PEST-PROOFING THE GARDEN AND OTHER NOVEMBER GARDENING TIPS
In November Mother Nature begins to put things to seam for the long winter . It ’s sentence for gardeners to do the same by protecting plant for the winter , storing garden tools , and tidying up the garden for the next growing time of year . If you have n’t cleaned up old plant and rubble from vegetable and flower gardens , do so before winter add up . Leaving plant debris let disease to overwinter and resurface in the spring to snipe crop .
Remove spend cane and cut back deadened foliage of perennials to about four to six inches of the ground . If desired , leave some seed heads or other interesting feature of speech to add winter interest to the garden . Rake up damp leaves around plant life to prevent mat , which could smother or rot your plants . Around Thanksgiving , it ’s time to mulch non - hardy perennial and strawberry with a boneheaded bed of straw and put up a Charles Percy Snow fence to protect blueberry bush and tender shrubs from dry winter malarky . You also ask to prop up limbs or put structure over planting under rooflines that are probable to be damage by the exercising weight of ice and snow .
To avoid price to Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree automobile trunk from mice and field mouse , do n’t put any mulch around them as this create a habitat for little critters . Instead , wrap a piece of quarter- or half - inch mesh hardware cloth around the trunk of the fruit tree . Make this safeguard two pes high – or more if you are in a snow knock . immerse it about three to four inches below the soil aerofoil . If you ’ve had grievous rodent damage in past winters , a rodenticide used in combination with the above practices may be postulate . Contact your local garden inwardness for information on baits and bait station . Be careful not to put poisonous substance in containers that might be found by shaver , pets , or other wildlife by accident !
cervid control is always challenge . Fencing is the most efficacious , albeit expensive , solution . But even a brusk fencing , just four or five feet high , can protect most little gardens since cervid do n’t like to be enclosed . Large areas require a tall fence , eight to 10 feet high since deer can jump . A shorter angled fencing or two short fencing a few feet asunder often work to confuse cervid and , thus , can keep them out . Less effective options admit repellents such as sprayer made from live peppercorn , rotten eggs , or soap - like ingredient . Be sure that commercial-grade product are labeled for the crops you intend to spray them on . After rains or over time , these will have to be applied again to maintain repellency . With moderate cervid force per unit area , you may have success hanging deodorant soap bar in threatened trees and shrubs . Leave the wrapper on , drill hole through the bars , and hang abundantly . The Francis Scott Key to using repellents is to get them in place before the cervid get used to feeding in an area . Take fourth dimension tocare now for your lawnand garden equipment . exchange the petroleum and arc jade on your rototiller . Clean the lawnmower and have the blades sharpened . debilitate the fuel tanks or sum a fixative ( this is unlike from dry gasolene ) designed for flatulence - powered engine that will be idle for retentive full point of time . unobjectionable and oil yourgarden toolsbefore you put them away for the time of year . Light rusting will come off with steel wool and a little elbow grease . Or satisfy a large pail with sand and a small oil , then slither your garden tools in and out of the sand to strip . For heavy rusting , use navel jelly . Once instrument are clean , coat with a light finishing of used mineral oil . Sharpen shear and pruners . And do n’t draw a blank the garden hoses . They need to be drained and rolled up . Then make certain you turn off the water supply supply to any outside spigot to preclude pipes from freezing this winter .
Empty container plant , total the grease to the compost mound or garden . Scrub and sterilize the pots before storing them for enjoyment next class . If you have a small nursery for starting plants , empty it and sweep up any stain and debris . Then wash off down the glass or credit card side and ceiling with antimicrobial . sporty pots and planting benches . eventually , inventory your supplies , making a list of what you will involve to corrupt this wintertime to start seeds for next class ’s garden . November is also the time to take a salutary look at your landscape areas . Make notes on where you ’ll want to plant a new bush or bush next year , or what ’s have overcrowded and will require cutting . Perhaps you would like to shift the edge of a flower bottom or create a new layer in a different part of the yard . jot down it down now , so you do n’t bury next twelvemonth .
rag branches ( or make a genial billet ) that will postulate to be pruned in early spring . withdraw storm - undermine offshoot now to forbid them from fall and possibly causing injury to the tree diagram or a someone this winter . Other activities for November : put up boo feeders and stock up on bird feed ; make architectural plan to attend upcoming horticultural coming together ; check stored crops for spoilage ; shred and stock hang leaves for use when composting nutrient macerate this winter .
By Dr. Leonard Perry andDr . Vern GrubingerUniversity of Vermont Extension
