Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: November to-do’s 2022
It’s November 1st! Weather at this time of year is a crapshoot. Some days still light jacket worthy (for some) other days get out the parka! I actually rode my motorcycle on October 29th… I didn’t even have to wear chaps!
An important part of the clean-up process is debris removal. I just took my spent annuals to our City waste site along with downed Black walnut branches and my massive sunflower stalks!
The two Mammoth seed-heads are placed where I can see them and the birds can enjoy.
Be sure to clean up any rotten fruit at the base of your fruit trees. That can be a hiding spot for disease that overwinters, then presents itself next season.
Keep watering until the ground is frozen! Especially drought areas and if you have new plantings.
I cut back any perennials with slimy foliage like hosta as those leaves can harbor spores of fungi that can be rejuvenated in the Spring and restart a disease cycle. Granted this year, 2022, it was not slimy, it was crunchy!
If you have a paniculata hydrangea such as PeeGee or an Annabelle that is out of control, you can cut it back now. Hydrangeas that bloom on new wood, can be cut back by a third. Usually the ones I see that need this most are the hydrangea arborescens such as Annabelle. This pruning will invigorate the plant and keep it healthy.
DEAD wood on any tree or shrub can be pruned out at any time, just clean up the area or leave a pile of that wood in an area that could help wildlife overwinter.
As mentioned previously, piles of fallen leaves shouldn’t be left on your lawn as that allows for snow mold in the spring. Just spread them out.
Don’t store your apples and pears with your vegetables as they give off ethylene gas that speeds up the breakdown of your veggies.
When the ground is frozen pile a one inch layer of straw over your strawberries. Check your local climate zones for ground freeze. In zone 4, where I live, it’s typically around Dec. 6th give or take