October in North Carolina is the transition between Summer and Fall. We have a joke here that you know you live in North Carolina when you use the A/C and heat in the same day. Mornings are comfortably cool, sometimes really cool and days are still summer-like. Nights can get pretty cold, going as low as 36 degrees.
We have been enjoying our egg layers - two of which are green egg layers and the other 2 brown. The girls come running whenever they see me, expecting, of course, a treat.
This is the time in the garden to divide and transplant any overgrown plants, to check for weeds and eradicate them and to plant new plants. I have added more of my favorites - Autumn sage, butterfly weed, lavender, and snapdragons. Yes,snapdragons. I had never planted one in my life but found out that they are super hardy here-often blooming throughout the Winter. The bees and butterflies love the coneflowers that I added as well.
My aim is to use the plants as mulch - planting them so close together that they shade out weeds. I'd rather buy perennials and plant them than mulch and have to apply it. I do add a good layer of mulch to newly planted trees and shrubs to help in the consevation of their watering.
October was relatively dry and required additional watering for new and transplanted plants. The late blooms of mums, asters , Autumn sage and goldenrod are still hanging on.
