HERE WE ARE IN NOVEMBER, WITH THE HOLIDAYS JUST AROUND THE CORNER, AND WE STILL HAVE GREAT WEATHER
But the only downside to this early November warming trend is that we are drier than normal. KEEP ALL THESE NEWLY PLANTED PLANTS WATERED! We need to continue watering new trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. We NEVER want plants to go dry during a cold spell.
Here are some other bullet-point gardening tips to think about this month:
- Now is an excellent time to dig up and divide overcrowded iris, daylilies, hostas, and others. Be sure to add organic matter to the soil before replanting.
- Some of you have poinsettia plants that have lived and thrived since last year. Now is the time to start the short-day treatment to get your poinsettia to “bloom” for Christmas. This year, to get your poinsettia to show color, you need cool night temperatures and twelve hours of undisturbed darkness.
- You can safely plant tulip bulbs. However, they thrive in cooler soil temperatures, so make sure to plant the bulbs 12” deep.
- If you love to feed the birds, now is an excellent time to set out the birdfeeders. AND – a birdfeed makes a great holiday gift to someone.
- Because of this warm trend, now is NOT a good time to prune evergreens. I use the Virginia Tech Shrub Pruning Guide for reference. According to this calendar, November is an ideal month to prune evergreens. But, with our warmer weather this year, I have adjusted to having customers hold on pruning until we have some frost and freezing weather that sends our evergreens into a dormant state; then, we can safely shape and prune them. Let’s hope this happens near Thanksgiving so we can use some of these cuttings for holiday decorating.
- Closer to Thanksgiving is the time to apply our last feeding to our lawns. This timely feeding aids in the development of a strong root system, which will help your lawn withstand drought conditions next summer.
- Take a walk through your gardens as the fall season winds down. Reflect on your gardens’ successes and failures this year. Make notes on a tablet for new things to try and things to fix next spring.
HAPPY GARDENING!!