Radio Show Recap
This Week in Your Lawn & Garden
- Planting in Fall | There’s still plenty of time to plant trees, shrubs, spring-blooming bulbs, and garlic bulbs. You have all the way until the ground freezes, and the weather looks enjoyable & comfortable for planting this week.
- Storing Geranium Roots | Once the leaves come off after a frost, cut the plant back to 8-10″, gently remove the soil, and place the roots in dry peat moss. Check occasionally over winter for rot. Come March, pot the roots up again and keep them in the garage as they wake up. To acclimate, move them outside on nice days and back inside at night (geraniums tolerate cool temperatures down to 45°F and indirect light).
- Budding Christmas Cactus | This week is a good time to bring Christmas Cactus back in, after being outside since mid-September for the purpose of triggering the bud & bloom cycle. You should see that buds have developed on the plant by now.
- Cleaning the Veggie Garden | Pull any plants other than cold crops at this time. Amend the soil with compost & lime. Apply Preen® or sow Winter Wheat. Taking these steps in fall will help to create a healthier, more productive garden next spring.
- Cleaning Out Pachysandra | Pachysandra has a tendency to catch & harbor dead leaves, branches, and other garden debris, and it’s susceptible to disease when this happens. Prevent disease by cleaning out the debris, feeding the plants Holly-tone® and Iron-tone®, and spraying with Copper Fungicide to keep it clean & healthy over winter, so that it grows beautifully green & lush next spring.
- Lifting Summer Bulbs | Dig up tender flowering bulbs like canna, dahlia, and gladiolus from the ground after a fall frost starts to shut them down. Lift gently, remove foliage & soil by hand, and place them on a table in the garage to dry and cure for 7-10 days. Do not wash. Pack in a box with dry peat, perlite, or vermiculite, and sprinkle with sulfur dust. Store in a cool, dark, dry place.
- Transitioning Tropicals | Bring flowering tropicals like Hibiscus and Oleander in by the end of October. Exposure to a couple frosts will help them go semi-dormant for winter. Treat the soil with systemic insecticide now. When ready to bring, cut them back to manageable size for your home, spray with Neem Oil right before bringing in, and water less over winter. Do not feed the plants over winter.