November Episode 4 Weekly Tips
Monday, November 26th, 2007
Lawn
If you haven’t applied a fall or winter type of lawn fertilizer, do it now. Use a slow release fertilizer this should last all winter into early spring. A slow release fertilizer will encourage good root development and keep the color of your lawn green. Lime can also be applied, if needed. Have you done a soil test?
Rake your lawn to remove accumulations of leaves that have fallen this fall. The leaves should be deposited in your compost pile. You can mulch a small amount of the leaves into your lawn this will add important nutrients. Don’t try to mulch too many or it will smother your grass.
Annuals
Pansies are one of our favorite winter annual flowers. They are cold tolerant and able to withstand freezes. Pansies provide color all winter long and last well into late spring
House Plants
Heating your home in the winter dries the air out considerably. Mist your house plants regularly to keep them hydrated.
Pot up some spring flowering bulbs for indoor color during the winter. Store the pots in a cool, dark place, until new growth emerges from the soil, and then move them to a bright window.
Odds and ends
Tools
Clean, sharpen, and oil your garden tools before putting them away for the winter. Pour sand into a large bucket and add some oil, then slide your garden tools in and out of the sand. This will clean them and apply a light coating of oil to prevent rusting. This is a good month to make a list of tools that need to be restocked. The prices should be lower now and garden tools make good Christmas gifts.
After you finish your last mowing of the year, make sure you store your mower properly. Empty the fuel tank of gas. Gas can turn to varnish in the fuel tank of your mower and other gas powered equipment, when sitting idle for long periods of time, and severely damage the engine.
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November Episode 3 Weekly Tips
Monday, November 19th, 2007There is a chill in the air, plants like people feel it, too. The fall weather is acclimating your plants for the cold winter ahead. This week we are going to talk more about planting shrubs and trees and light pruning.
Shrubs and trees
If you have flowers, shrubs, and trees to plant continue on. Transplanting for the next several months is ideal while your plants are dormant. Make sure you dig up a large root ball to keep from disturbing the roots as much as possible. Plant back into the ground as quickly as you can to keep the roots from drying out. Press 2 - 6 plant fertilizer tablets into the top couple of inches of soils around the root ball. The number of tablets you use depends on the size of the plant.
Are you going to use a live Christmas tree?
Well if you are planning to celebrate Christmas with a live tree look around your yard for the location where you are going to plant it. If you live in a zone where the ground will freeze dig a hole prior to the freeze and fill with straw or mulch. Cover the hole with a piece of plywood or some boards to prevent a passerby from injury. Keep the excavated soil in your shed or garage so it won’t freeze into a solid brick. After Christmas you can remove the filling out of the hole and plant your Christmas Tree using the backfill soil you saved.
Always stake larger trees and even some upright shrubs. If your prevailing wind comes from the northwest, then place a stake on the northeast and southwest side. This will allow the tree to move and still be supported.
When your fruiting vines and trees go dormant and lose their leaves you can start spraying them with a dormant spray. By spraying as early as you can you will get a jump on controlling diseases and insects that over-winter. Remember to follow the directions on the label of the spray you use.
In colder zones (Zones 6 and under) continue to water shrubs and trees until the ground freezes
Pruning
Prune your evergreens to their desired shape.
In frost free areas you can lightly prune flowering trees after they drop their blossoms or on fruiting trees after harvest. Look for a reason to prune your plants. Are they infested with an insect, do they have a disease, or are they overgrown? Don’t just go hacking because you feel it will be good exercise for you. Your heavy pruning should be saved until January or February just before your plants start their vigorous spring growth.
Some more tasks you can do this month.
Mulch you asparagus and strawberries with straw.
Tie up your raspberry canes.
Once your black berry vines have gone dormant you can cut them back to the ground and remove all of those thorny vines.
Place a marker anywhere you have planted bulbs in your flower beds. You may dig them up in the spring if you forget they are there when you start turning your soil for other plantings. It is a good idea to make notes in your journal exactly where you planted.
Empty your outdoor hanging baskets and other containers you use for summer annuals. Store them in a dry place to prevent breakage in the freezing cold.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We all have something to be thankful for each day.
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November Episode 2 Weekly Tips
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007Check your notes and calendar for what you need to be doing in your garden in November. Schedule some time to do some work in your garden before the holidays set in and cause a conflict with your time.
Annuals and Perennials
Chrysanthemum
As soon as your Chrysanthemum die back cut their stems to 2-3 inches from the soil. As long as your perennials remain dormant you can plant them throughout the fall and winter. In frost free areas now is the time to divide your perennials.
Plant your pansies now and you can enjoy color until the end of April or early May. Plant in the ground or in a container with good drainage. You should use quality a potting soil. Add extra perlite to provide little air pockets in the soil this will help the roots to “breathe” and loosens the soil.
Plant your flowers in an area that has plenty of sunlight. Feed them an all purpose fertilizer such as Miracle Grow. Remove dead blossoms regularly this will encourage new blooms. You can also plant dianthus, snapdragons, and stock.
Check and make sure tender plants are protected from frost. Mulch with bark, sawdust, or straw to help protect your tender plants such as perennials from frost. This will create a blanket effect for the roots. Mulching will protect your plants from “heaving” as the ground freezes and thaws. Start mulching after your plants have gone completely dormant and before the first snows. Generally plan to mulch around the end of November depending in the weather forecast. If you mulch too soon the mice and rodents will nest in the mulch and may chew up the stems of the plants you are trying to protect.
You can also use leaves, pine needles, shredded bark, or straw to mulch. My favorite is straw because I believe the hollow stems provide the best insulation effect. Place a layer three to four inches deep around each plant, make sure there is room for the stems and trunks to breathe this will reduce disease problems. Increase the depth in colder or very windy areas. Leaves need to be chopped pretty fine to prevent them from smothering the plant. Whole leaves can mat together too tightly when they get wet.
If the weather suddenly turns cold cover the tops of your tender plants with burlap, cloth or dark plastic to protect them from a killing freeze. Make sure you remove the cover when the weather has warmed up some.
Cover up your compost pile to keep the rain from leaching the nutrients.
If you have young evergreens you should build a windbreak to protect them from cold winter winds. Drive posts in the ground on the prevailing wind side of your trees (generally north and west). You can use burlap or old feed sacks for the shield. I don’t recommend plastic because it will get too warm on sunny days and cause the plants to burn.
In northern zones the atmosphere is thin in winter and the sun can burn new trees. You can protect the tree trunk by wrapping it with a special tree tape that can be purchased at most hardware or garden centers.
Other tasks to implement
Begin or continue to rake leaves as your situation requires and compost them.
Feed the birds in your back yard that may not be able to find food with the snow on the ground or just the lack of food due to the winter season. Bird seed and feed is fairly inexpensive and you can feed a lot of birds for a few dollars. Next spring you can plant some bird feed that you can use next winter. It is just a good feeling that you get when you’ve taken care of one of God’s creatures.
Drain all of your hoses and store them away so they don’t freeze up and burst. This will ensure next spring when you are ready to water your garden again you won’t have leaky hoses.
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Next week we’ll talk about transplanting and pruning shrubs and trees.
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