An extra week of daylight savings time will be a welcome gift this year. Turn your clocks back this first weekend in November. There are many things to do in the yard and garden before the season ends. So, dig in to the tasks at hand listed below and enjoy the outdoors before it is too late!
• Keep leaves raked up and off the lawn to prevent injury to turf grasses.
• Continue mowing lawn grasses as long as they keep growing, 2-3” high is good.
• Apply Winterizer fertilizer to lawns to strengthen plant stems and roots for winter growth and early spring green up.
• Plant tulips and other spring bulbs now through December.
• Start paperwhite, narcissus, and amaryllis bulbs indoors now thru December.
• Because of our dry summer and fall, continue to water perennial beds, shrubs, and trees.
• Toward the end of the month, be sure to shut off and drain any outdoor water pipes or irrigation systems that may freeze during cold weather.
• Roll up and store garden hoses on a warm, sunny day.
• Covering garden ponds with bird or pond netting will prevent leaves from fouling the water. Oxygen depletion from rotting organic matter can cause a winterkill of pond fish.
• Take steps to prevent garden ponds from freezing solid in winter. Floating a water garden heater in the pond will lessen the chance of ice damage.
• Now is a good time to collect soil samples to test the pH and nutritional levels. Lime will raise the pH level if it is low. Sulfur will lower the pH level if it is high. The product labels and the staff at your local Garden Center can help you determine the rate to use for your situation.
• Fall tilling of the vegetable garden exposes many insect pests to winter cold, reducing their numbers in next year’s garden.
• Mulch strawberries with straw for winter. This should be done after several nights of 20 F, but before temperatures drop into the teens. Apply straw loosely, but thick enough to hide plants from view.
• Set up bird feeders. Birds also appreciate a source of unfrozen drinking water during the winter. Use one of the many styles of birdbath heaters or heated birdbaths available at garden centers.
• When feeding the birds, set up a variety of feeder types to get the best assortment of birds to come to your yard. Tube feeders are good for songbirds, platform feeders are good for cardinals and larger birds, and suet is a great source of fat and energy for woodpeckers and all bird types.
• Winter houseplant basics: reduce or eliminate fertilizer until spring, shorter days mean slower growth, slower growth means less frequent watering. Plants in plastic pots need less water than those in clay pots. Plants in cooler rooms need less water and will have slower growth than those in warm rooms. Creating additional humidity is always beneficial.
• After the first hard freeze, mulch rose bushes heavily to a depth of 12” to cover the plant graph area properly using bark, compost, or straw with rose collars. Prune back longer canes to 24-36” to prevent whipping from wind in the winter. Hold off on heavy pruning until April of next year.
The fall season is ending, but outdoor enjoyment can continue especially with the new outdoor living trends of today. Can you believe that it is November 1 already? Wow, that means only 22 more days until Thanksgiving, 52 days until the first day of winter, 55 more days until Christmas and 62 more days until January 1, 2008! And you know how fast the next 61 days are going to fly by! So fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the outdoors as you prepare for winter….Enjoy your yard and garden in every season!
Time to go….See you in the Garden....
Sandi Hillermann McDonald
