PUTTING THE GARDEN TO BED—PART ONE 

Believe me when I say it is a tough sell to get people interested in working in the garden this time of year.  First of all, the weather is usually cold, wet and windy, all of which we have been experiencing lately.  Secondly, most gardeners are quite frankly tired of the whole gardening scene and finally, with the holidays at hand thoughts are turning to inside activities like decorating and of course Christmas shopping.  But if you can find the motivation to visit a garden center in November and December you will be pleasantly surprised with the attractive arrangement of plants that have special interest for this time of year.  It’s not nearly as dull as one would expect.  And that little visit may be just enough encouragement for you to find the energy to “Put the Garden to Bed”, my topic for the next two weeks.

First off I have to confess that I don’t like the expression “Putting the garden to bed” because like a lot of our families, not everyone wants to go to bed at the same time.  There are still plants out there that are wide awake and believe it or not, there are some plants that react to winter with renewed energy.  But overall there is a sense of quieting in the garden and there are some specific tasks that we can do to help settle everyone down for the winter.  You can pick and choose as you like.  Here’s part one.

LAWNS:  This summer was hard on lawns.  Whether you let your lawn turn brown or kept it growing this is the most critical month to fertilize and the good news is that it won’t make the lawn grow any faster.  It should just improve the color and help it make it through the winter and have a quick spring start.  This is also a good time to apply lime.  Use a good organic lawn food with 8-10 percent nitrogen and you should be good to go until spring.  The only real turf disease issue for fall and winter is red thread.  This is a fungus organism that attacks grass blades and turns them pinkish-red and shrivels them up like a thread.  Bonide Infuse is a newer product that is very effective in controlling stubborn cases of red thread and isn’t affected by lots of rain.  Improving drainage and fertility will also help.

FRUIT TREES:  Sanitation is the most important consideration for fruit tree health.  Clean up all leaves and dispose of properly.  Sulfur sprays are no longer on the market so you will have to use copper for your winter dormant spray.  For insects that might be overwintering on the trees, spray a horticultural oil on the branches to suffocate the eggs or critters.  Do it now and again in late winter as the buds begin to swell.  We’ll talk about pruning later in the year.

FLOWERING TREES:  Just like fruit trees, flowering trees benefit from good sanitation.  Flowering cherries, pears, plums and crab apples are susceptible to the same kinds of problems their fruiting counterparts are.  Do the same kind of dormant spray routine I mentioned above and you should be in good shape. 

VEGETABLES:  By now you should have salvaged any green tomatoes, harvested the squash and pumpkins and pulled up the corn.  If you haven’t planted a fall crop of veggies then you can either sow a cover crop of winter rye, crimson clover, fava beans, etc. or spread a manure mulch over the area.  If you don’t do this then the chickweed and henbit will take over.  For mulching larger areas I like to use a bulk product such as Chicken-Chips from De Jong Sawdust and Shavings or composted yard wastes from Cedar Grove Compost. By spring both of these products will be ready to rototill into the soil and you will have the best garden in the neighborhood.

Next week we’ll talk about containers, roses, berries, grapes and kiwis, bulbs and perennials and general weed control.  In the mean time send me your gardening questions so I can work them into a column for everyone’s benefit.  And don’t eat too much turkey.