I was way behind on my fall to-dos, but luckily Mother Nature gifted us with a fabulous weekend to finish off those last tasks – putting away the patio furniture, overwintering my pots, cleaning up the gardens and raking (and bagging).
But before I started on the big cleanup, I finally planted the bulbs I bought a few weeks ago (this article said I could)! After reading fellow CanadianGardening.com blogger Anja’s piece on bulb planting, I purchased a bulb planter from Sheridan Nurseries. Armed with this handy tool, I dug them all into the ground and cross my fingers the squirrels won’t find them.
I chose my bulbs based on the gorgeous pinks and purples in the package photos. I hope my little royal family of ‘Purple Princes’ and ‘Pink Emperors’ doesn’t let me down come spring!
I can’t take credit for planting them, but I love the dependable, gorgeous colours my chrysanthemums bring to the yard each fall – white, pink, yellow, orange. Still covered in bees, these are not delicate flowers. The frosty temperatures we had last week didn’t harm their little faces at all! I haven’t done it yet this year, but I love to snip a short stem full of blooms and place them in water, low to the vase. It’s like a ready-made, elegant bouquet! Just make sure they aren’t covered in little bugs. I made that mistake last year!
In the spring, when I first started planting my seedlings and sowing seeds, I pictured myself under a deluge fresh produce. I haven’t quite yielded the quantities I would have liked, but it’s still so fun when you can even eat that one fresh tomato. My problem currently is I don’t want to pick things too soon, but I ‘m not sure if a couple of things are ready or not. And I don’t want to waste the precious few specimens that I have!
Here are the veggies I’m unsure about:
My onions: This is another tricky one. I have what look like green onions sprouting up, but I remember the tag had a small bulb at the end in the picture. I pulled one out a couple of weeks ago and it just looked like a green onion. I’m not quite sure when to go in and yank out the others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My Hungarian hot peppers: I’m glad I looked this up on The Cottage Gardener site. My peppers are currently a deep purple, but apparently they will be ripening to red.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My green peppers: I have three currently, that are about the size of a Delicious apple. I want to pick them before the squirrels catch on that they’re there, but I’m worried they still might have the potential to grow bigger.
|
|
|
|
My beets: I have four. Some of the beets I’ve purchased at the farmer’s market or at the grocery store have these giant leaves. I’m sure mine won’t grow to be that big, but I’m not sure when to determine if they’re ready yet.
|
|
|
|
|
Sure bets if they would just hurry up!
* My tomatoes: Ready any time they decide to ripen!
* My cucumbers: Every time one gets to be the size of a really good dill pickle, the squirrels get it!
* My tomatillos: Still flowering! Maybe I should go out and give them a little shake!
* My eggplant (behind the onion): Still hasn’t flowered.
(p.s. I can’t get WordPress to co-operate, so I had to put those extra characters around the pictures to make them line up!)
The weather has just not cooperated this fall. Granted my schedule can be a bit hectic, so I can’t just expect Mother Nature to conform to MY timetable, but seriously, does it have to rain every time I have a free moment? It poured this past weekend, so I didn’t get the opportunity to do any raking, but I managed to sneak out today for an hour before work and get some of those leaves up in my backyard before the snow flies.
The one thing I’ve neglected to do is trim back some of the lily and iris foliage around my yard.
I asked Anne Marie if I can cut it back before winter and here is what she had to say:
- If your iris and lily foliage is ready to be removed (i.e easily pulled out) go right ahead.
- Lilies: After the foliage has naturally died down, remove all but 4 cm of the stem so you know where the plant is next spring.
- Bearded iris: Do not mulch, cut foliage down to 15 cm.
And alas, as I’m about to post this, it’s starting to snow.
As the weather has not been particularly cooperative on the days I’m available to clean up my yard, I asked Anne Marie what the one thing is that all gardeners should do. Last year it snowed before we go all our leaves up!
Here is what she recommended:
- Water your evergreens well
- Prune your hybrid tea roses to knee height and mound with soil for protection
- Tie cedars and junipers that might be damaged by ice and heavy snow loads
Ok, that’s three things, but all very helpful if they apply to your yard. Oh and she recommended that I empty my rain barrel because the water will expand when frozen and could damage it. That’s one thing I have managed to do.
So my mint is nestled against the house, all my pots and garden knick knackey things have been put away along with the patio furniture and the barbecue, the birdfeeder is out…
And this past weekend it rained—again—meaning my backyard is still an ocean of leaves. If I can just get home before dark one night I’ll grab my rake!
As you may have read, I had a real problem with my tomatoes this past season…they were so late! I managed to pick (and eat!) a few juicy, delicious beefsteaks and plums, but there were still some pretty green ones hanging out on the vine.
Then we got a sprinkling of snow and a few days of frost here and there. What to do?
According to Anne Marie, some of the slightly cold-tolerant vegetables can be picked after a frost. Apparently some even taste better (parsnips, rutabaga, kale, chard) if they are harvested after the first light frost (or two). Other cold tolerant veggies include carrots, cabbage, turnip, leeks, spinach, some lettuce, kohlrabi, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Others, such as tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash, do not tolerate a frost and should be picked before the freezing temperatures.
When I was out raking this weekend, I grabbed the last of my tomatillos (which still seemed OK) and a promising looking tomato, which I’m happy to say is turning a happy shade of red on my windowsill.
For the rest, I’m going to try my luck at wrapping them in newspaper as Anne Marie suggested to see if they ripen on their own. Hopefully it’s not too late!
There is a monster tree next door that loves to wait until the very last minute to drop its leaves. Last year we waited and waited and raked as much as we could and then that last big deluge happened just as we got our first snowfall. I was wondering if this is bad for my grass and gardens or if the leaves make a good mulch.
Definitely no leaves should be left on the lawn, says Anne Marie. They will smother the grass and could contribute to more overwintering diseases. Particularly bad are wet clumps of maple or oak leaves (we’ve got a maple!).
A layer of leaves (about 7 cm) can be left on the vegetable garden over winter and worked into the soil in the spring. A 5 cm layer of leaves can be left over the soil in the flower garden as long as no perennials are covered. Shredded leaves would be better, if available.
So lesson learned for this year. Even if we need snowsuits, I should still try to get as many leaves up off that grass as possible—and be sure not to drown my perennials.
I just couldn’t resist posting this today! I took this photo a couple of weeks ago when I was working on a videoshoot for the website at Sheridan Nurseries. After a little research I discovered this is called a gooseneck gourd—how appropriate! Some clever person has created a stand with the turkey tail and feet that you see here.
I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish my fellow budding gardeners a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! It’s supposed to be a beautiful weekend, so I intend to spend part of it out in my garden, crossing items off my fall checklist.
Check back soon for that video I mentioned earlier. Custom designer Elene Nouri shows us how to create a terrarium, so you can hone your green thumb throughout the winter.
Yesterday was a gorgeous September day and I found myself out in the garden admiring my perennials—my mums have all of a sudden exploded with colour! Some of my plants, however, have gotten quite dense over the summer. A couple of my hostas are so huge a neighbourhood cat was sleeping under one the other day and I didn’t even notice until it crawled out and gave me a sleepy “meow.”
What to do with my crowded beds? I haven’t really had to divide anything until now (except my irises), so I wasn’t sure when the best time of year is to do it.
I consulted Anne as I think I’d probably better get a move on if I’m going to divide anything before the first frost. Here is her advice:
- The best time to divide most perennials is in early spring. This will give the plant time to get settled before the summer weather challenges arrive.
- The second best time to divide most perennials is in early fall, when the soil is still warm and plants can get settled before winter arrives. Divide perennials about 6 weeks before the first frost.
- Some considerations to think about; often the soil is too wet to dig in the spring when it is the ideal time to divide. Some experts also suggest that spring and summer blooming perennials should be divided in the fall, and fall blooming perennials divided in the spring. This means you are dividing non-blooming plants, which will have a better chance of survival.
- Exceptions to this rule include bearded iris (August only), columbine (fall only), oriental poppy (early summer after flowering), bleeding heart (early summer after flowering) and peony (late summer).
- Divide plants on a cloudy day. Water them well the day before the move. And water them well after the move.
- Cover them if necessary to reduce wilting.
- Take as much soil as you can lift from around the roots and replant immediately.
- Use a garden fork or garden spade to loosen the soil and dig out the clump. An old, large kitchen knife, sharp garden spade or two garden forks are handy to divide the clump. Save the most vigorous sections of your clump from the outer edges to replant.
This information will find a place in my gardening journal. I also found this article written by Anne on dividing perennials, which I am going to print, along with the information above, for handy reference.
Twitter
Facebook
Youtube
RSS
