Hello my dear Friends,

Our gardening season is coming to an end. I hear that some of you have already had that “killing frost”. As I am by the water it has missed me so far, however the collywobbles have not I am so very sick. So please forgive a shortened newsletter this week – I will make up for it next time.

I must thank both the Selwyn Women’s Institute and the Omemee Horticultural Society for putting my name forward for a provincial volunteer award. Ironically I applied for a grant to upgrade my home and I do not qualify!!

Thanksgiving came and I enjoyed two wonderful suppers with dear friends.

Now to put you to work:

This is a really good time to renovate your garden beds. You know what has become “greedy” taking over more than their allotted space, depleting the soil and in general becoming a nuisance. Lets begin with looking at the way our perennials performed this summer. Is there something that is decidedly unhappy? Then move it either into more light or if it is in the direct sun, less light. Perhaps it is time to give up some of those old favourites that always have insect or disease problems, for instance those lovely old hollyhocks that have chronic rust, despite all our efforts to give them lots of space and air. It is time to say goodbye as Sarah Brightman sings. Either give them away or send to plant sales, there are many around the area. Last year I put a number of boxes at the highway marked free, and they were snapped up. If those shrubs have become too big and any that you no longer enjoy, get rid of them. Be very careful not to disturb the roots of the ones that you are keeping. This is a good time to remove any dead wood from those shrubs and thin out any branches that are crossed and rubbing each other, in a word generally clean up and maintain !! Dig out all that grass, weeds, thistles, ( do leave one thistle) anything that makes the garden look messy it it time to go Now is a good time to remake those beds, either larger or heaven forbid, smaller, soften straight sides, by merely rounding the corners. Remember that old garden hose, that is kept for trying out shapes ? (Where oh where did I put it?) If you are enlarging the bed, keep those pieces of sod to patch any empty spots. Or repair where the dog has been !!!

Now that part is finished you can adjust drainage, soil , texture and nutrition. Add coarse builders sand and organic materials to improve drainage, bring oxygen to the root zones and increase fertility. Spread about 5 centimetres of sand over the soil then cover with 10 centimetres of organic materials, such as peat moss , small leaves, shredded large leaves, and pine needles. Dig and mix the amendments into the bed being careful to go below the original soil level , break up any clods of clay and remove any and all the old roots and debris that is left. Make sure that you work these amendments into the soil around the roots of the plants that you have left.

Plan to reset any plants that you are keeping into their semi-permanent beds in the late afternoon, when the sun is low in the sky they can readjust in cool darkness overnight. Think about new places for any perennials that you are returning to the border, moving them into better positions and grouping others together to make a bright splash of colour. Mark all these changes down in your notebook!
It is too early to mulch the garden, but not too soon to start the big clean up – remove all dried stems, branches and leaves of dormant perennials. Dead annuals should be collected and put in the compost. Clean up any fruit from your fruit trees, windfalls, decaying fruit etc. should be raked up and destroyed. If you let the waste stay on the ground in any part of the garden, you are offering shelter for fungus and insect pests that will play havoc in your garden next year.
I can’t emphasis enough, that before the ground becomes frozen, be sure to soak the soil around your evergreens to a depth of at least two feet. Evergreens continue to lose moisture over the winter months, they cannot take up water from the frozen ground, If there are spells of windy, sunny weather after the snow is on the ground, or in the very early spring before thawing takes place, the leaves may give off water so rapidly that they will “burn” and turn brown. Make sure that every cell of these trees and shrubs is saturated with moisture before the winter sets in.

I mentioned mulching, and say it is like putting an eiderdown cover over the garden, this is not strictly true Mulching does not keep the plant warm, rather it maintains the underground parts at an even temperature. This is why we should not mulch until after the ground is frozen, also the materials offer a wonderfully warm home to field mice . By the time that the ground is frozen they have found a place to hibernate elsewhere (my basement no doubt).

Someone asked about the lower leaves on her phlox yellowing and dying. You must suspect leaf-spot fungus called Septoria divaricata. This fungus over winters in the dead stems and leaves, it is most important that you collects and burn all the above parts of these plants now. If you cannot burn them, then into the garbage bag and out with the garbage, do not put them into any compost. During the growing season, thinning and the use of copper-lime dust or ammoniacal copper-carbonate spray, helps to curb this parasite.

Rose bushes usually called semi-hardy need protection in our northern areas. One way that I have found to be valuable is to keep the fibre pots that roses come in , I cut off the bottom, put this over the rose and fill it with earth ( purchased for just this job) If this is not possible heap the earth into a mound around the base of each plant. In severe winters the tops maybe killed, but the lower parts will come through sending up new shoots in the spring. Standard and tea roses can be protected by bending the branches over into a trench dug to one side of the plant and then covered with soil. Another way is to surround the stems with straw and then hold this in place by wrapping burlap around the whole – Do Not prune them back now, wait until the spring.

Young trees will often succumb to sub-scald during the winter months. You can prevent this by wrapping the trees with burlap, not plastic please.
Rabbits feeding on the succulent bark of young fruit trees, flowering shrubs and other woody plants can do a tremendous amount of damage, during the winter. Is this not so Edith? Metal sleeves or wrappings of wire screens with half inch mesh that extends three or four inches into the ground will help to protect your precious plants. Next spring do not remove all the protective materials at once, but do it gradually so the re-exposed parts of the plant will have time to become accustomed to the full effects of the sun and wind.

If you have not yet brought in your indoor plants I suggest that you do so right away:
1) Bring the plants indoors before the weather really cools off. That way they are moving into conditions similar to those outside (high air humidity, warm daytime temperatures) so it will be less of a shock to them.
2) Before bringing plants indoors get rid of any pests, Hose them down, then spray with a mild insecticidal soap or a home made solution of 5 millilitres dishwashing liquid in one litre of warm water, make sure you get under the leaves too.
3) Prune overgrown plants, heavily when you bring them inside, they take up less room, check to see if they need repotting, plants like children grow with sun and rain
4) Place the plants in the brightest light possible, even in full sun. Add supplementary light if possible, the more that your home feels like: Florida: the happier they will be!
5) Use a humidifier ( good for you too) or a tray that is filled with gravel or pretty stones and filled with water to make sure that there is always a supply of moisture around the plants
6) Stop fertilising the plants once they are indoors you do not want to encourage growth under weak light. Start feeding them again in late February or early March, when the light intensity increases
7) Water deeply but wait until the soil is dry to the touch before watering again
8) Put up those sticky traps to catch any whiteflies and/or aphids
9) Enjoy the plants - in February they will be so welcome with their pretty smiling faces.

Enough I am going back to bed - Hats, gloves, cough mixture, sunscreen, hats, scarves and bedsocks - and hot water bottle!

Lovingly, Beryl