PUTTING THE GARDEN TO BED—PART 2 

Here are some more activities for you to try and accomplish before the end of the year.  Because it has been so mild some plants have still not lost all their leaves and some perennials have not died to the ground.  Trust me when I say that at this point they are pretty much dormant and you can just go ahead and knock off the rest of the leaves and cut things back like you normally would do by this time. 

BULBS:  Believe it or not, you can still plant bulbs in December.  In fact, that is usually when I finally get around to it anyway.  So, if you still have bags of bulbs sitting in the garage or on the back porch that you bought back in September then get them planted.  You might even still be able to find more at your local garden center.  You will never regret planting too many bulbs come spring.  Throw some extra bulb food or bone meal in the hole too, it will give you bigger and brighter colored flowers.

FLOWERS:  There is no need to look at empty beds or containers all winter long.  You can plant pansies and violas and lots of evergreen perennials and small shrubs that can add foliar color and texture all through the winter.  A visit to the garden center will show you just how creative you can get with winter arrangements.  I also like to reserve a few containers for just bulbs that I can bring into view when they start growing and then remove when they are past their prime. 

BERRIES:  For raspberries and blackberries, it is most important to remove the canes that produced fruit this year.  You really should have done it in the summer. The remaining canes can be shortened up a bit and secured to a wire/trellis system.  Blueberries only need a light pruning to remove any dead wood and to shape them.  Strawberries need to be rejuvenated every few years.  Use the runners to replace the mother plants for 2 or 3 years and then throw the whole lot away and buy some new ones. 

GRAPES AND KIWIS:  These plants are vigorous vines that need serious pruning every year once they are established.  Your best bet is to visit your garden center so they can show you first hand how to prune these vines.  Basically, you need to remove most of the twiggy growth so that all that is left is the main trunk and short side shoots (laterals) four to six inches in length and spaced every foot along the main trunk.  Insufficient pruning leads to too many fruits that are too small to enjoy. 

ROSES:  Remember “Hip high in the fall, knee high in the spring”.  This is how you should be pruning most of your roses.  Climbing roses need to be secured to their trellis and the long canes shortened up just a little bit.  These long canes will produce your first crop of flowers next spring so don’t cut them back too far.  After pruning and thoroughly cleaning around the base of the rose, apply some lime and then pile up some mulch about 10-12 inches high to protect the graft union from a really ugly winter.  Chances are that if you didn’t do this last winter then you lost your roses.   A couple of bucks of mulch is a small price to pay for insuring that your roses are going to survive the winter. 

PERENNIALS:  When I think of perennials I tend to put them into two camps, sticks and mushers.  The mushers are the ones like hostas that mush to the ground at the first frost.  These are easy to clean up at that point.  Sticks are the ones like asters that turn brown but remain woody.  Cut them half way back to the ground and in spring as the new growth emerges from the base remove the rest of the old growth.  I suppose there is a third camp which would be the evergreen ones like Bergenia and Heuchera which just need some grooming to keep them looking good all winter.

FINALLY, after all the pruning and cleaning and staking is done it is time to decide whether you are a MESSY MOLLIE OR A NEAT NELLY.  That discussion will be the topic for next time as we finish up the gardening season.