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 November
is a month where there are still gardening chores to do. The lawn may
still need to be mowed and weeds need to be pulled. However, it is a great
month to prepare for the upcoming holidays.
Indoor Plants
Lawns and Landscaping
Perennials, Annuals and Bulbs
Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers
Miscellaneous
Tools and Equipment
Indoor Plants
 | Potted geraniums grown indoors should be allowed to become somewhat dry
before watered. They need plenty of sun to promote vigorous growth and
flowering. |
| Reduce fertilization of house plants until late April or May when new
growth begins. |
| Try dwarf varieties of annual flowers to use as houseplants this winter.
Asters, calendulas, celosias, and marigolds come in compact, colorful
cultivars that can be maintained in the home if sufficient light is provided. |
| Amaryllis bulb may not bloom if they are in too large of a pot.
There should be no more than one inch of space on each side of the bulb.
At least one third of the bulb should be above the soil line. |
| Cyclamen is an exception in indoor plants. It should be fed and
watered all through the winter. |
| Encourage African violets to bloom by giving them plenty of light.
They can be in a south window during dark, winter months. |
| An attractive, inexpensive window garden can be created by rooting plant
cuttings in tinted-glass containers. |
| Soil pulled away from the pot rim means inadequate watering and resulting
root problems. It will be difficult to add sufficient water to rewet the
soil. Soak the pot in a sink full of water, then drain it thoroughly. |
| Remember cacti go dormant during the winter, so be sure to keep cool
(around 50°) and withhold water until they show
signs of growth in spring. |
| Insufficient light will cause a jade plant to lose most of its old, thick leaves and grow thin, new
ones on spindly stems. While jade will survive low light, it needs as
much direct sunlight as possible to look its best. |
| African violets require a day temperature of 70°
and a night temperature of 65°. They may die if the air temperature dips
below 55°. African violets do well under fluorescent lights 12 to 14
hours a day. Lights should be 8 to 12 inches from the plant. |
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Lawns and Landscaping
| Make notes of your failures and successes in the
garden. Jot down things in your gardening notebook for new things to
try, and things to fix, next spring. |
| Add mulch to rock gardens to reduce erosion,
conserve soil moisture, provide humus, and protect plants from heaving out of
the ground by alternate freezing and thawing during winter. |
| If needed, apply limestone to the lawn so that
fall rain and winter snow can wash it into the soil. A soil test will
give guidelines for the amount needed. |
| A November application of fertilizer is very
beneficial to a lawn of cool-season grasses. It promotes root
development without excessive top growth. |
| Now is the time to control certain broadleaf
weeds including chickweed, white clover, dandelion, wild onion, plantain, and
Canada thistle. Call the Extension office for recommendations. |
| Continue to weed, weed, weed. |
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Perennials, Annuals and Bulbs
| After several killing frosts, cut back dormant
perennials to about 3 inches above the ground. After the ground is
frozen, plants can be mulched to guard against displacement due to soil
heaving. |
| Move containers holding live plants to a
protected spot if possible. Protect the roots by covering the soil and
the container with a thick layer of straw and leaves. Check the moisture
level of the pots and water if needed. |
| Some plants are very sensitive to de-icing
salts. Use sand or sawdust on walkways near plantings to prevent falls. |
| Tulips and Dutch iris need to be planted in cold
soil so they do not send up shoots before roots are established. If
tulips are planted deeply, they will produce large, uniform flowers for many
years. |
| After chrysanthemums are killed by frost, cut
them down in preparation for winter. Apply a 2 to 3 inch layer of loose
mulch, such as leaves, after the ground has frozen. |
| Peonies can be planted now in full sun and
fertile, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Dig holes 18 inches
and fill halfway with a mixture of soil, compost, and a handful of 5-10-10
fertilizer. Add a few more inches of soil, and set the tubers so the
buds are 1 to 2 inches below the soil surface. Backfill, firm the soil,
and water. Peonies do not grow well after being moved and will not bloom
for many years. |
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Trees, Shrubs and Groundcovers
| If you are an early Christmas tree shopper
looking for a live tree for the holidays, be sure to select a tree that will
survive in your climate and soil. In Virginia, white pine (Pinus
strobus), Norway spruce (Picea alies), and blue spruce (Picea
pungens) are excellent choices for live Christmas trees that can also be
planted outdoors after the holidays. |
| If you are planning on having a live, balled and
burlapped Christmas tree, dig a planting hole now before the ground freezes.
Fill the hole with straw or hay to keep it from freezing. Store the soil
in a garage or shed so you will have workable soil when you need it for
planting the tree. |
| Check guy wires around newly planted trees to be
sure hose sections still cover the supporting wires or ropes so they do not
damage the trunks in windy weather. |
| Continue deep watering of evergreens until
freezing weather occurs. |
| Cut away suckers from the base of lilacs,
forsythia, and crape myrtle. |
| Erect wind breaks to protect newly planted
evergreens, especially tender, broad-leaf types, such as Japanese holly and
camellia. |
| If roses are to be planted, do so before the
ground freezes, and water well. |
| Roots of woody ornamentals used as container
plants may be killed if soil temperatures get very cold. Among the least
hardy are aucuba, English boxwood, camellia, pampas grass, bearberry,
cotoneaster, English holly, Japanese holly, star magnolia, and nandina.
Their roots are killed when the soil temperature is 20 to 25F. |
| Clean up rose beds. Be sure all diseased
leaves are raked up and destroyed. Spring (before the plants start
active growth) is the preferred season for pruning roses. Do not cut off
canes in the fall. It is better to stake and tie extra long canes in
fall to prevent winter wind damage. |
| Fertilize wisteria after leaves have fallen to
avoid excess top growth and lack of bloom. |
| Inspect trees and shrubs for bagworm capsules
and the silvery egg masses of tent caterpillars. Remove and destroy them
to reduce next year's pest population. |
| Protect the roots of azaleas and rhododendrons
with a heavy mulch of organic materials, such as oak leaves, wood chips, or
pine needles. |
| If there is any evidence of scale on trees and
shrubs, spray with dormant oil in late fall and again in early spring. |
| Where circumstances necessitate very late
planting of trees and shrubs, remember to mulch the area heavily to keep the
ground thawed so roots can become established. |
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Miscellaneous
| If you are planning to lay newspaper as mulch in
the spring, glue them end to end this winter and store them as rolls.
When needed, the paper mulch unrolls easily and won't be lifted by the wind
before it can be anchored. |
| Try using household rubber gloves with a cloth
lining or lightweight pair of gloves under them during cold, wet weather for
all but the roughest yard work. They don't absorb moisture, and they
insulate your fingers from the cold better than cloth gloves, especially when
it's wet out. |
| Keep an eye out for spider mites on your
houseplants; they thrive in dry air. At the first sign of any insect
infestation, isolate your plant. Several thorough washings with plain
water may bring them under control. If not, apply an appropriate
insecticide and follow label instructions. |
| Check house gutters for fallen leaves, needles,
and twigs. Heavy, fall rains will quickly overflow clogged gutters,
possibly damaging foundation plants below them. |
| Keep the compost heap moist to aid in the decay
process. Turn the pile to mix in all late, fall additions. Add
fertilizer residues from nearly empty bags onto the pile and mix. |
| Earthworms must remain below the frost line to
survive. Mulch piled on top of soil raises the frost line. If you
want earthworms to help break down organic matter in the upper soil layers,
mulch deeply. If you need the subsoil aerated, leave the surface mulch
thin. The worms will burrow downward to stay warm. |
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Tools and Equipment
| Keep your shears and loppers in good working
order. Wipe them with a rag dipped in paint thinner to remove sticky
resins. Sharpen and oil thoroughly. |
| To clean garden tools, put warm water and a
tablespoon of dishwasher detergent into a bucket. The detergent helps
detach soil clumps from metal blades. When clean and dry, use a broad
file to sharpen shovels and hoes for next season. |
| Clean power tools of all plant material and
dirt. Replace worn spark plugs, oil all necessary parts, and sharpen
blades. Store all tools in their proper place indoors, never outdoors
where they will rust over the winter. |
| Tools sharpened on a power grinder heat up and
lose their tempering, making the metal prone to breaking. To make your
tools last longer, get a broad file and learn the art of blade sharpening this
winter. |
| Rinse pesticide spray equipment after each use
and before winter storage. Add water and several drops of detergent to
fill the spray tank 1/10th full. Shake the tank, and spray the water
over the area where the chemical was just applied. Caution:
rinsing will not remove herbicides from sprayers. A separate sprayer
MUST be used to apply herbicides to prevent the residue from killing plants
when pesticides or other chemicals are applied. |
| As soon as seed flats are emptied of fall
transplants, wash and sterilize them before storage so they are ready in the
spring. |
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"Gardening
is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it."