Your Ocala Yard in Late Summer: What to Do Right Now
Late August into September is a strange stretch in Marion County. The days are still brutally hot and humid, afternoon storms are still rolling through, but you can feel autumn hovering just out of reach. This is the transition window, and what you do in your yard now sets up how it looks come October and November. Here's your local, no-fluff checklist.
1. Watch Your Lawn Like a Hawk
Late summer is peak season for lawn trouble in Central Florida. Chinch bugs, sod webworms, armyworms, and mole crickets are all still active this time of year, and St. Augustine grass in particular is vulnerable. If you spot yellow or brown patches, don't reach for fertilizer first, figure out the cause. It could be pests, disease (especially with all the rain we've had), or simply an irrigation issue. Treating the wrong problem wastes time and money.
While you're out there:
Mow high. St. Augustine and Bahia should be kept at 3–4 inches; dwarf St. Augustine around 2.5 inches; centipede at 1.5–2 inches. Taller grass shades out weeds and handles heat stress better.
Check for fertilizer ordinances. Many Marion County-area municipalities restrict fertilizer application during the summer rainy season (June through September), so hold off on lawn fertilizer if that applies to you.
Make sure you're getting about an inch of water a week, counting rainfall. An empty tuna can under the sprinkler is still the cheapest rain gauge around. Time and again irrigation systems will turn off automatically because rain is in the forecast, we get a drizzle and then clients new sod or plants get fried.
2. Start Your Fall Vegetable Garden
This is genuinely one of the best times of year to get a fall garden going in Ocala. It's still hot, but your cool-season crops need to go in now so they're established before temperatures really drop.
Get transplants and seed trays started for tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, and broccoli if you haven't already.
By mid-to-late September, direct sow radish, carrots, mustard, turnips, and onions.
Keep beds well weeded, weeds compete hard for water and nutrients this time of year, and pests and disease tend to hit fall vegetables harder than spring ones, so keep an eye out.
3. Hold Off on Pruning
It's tempting to tidy up shrubs that got shaggy over the summer, but resist it. Pruning now can push out tender new growth that won't have time to harden off before any cool snaps arrive, and for spring bloomers, it can cost you next year's flowers. Save the hard pruning for late winter. If something is dead, diseased, or a safety hazard, that's fair game any time, otherwise, let it be for now.
4. Plant Shrubs, Trees, and Groundcovers
Even though it doesn't feel like it, this is a great planting window. Warm soil plus (hopefully) regular rain means new shrubs, trees, and groundcovers can get their roots established before the milder fall weather kicks in. When you set out containerized plants, loosen up the root ball first so roots don't just keep circling in the same shape.
A few easy wins for this time of year:
Fall color from chrysanthemums, which you can set out now
Groundcovers will root in fast with the current heat and moisture
Divide crowded perennials, bulb clumps, and ornamental grasses and replant or share them
5. Refresh Mulch and Clean Up
Summer storms tend to wash mulch away and knock debris into beds. Top off mulch around trees and shrubs (2–3 inches, kept back from trunks and stems) to hold moisture and suppress weeds. Deadhead spent flowers to keep plants pushing new blooms instead of going to seed.
6. Keep an Eye on Citrus and Ornamentals
If you're growing citrus, plan to fertilize with a balanced fertilizer either now or next month, but skip soluble nitrogen if it's been especially rainy, since it'll just leach out before the tree can use it. Keep scouting ornamentals like azaleas and euonymus for scale and lace bugs, which tend to flare up in late summer heat.
7. Have a Storm Plan
Even though its been a mild season, we’re deep in hurricane season. Before the next storm threat, walk your property and look for dead limbs, weak branch unions, or anything top-heavy that could come down in high wind. Secure or store loose pots and yard décor, and know which trees near your house are the ones you'd worry about first. A little prep now beats cleanup later.
Bottom line: don't fertilize the lawn if your area restricts it, don't prune yet, but do plant, mulch, weed, and get that fall vegetable garden started. The next six weeks are some of the most productive of the year for an Ocala yard, even if it doesn't feel like fall just yet; after all, once the weather breaks, you’ll want to kick back and enjoy!
