March 28, 2024
Minter: Top 10 tips for gardening in November

Tone up your lawn, continue to keep it green and enable it bounce back again swiftly in spring by implementing a stabilized nitrogen fertilizer, writers master gardener Brian Minter.

The following column was submitted to the Tri-City Information from Brian Minter — master gardener, greatest-marketing author, Order of Canada receiver and co-owner of Minter Region Backyard Retail outlet.

 

November is an essential thirty day period for numerous items in our gardens.

1. It is the final probability to plant garlic for harvest upcoming July. Raised beds, sandy soil and a sunny locale are key. Russian and Elephant garlic are generally the most effective in our area. Plant at a depth 3 to 4 moments the width of the clove.

2. For colour in late December and January, plant yellow winter season aconites and snowdrops as before long as achievable. They are best planted in and around shrubs or evergreen perennials, like Japanese azaleas, dwarf conifers, euphorbias, vibrant heucheras and new sedums, like golden ‘Angelina’.

3. Tone up your garden, keep it environmentally friendly and support it bounce again speedily in spring by applying a stabilized nitrogen fertilizer like 32–10. West Coastline turf trials endorse this application. Now is also the time to use Dolopril or natural eggshell lime to our lawns to prevent the soil from turning into too acidic around the wintertime months.

4. Bare patches in our vegetable gardens could be planted with possibly drop rye or Rejuvenation Mix that truly fixes nitrogen in the soil as it grows. These are wonderful natural and organic methods to strengthen the excellent of your soil for subsequent calendar year.

5. It’s time to tidy up your roses for winter by simply pruning frivolously (about 2 to 3 ft) and by cleaning up any useless wood. Climbers really should be retrained on arbours and trellises and slice back again to about 4 to 6 feet. Leave only 4 to 5 canes and slash out the rest. Utilize about 12 to 15 inches of protective mulch or even soil in excess of the bud unions. Tree roses need to be wrapped with wire from top to bottom and sawdust or bark put on the inside of to protect both the major and bottom graft.

6. Most hedging cedars, junipers and other ‘non bud’ forming conifers can be tidied up and pruned to make them considerably less prone to weighty snow hurt. Pruning of spruce trees, firs and pines must be left until the conclusion May. Non-flowering wide-leaved plants, like laurels, photinias and boxwood, can also be tidied at this time of 12 months.

7. At the close of the thirty day period, our very last two hardy yearly plants must be lifted to assure their protection for winter season. All tuberous dahlias and canna roots will need to be lower back again, diligently lifted with forks, cleaned, dried and stored interesting (40°F 4.5°C) more than the wintertime.

8. All tropical indoor vegetation summering outdoors have to be inside now. They need to have to be totally checked for bugs and saved amazing (10°C/50°F) with loads of mild. It is finest if fuchias, lantanas and Angel Trumpets are stripped of their leaves. Preserve them just moist.

9. As late summer time and fall herbaceous perennials finish and seem messy, prune them to the floor and use compost or manures to establish up the soil for upcoming year. Plant winter season pansies, violas and hardy evergreen perennials and grasses in bare regions for a terrific glimpse all winter and plant bulbs in amongst them for a serious take care of following spring.

10. Is late slide a riot of colour in your backyard? If not, seem at all the outdoor colour probable in other gardens and in yard outlets at this time of calendar year, from wintertime-flowering Heather, fragrant Viburnum ‘Pink Dawn’, ‘Sasanqua’ Camellias and ‘Winter Sun’ Oregon Grape to evergreen Viburnum ‘Spring Bouquet’ and so a lot additional!