November brings new chore list

By Don Davis
Published: November 4, 2008

Autumn weather has been drier and colder than normal, raising some concern among gardeners. We were hoping for better growing conditions after the brutal drought last summer. The following is a checklist of garden chores for November.

Fill your flower pots and beds with bulbs this month. It is time to replace the summer flowers with tulip, hyacinth and other spring bloomers. Keep your pansies deadheaded and fertilized. Sow seeds of corn poppies if your want red flowers next May.

This month is an ideal time to plant new shrubbery and trees. Their roots will get established over the winter, and little watering is required.

Keep deer in mind when planting young trees. Bucks are roaming around looking for saplings to rub with their antlers. This is a serious problem for trees, because their bark gets bruised, shredded and destroyed.

One way to prevent antler rubbing is to drive a steel fence post into the ground on each side of the tree trunk. Enclosing the trunk in fence wire also works.

Pruning is a popular fall activity, and there is no harm in cutting back privet, juniper and nandina at this time of year. The shrubs to skip pruning are lilac, forsythia and azalea. Pruning now takes away their flower buds.

Continue mowing your lawn as long as there is growth. Definitely fertilize this month. Nitrogen fertilizer applied to fescue, ryegrass and bluegrass in fall will build up their root systems.

Bulbous vegetables are planted now. Onions and garlic are perfectly cold hardy and this is the season to begin planting them. Choose onion sets instead of plants and seeds. They will provide you with green onions for several months.

Beans, tomatoes and other vegetables killed by the recent frosts are ready to be removed. You can dig them into the dirt or pull them up and place them in a compost pile.

Dead tomato vines carry the spores of disease-causing fungi and removing them is one way to help control early blight and other tomato diseases. Compost piles can generate temperatures as high as 160 degrees, and that is hot enough to kill most fungi.

Fall is the time to put away tomato stakes, trellises and cages. Your garden will be ready for winter after you mix in some livestock manure, compost or tree leaves.

Afterthought
In last week’s column on recycling tree leaves, I should have mentioned the advantages of recycling leaves without a lawnmower. Raking leaves into a pile and letting them rot offers a way to get some exercise while avoiding the noise and exhaust from lawnmowers. After a year of composting, the leaves can be spread over your lawn as a topdressing.