This week's gardening tips from the Savvygardener

 

Savvygardener.com

Missouri Organic Mulch, Compost, Bulk Soil
 

Visit Our Website
Previous Issues
Buyer's Guide  
Tell A Friend  

Donations

Send A Postcard!

Bookstore  
Magazines 
Gardening Catalogs

Site Search
Contact Us
Submit A Tip

Feature Articles

~ Houseplant Care
~ When to Start
Seeds Indoors
~ Seed Starting Indoors
~ Vegetable Garden Calendar
~ Seed Starting Tomatoes

~

Shrub Pruning Calendar
~ Pruning Clematis 
~ Gardening in the Shade
~ Summer-Flowering Bulb Care
~ Drought-Tolerant Flowers for KC
~ Preparing for a Soil Test
~ Changing the pH of Your Soil
~ Growing Herbs
~ All About Composting
~ All About Mulch
~ Worm Composting
~ When to Harvest Vegetables
~ Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
~ Organic Pesticides & Biopesticides
~ Cold Frames & Hot Beds
~ When to Divide Perennials
~ Dividing Spring Blooming Perennials
~ Forcing Bulbs Indoors
~ Overseeding A Lawn
~ Pruning Trees
~ Pruning Shrubs
~ Planting Trees
~ Deer Resistant Plants
~ Trees that Survived the Storm
~ Stump Removal Options for the Homeowner
~ More...

Rose Tips
What's Hot... 
Nuisance of the Week
Turf Tips...
Winter Wisdom
Gardener's Glossary 

SavvyChat
~ On-Line Gardening Forum

Books We Love
Great Products
Web Resources
Event Calendar

Local Sponsors

~ Family Tree Nursery
~ Missouri Organic Recycling
~ Prestige One Landscaping
~ Ryan Lawn & Tree

Subscribe

Tell A Friend

Privacy Pledge

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 16, 2005

Chill In The Air...
Well I guess Mother Nature showed us. The bite and sting of winter is certainly in the air. Yesterday's winds and snowflakes were a reminder that we live in the Midwest and colder temperatures are never too far away - especially in November. I must admit that seeing those snowflakes was pretty exciting. The holidays are fast approaching and my gardening time needs to be spent on planning Thanksgiving dinner and bustling around crossing things off my Christmas "to do" list. The first snow (if yesterday's counts) brings so much excitement to our house. The kids can't wait to see enough on the ground to go sledding, Sam Parker (our beagle) romps around as if he has been transformed into a snow rabbit. Then there's me, who will admit to liking it as long as I am appropriately dressed. I guess we all have our own way of dealing with snow and colder temperatures. My first preference would to be living in a place where it is cool in the evenings and warm in the days. Hmmm... maybe San Diego?

If you have ventured out today to look at the garden you will notice that last night's freezing temperatures zapped most of those perennials and annuals still hanging around. It is time to get in the garden, cut things back and put it to bed. If you have plenty of mulch on your beds, great. If not, now would be a good time to add some additional insulation. Kevin and I typically use mulched leaves. We always seem to have plenty of those this time of year so instead of filling trash bags and clogging landfills we mulch them up and put them back into the ground. Saves time for us and benefits the gardens as well. I love a good win-win situation.

~ Shelly  

Bunny Love...
During the winter months, rabbits often gnaw on the bark of many woody plants. Heavy browsing can result in the complete girdling of small trees and small branches clipped off at snow level.  Apple, pear, crabapple and serviceberry are frequent targets of rabbits.  Small trees with smooth, thin bark are the most vulnerable.  Other frequently damaged plants include the winged euonymus or burning bush, Japanese barberry, dogwood, roses and raspberries.

The best way to prevent rabbit damage to young trees is to place a cylinder of hardware cloth (1/4 inch mesh wire fencing) around the tree trunk. The hardware cloth cylinder should stand about 1 to 2 inches from the tree trunk and 20 inches above the ground. The bottom 2 to 3 inches should be buried beneath the soil. Small shrubs, roses and raspberries can be protected with chicken wire fencing.

Cold Cuts...
Now that we've got a couple of killing frosts under our belts it's time to do some cutting back of dormant perennials.  Cut them back to about 3 inches above the soil surface.  Once the ground is frozen, they can be mulched to guard against displacement due to soil heaving.  These simple steps will help ensure a successful show of foliage and color next season.

Well Watered For Winter...
For maximum winter protection, Savvygardeners need to water landscape evergreens thoroughly once every week or so until the ground freezes.  Evergreens continue to lose moisture from their foliage all winter, but once the ground is frozen, they'll be unable to take up enough water to replace it.  Sending them into winter well watered reduces the potential for damaged foliage.  There's more... broadleaved and tender evergreens exposed to drying winds and sun may need to be shaded on the south and southwest sides to reduce moisture loss and foliage injury.

 


What Are You Reading
When You're Not Reading
Savvygardener.com
?

Great Gardening Magazines
Are Right Here!

 

 

Cold Storage At Your Feet...
Looking for a good place to store root crops?  Just look down!  Carrots, radishes, turnips and Jerusalem artichokes store well outdoors in the ground.  Just before the ground freezes, bury them under a deep layer of leaves or straw to protect the ground from freezing.  Simply harvest them as needed during winter by pulling back this protective mulch and digging them up.  Just make sure you replace the mulch after each visit!

When Fruits And Vegetables Don't Get Along...
If you decide to store your vegetables indoors (instead of in the ground like we mentioned above) make sure you don't place them with any apples or pears.  As they sit these fruits give off ethylene gas which speeds up the breakdown of vegetables and causes them to develop off-flavors.  Yuck!

Preparing for Winter...
Each year we are asked for a reminder of what to do to prepare for winter. While recent temperatures have been up and down, there is no doubt that permanent cold weather is around the corner. Take advantage of the current mild weather and prepare for winter now, while you can still work in relative comfort outdoors!  You'll find a handy checklist in our feature article, Preparing for Winter in the Garden...

Wild Things In Lawns...
Wild onion and wild garlic are difficult-to-control weeds. These weeds look very similar to the garden variety onion except the stems of the wild type are much thinner and do not grow as tall as the garden variety. The most effective method for controlling onion and garlic is to create a dense turf through proper fertilization and regular mowing, thereby making these weeds less noticeable and less problematic. Wild onion and garlic die back to underground bulbs during early summer, but bulbs will germinate during the fall and winter. Selective chemical control is difficult and normally ineffective, so co-existing with these plants is often the best choice. One method is to apply 2,4-D immediately after mowing so the herbicide can enter through the cut leaves. This will usually burn back the leaves but may not kill the underground bulb, thus multiple years of applications will be needed.

Source

Finally...
"The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on."

~ Emily Dickinson

To change your e-mail address, delivery method, or to stop delivery please follow the "Update Your Profile"  link at the bottom of your
e-mailed newsletter.

© 1999-2005 Savvygardener.com, Inc. All rights reserved.  If you wish to copy, transmit, or otherwise duplicate any of the material from our website please ask us first.  Thank you.