A Way to Garden

from martha to just margaret
I WAS BLESSED TO visit many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as garden editor and then as editorial director. The places we published included my rural New York State home. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June '08 in The New York Times, calling A Way to Garden “the best (garden blog) I’d ever seen.” Adrian Higgins of The Washington Post was as kind. And so was Martha, on her TV show. Thanks to all.

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WHAT MONTH IS THIS, I keep wondering? It snowed in October, it was September-like in November, half the seed catalogs have already arrived, and this might be the latest ever that I’ve had the frogpond plumbing still bubbling away. The long-range forecast on NOAA rates my area as “EC”—meaning equal chances of above- or below-average weather—but I think at this point, it’s time to do the last of the chores or maybe get caught short. One of the year’s easiest to-do lists:

I LOOKED AROUND THIS WEEK trying to remember what I had forgotten—were any hoses still on “live” taps, or non-weatherproof pots still out in the open? Windy weather can make a mess, too, so out came the saw and loppers again, and off came torn or hanging branches that probably were weakened but not broken all the way through in the freakish October snowstorm. Sigh. And will the leaves ever stop showing up from nowhere? Oh, and there are overwintered plants in the basement and garage to inspect for possible water needs, and also produce like potatoes in storage. Check it, too. One bad apple, as the saying goes. Examine monthly for any mold or softness. Want to check whether you’re storing various crops correctly?

I’M MARKING WHERE THE BEDS and paths meet, and where the driveway meets lawn, with tall, flexible fiberglass rods to drive into the ground as markers to try to keep my shoveling and plowing in bounds.

SEEDS
SEED-CATALOG SEASON GETS GOING in earnest shortly, with the first arrivals already online and in the mailbox, so early December is prime time to inventory leftover seeds and store them in a cool, dry place. A friend stashes his in the fridge, first sealing in zipper bags with the air squeezed out, then placing the bags in a sealed plastic box rather than having strays get lost among the yogurt and mayonnaise. If you want to test your germination rate now, here’s how. Or better yet, start with my Seed Viability Chart.

TOSS THOSE MORE THAN a few years old and make a list of what you’ll need. Not that any act of self-control stops me from ordering yet another gourd or pumpkin variety, or some oddity I simply must have or perish. My list of favorite sources is in on the Resource Links page; my 2009 order is here, and here’s 2010 and 2011.

POSITION YOUR SEED-SHOPPING easy chair to point out the window, where there are still riches: all kinds of fruit, including berries, bark, new birds. Did you join Project Feederwatch yet? (A recap of making a bird-friendly landscape is here.)

LAWN
REMEMBER: TAKE THE MOWER in for service after the final mowing (down to an extra-short 2.5 inches or even slightly less), rather than in the spring rush, then store without gas in the tank by running it dry. If there is fuel in machines that you cannot drain, add stabilizer (available at auto-supply and hardware stores).

HOUSEPLANTS
KEEP AN EYE OUT for signs of houseplant pests like spider mites, mealybugs, and scale insects. If tackled before they get out of hand, nonchemical methods are usually successful: a simple shower, insecticidal soap spray (as directed on label) or with the most tenacious (like mealybugs) sometimes an alcohol swab and Q-tip. Overwatering is the biggest risk to houseplants in winter…go easy.

REMEMBER, HOUSEPLANTS are semi-dormant now (unless growing under plant lights). Don’t feed (or feed very little); watch it with the water in particular. Take it easy while they take their naps.

START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or even easier, pebbles and water laced with alcohol, and stagger forcing of another batch every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.

WAKE UP AMARYLLIS BULBS by watering once, placing in a bright spot, and waiting for them to respond. If no dice in a couple of weeks, water again…but don’t repeatedly water an unresponsive bulb or it may rot. It will tell you when it’s ready for action.

TREES & SHRUBS
CLEAR TURF OR WEEDS from the area right around the trunks of fruit trees and ornamentals before snow flies to reduce winter damage by rodents. Hardware cloth collars should be in place year-round as well. BE EXTRA-VIGILANT cleaning up under fruit trees, as fallen fruit and foliage allowed to overwinter invites added troubles next season.

SCOUT FOR VIBURNUM BEETLE egg cases on bare viburnum twigs now through April. Remove cases by pruning off affected wood to reduce larvae and beetle issues in the coming year. The bump-like cases are usually on the underside of youngest twigs. I also watch in May for larvae hatch and rub the twigs then to squash the emerging pests.

PREVENTIVE PRUNING: Always be on the lookout for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. This is especially important before winter arrives with its harsher weather, where weaknesses left in place invite tearing and unnecessary extra damage. Remove suckers and water sprouts, too.

FLOWER GARDEN

MOLE PATROL: I am still setting out mousetraps under boxes, buckets or cans in the gardens where I see any activity, to rid them from my beds and borders.

PROTECT ROSES FROM WINTER damage by mounding up their crowns with a 6- to 12-inch layer of soil before the ground freezes. After all is frozen, add a layer of leaf mulch to further insulate.

Note: All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.