November Garden and Landscape Tips

Lawn Tips:

• Drop the mower deck down and mow your grass at a height of 1.5 to 2 inches for the winter & fertilize.

• Be sure to remove all leaves from the lawn by raking them up, or using a mulching mower to shred them and return nutrients to the soil.  

Early:

• Now is a great time to plant deciduous plant material. Be sure to water them in well to help get rid of any air pockets in the soil around the root ball.

• Remove all leaf and flower debris from the garden to prevent providing a home for overwintering insects and diseases. Use this debris to start a compost pile if you haven’t already. 

• Monitor houseplants; if they are dropping excessive amounts of leaves try moving them closer to a window, or a totally different location to find the right balance of light for them. Shedding of older leaves is normal when you bring them in for the fall, but newer leaves dropping can be a sign of a problem.

• It’s still a good time to consider forcing bulbs in pots for early spring bloom indoors. They’ll need 10-13 weeks of chilling (refrigerate, but don’t freeze!) and take about 4 weeks to bloom after bringing them out to room temperature.
• Take a tour of your property and identify small trees and shrubs that will need protection from rabbits and mice over the winter (preferably metal screening). They like to gnaw off the bark, and will completely girdle or cut off small stems if not protected.

• If you are planning on getting a living Christmas tree this year, pre-dig the hole now (to avoid bad weather, or frozen soil!) and store the soil in buckets until planting time.

• Finish harvesting all root crops, and store them in a cool, humid environment.

Middle:

• Winter is very stressful to broadleaf evergreens if there is inadequate soil moisture. It is always important to soak plantings well before the soil freezes.    

• Continue planting hardy bulbs as long as the ground can be worked or at least until Thanksgiving.

• Fertilize trees and shrubs after we experience several good hard freezes (mid 20’s F, or colder).   

Late:

• Winterize roses (hybrid teas, grandifloras and floribundas) after a killing frost but before the soil freezes. Reduce breakage of tall canes by winter winds by cutting them back to 30 to 36 inches and tying tips together. Hill soil over the center of the plants in broad rounded mounds at least 12 inches high and 12 inches wide. Cover the soil mounds with mulch 2-3 inches deep.
• Mulch strawberries with 3 inches of clean wheat straw.

Several weeks ago I had some extra time to kill while at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, so I decided to take a closer look at their extensive plantings of sweet potato vines that they had been promoting at their Plant Trials Day. I can definitely see why now, as there are some new selections out that will really make you fall in love with sweet potato vines all over again!

First we'll start with how they use sweet potato vines at the zoo. I love the way these park benches have the vines draped between, over, and behind them.

Then we have the use of these brilliantly covered vines in mass for breathtaking contrast of colors and textures.  

Below is a general overview of the selections I came across while walking around that afternoon, keep in mind this is after a long, hot, dry summer!

                'Sweet Caroline Bewitched'                                                                                    

                       'Illusion Garnet Lace'                  

      'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Light Green'                                                                              

                      'Sweetheart Red'                

         'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Purple'

October Garden and Landscape Tips

Lawn Tips:

• Now is a good time to aerate the lawn, but with this year’s drought you’ll need to water deeply ahead of time to be able to do this!

• Control mole infestations with traps, diligence (sitting in a chair with a pitchfork waiting), or any other concoction someone has told you about.  If it works let us know!  I have read a mixture of castor oil, and detergent sprayed onto and watered into the lawn can get rid of them.

Early:

• Have green tomatoes in the garden? Harvest them before frost, and bring them indoors to ripen.

• If you haven’t brought your houseplants in, you better do so soon. Night temperatures below 50 degrees F is damaging to the cells of many tropical plants. We have already been in the low to mid 40’s several times last month! Yellowing leaves will slowly start to show up from cold injury within a couple weeks, and the plants will be slow to recover from this damage.  Spray for insects before bringing them indoors and reduce watering.

• If you grew sweet potatoes now is the time to harvest them.

• Now that the recent unseasonably late intense heat appears to be over, you can plant fall pansies and mums. This year you’ll need to water them almost daily and mulch deeply to conserve water and prevent heaving from winter freeze / thaw cycles. With luck your pansies will overwinter and come back bigger and better next spring.

• Don’t forget to start preparing your “Thanksgiving” or “Christmas Cactus” for the holidays.  Bright sunlight, followed by complete darkness and drier conditions (but never bone dry!) are needed to set buds.

Middle:

• Normally fall is a great time to plant trees and shrubs. This year however will be risky because of the drought until plant material has shed leaves and has become fully dormant (a couple good heavy frosts and a hard freeze will ensure this). Be sure to keep all newly plant material well watered and mulched.   

• Protect the trunks of young trees with deer protection before the fall rut begins. Plastic or wire fencing, or anything that lets the trunk receive sunlight and air will work. Never use a solid material that shades the trunk or captures rainwater. Buck deer in rut like anything with soft smooth bark, and especially aromatic plants like most conifers.

• This is also normally about as late in the year as possible to move and divide perennial plants (the best time was mid-summer). But once again this year’s drought is in the way by making things even more risky!  All plants are stressed right now, and since transplanting only adds more stress to already weakened plants you’ll be taking a bit more risk this year. Be sure to water deeply before you dig or divide, and keep new transplants well watered.   

Late:

• Plant spring flowering bulbs now. This year it may be wise to invest in a “bulb auger” to get through the hard, dry ground.

• Be sure to clean off and oil all garden tools before they are put away for the winter. Of course your garden power equipment all need to be winterized as well so you might as well make a day of it.