it is a lifestyle.”
Welcome to The Garden Wise Journal
October in Colorado can give you a warm afternoon and a hard freeze in the same week. The garden is changing, but there is still useful work to do before winter.
This month, we are looking beneath the surface at fall planting and root care. We also have a practical October checklist, a blue flowering shrub that keeps pollinators visiting late in the season, and a closer look at whether every fallen leaf really needs to go.
The best place to start? Check the soil around your newer plants. What happens at their roots now can make a difference next spring. For more research-based fall garden guidance, visit Colorado State University Extension.
Feature Article of the Month
The Garden Is Still Growing Underground
A frosty morning may make it look as though the growing season is over. Beneath the surface, the soil can remain warm enough for hardy plants to keep developing roots.
That makes October a valuable time to check moisture, finish appropriate planting, and prepare new trees and shrubs for Colorado’s dry winter. The details matter: a buried root flare, mulch piled against a trunk, or water running off clay soil can undo some of your good work.
Keith walks through what to plant while the ground is workable, how to give roots a strong start, and what can wait until spring.
Plant Profile
Blue Mist Spirea: A Little Blue When the Garden Needs It
Just when many flowering plants are winding down, blue mist spirea brings a fresh haze of blue to sunny beds. Its late blooms draw bees and other pollinators, and its compact size makes it worth considering for many Front Range landscapes.
Give it plenty of sun and soil that drains well. Then resist the urge to cut it back during fall cleanup. Blue mist spirea blooms on new growth, so the pruning can wait until early spring.
Learn where this shrub fits, how to care for it, and when a different plant would be the better choice.
Monthly Tips
The Garden Wise Guy’s October Garden Checklist
October is a month for priorities. A few timely jobs can protect tender crops, help new plants through winter, and spare you an unpleasant surprise when the first hard freeze arrives.
- Check soil moisture around new trees, shrubs, perennials, and evergreens.
- Plant spring flowering bulbs while the soil is workable.
- Harvest tender vegetables before a damaging freeze.
- Bring houseplants indoors after checking them for pests.
- Drain hoses and prepare irrigation equipment for cold nights.
- Clean up diseased material, while leaving useful, healthy leaves and stems where they belong.
Your yard’s elevation and exposure matter, so use the forecast for your neighborhood as you work through the list.
Garden Myth Busting
Must Every Fallen Leaf Leave the Garden?
If a few leaves remain in your beds, you can let the rake rest. Clean, loose leaves can help cover soil, hold moisture, and provide shelter for beneficial insects through winter.
That does not mean leaving every pile untouched. Dense, wet mats can smother small plants, and diseased leaves may need to be removed. The useful question is where the leaves landed and what condition they are in.
Find out which leaves to leave, move, compost, or discard in this month’s myth breakdown.
The Garden Wise Guy Radio Show
Your garden questions do not stop when the weather cools. Join Keith for timely advice, practical plant talk, and answers to the problems Colorado gardeners are seeing in their yards.
Listen every Saturday from 7 to 9 am on Legends 810 AM / 95.3 FM. If October has brought a question to your garden, send it to Keith. It might help another gardener, too.
