October 10, 2008
WE’RE LIVING ON THE EDGE HERE at A Way to Garden, literally: the edge of seasonal change. These two youngsters sat on the lip of one of the water gardens all day yesterday, sunning themselves like it was summer, taking the occasional lap around the pool. They seem to have forgotten we were close to frost two nights this week, since we’ve bounced into what feels like an Indian Summer. Me, too. You?
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Who's Gardening Here?
from martha to just margaret
I was so blessed to visit and document many of the nation’s finest homemade gardens for 15 years for ‘Martha Stewart Living,’ first as its garden editor and then as editorial director for the company. The list of places we were proud to publish included my own upstate New York home a few years back. Take a tour of how it looked then. Want to know more about me? Or read what Anne Raver said in June 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 similarly kind. And so was Martha, on her TV show.
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Why Do You Garden?
One of the most popular questions at A Way to Garden: Why do you garden? A bunch of us answered in a stream of comments, and there's great other stuff on the Forums. Just in case you'd like to tell us why, too (or have a good read about what makes the rest of us tick).
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December Garden Chores
All based on my Zone 5B Berkshire/Hudson Valley location; adjust accordingly.
THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Gardeners, like their gardens, benefit from a bit of dormancy, and the time is upon us. Enjoy it. Seed-catalog season gets going in earnest later in the month, 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 have strays get lost among the yogurt and mayonnaise.
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 favoirite sources is in the right-hand sidebar of every page here.
Position your seed-shopping easy chair to point out the window, where there are still riches: berries, bark, new birds. Did you join Project Feederwatch yet?
Mole patrol continues: 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.
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.
START A POT OF PAPERWHITES in potting soil or pebbles and water, and stagger forcing of another batch every couple of weeks for a winterlong display.
WAKE UP WELL-RESTED 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 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.
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.
VEGETABLE, FRUIT & HERBS
FLOWER GARDEN
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.
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Brief but Juicy
ultimate garden no-no’s
WHEN SOMEONE ASKED in a comment about my point of view on using landscape fabric, the fuse was quickly lit: NO! I said. NO! I’ve rounded up some no-no’s we’ve posted collectively so far, but I bet by now there are a few more things to bitch about. Grab a lawn chair and a cold drink, and we can fester together. Sure beats weeding (which ought to be a garden no-no).
lose anything lately?
THE SAYING GOES THAT a thing of beauty is a joy forever. I guess “forever” in this case is in the mind’s eye. My darling, oldest bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) went down for the count in July, or at least half of it did, and I had already seen the death knell for a couple of my 10 crabapples. Jeez.
true love, really
LOOK, I HAVE A THING for frogs. Call it my little fetish. An issue. Whatever. My general obsession notwithstanding, I’ve finally met THE ONE FOR ME.
hail the stewartia
I LIKE PLANTS THAT EARN THEIR KEEP. By that I mean they do more than a week or two of showing off; they look good in more than a single moment, or season. The small-ish to medium trees in the genus Stewartia are a good bet if that’s the kind of multi-season interest you are looking for. Sound good?
more, more, more clematis
WHEN I SEE ‘POLISH SPIRIT’ CLAMBERING up and through the golden Chamaecyparis in late spring-into-summer, I realize I have a serious Clematis shortage around here. Not in the Chamaecyparis, specifically, but in lots of other places where things look a little dull. I’ve got a penchant for growing vines up and over otherwise-dull shrubbery, you see.
can-do pruning
REPEAT AFTER ME: I can prune. I can prune. If you follow this simple method for starters, your woody plants will thank you.
the ‘other’ peonies
JUNE WAS PEONY TIME, the big raucous kind of peony time, but just before that another kind of peony you might want to consider adopting did its subtler, wonderful thing.
which lilac to plant?
SO MANY LILACS, so little space. Browse a glossary of some of my favorites before you shop—maybe you’ll like them, too.
non-blooming peonies?
Did your peonies not cooperate—was there not a good crop of flower buds, and you don’t know why? This came up on the Forums, and here’s the dish.
twist-off ticks
I AM COMING IN everyday with at least a tick or two on me; not embedded, thankfully, so far, but it's only a matter of time. But I am prepared. Are you?
anything but forsythia
I guess I have a thing against forsythia…even though I have several specimens of it along the fringes of my property. But there are better choices for spring color among shrubs.
surprise (avian) visitors
If you make a garden for birds, or even plant a crabapple or two (or ten), you never know who’ll show up.
magnolias to love
THEY’RE MEMORIES NOW but I couldn't garden without magnolias. Want to know more about the queen of the spring-blooming trees?
order in the garden
I AM LABELING my plants, I am. As memory fades, out comes the label machine, just in the nick. Saved by the Dymo. You can be, too.
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Buried Treasure
I NOTICE THAT BLOGGING results in some rich but buried treasure: great stuff in a comment thread you may not see; interesting topics on the forums that perhaps you haven't visited.
Subjects ranging from feeding and pruning Hydrangeas and pruning clematis, to entertaining (read: ranting) lists and lists of garden no-no’s (not just mine!).
Pick a click, and enjoy. Better yet, CHIME IN yourself. Up in the nav bar…that's right, GO FOR IT: our Q&A FORUMS.
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Your First Visit? Take a Walk.
IF YOU MISSED THE UNFOLDING OF SPRING in our garden, take a series of walks with us, one in April and another in May, even if it means being in the past and out of the moment. I know, not very Buddhist, but it will help you get acquainted. Or just browse through our photo galleries of favorite plants now gone by. Enjoy.
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Reference
Sources
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Compost, Compost, Compost
I am as proud of my compost heap as I am of any part of my garden. It is the archaeological record of my garden past; it is the stuff from which future gardens will arise. Composting’s also a topic I read a lot about, and lately it's from sources like these: Garden Organic, a 50-year-old British charity; Journey to Forever (don’t worry, not some into-the-bunker survivalist cult); and the vast Cornell Composting web archive. Dig in.
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Sharp Tools
frost calculator
Global-warming black humor aside, gardeners need to know their frost dates—the first and the last in an “average” year—to be able to plan when to sow or transplant what. The frost-date calculator from Victory Seed Company’s website helps.
the mother list
Thanks to Tony Avent, plant hunter and proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery, for sharing the list of all lists—every horticultural link you’d need or want.
a gardener's best friend
You are not alone. The national network of cooperative extension services is a lifeline for gardeners; find yours and join now. No excuses!
fairest weather
The weather is key, but forget those commercial sites and TV channels. Ask the all-knowing NOAA instead. At least our government is doing one thing right. A Way to Garden Archives
- December 2008 (1)
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If you didn’t have a killing frost it is a not an indian summer.
I love this photo, Margaret - the chance to see frogs up close may compel me to add a tiny pond or stream to my garden some day.
We’re not experiencing autumn here in Austin - just night temperatures occasionally dipping into the fifties with returns to high eighties every day.
Enjoy the weather and the apples!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
They look like they are loving life. A great weekend ahead. Enjoy the sunshine.
I think we hit 50 for a low here north of Dallas…not close to the end yet!
My girls love the Frogboys. I think t-shirts may be in order.
Summer to Autumn is a confusing transitional period, much more so than Winter to Spring. When exiting Winter, the garden pretty much takes care of itself. All of the big chores have been mostly done the previous fall so all there is to do is sit back and watch what sticks it’s head out of the ground until the first mow. When exiting Summer, however, questions abound. Should I start leaf clean up now or wait until the trees are completely bare? All those plants I ordered last month, should I rush to get them in the ground or can I leave them huddled on the driveway for one more week and cross my fingers hoping they don’t freeze to death? I can’t even think about planting the 1800 bulbs stacked in boxes on my porch in this 70 plus degrees weather. Then, of course, there is the question of clothing. Show of hands, who of you have already put away your warm weather garb? Yeah, me too. Maybe this weekend I’ll take a page from the frog boys and sit by a pond, dip my toes in and pretend it’s still Summer. Or maybe I’ll start digging holes. Yeah, the second one.
Welcome, Melinda, all the way from TX (where A Way to Garden actually “lives” on a cluster of servers, in San Antonio). The girls are welcome to come meet the frogboys anytime.
@Gardenboy: Picky, picky.
@Annie: Yes, definitely add water and operate a froggery if you can. The best companions ever.
@Susan: Indeed, loving life and our freedom and sunshine.
@Brian G: Bulb-planting does sound ridiculous in this weather, agreed. You make me realize I need to do a proper garden-cleanup post, but the weather says it can’t be so.
Margaret, I love this photo. However, my concern isn’t about the weather, it’s about the look of suspicion in frogboy’s eyes. They seem to know something’s up:).
Some parts of town have had frost and I think we’re supposed to have snow this weekend so I picked bushels of green tomatoes yesterday. At our school garden the kids also picked beans, zucchinis and lovely bouquets of marigold, salvias, evening primrose and kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate.
A kindergardener even had the brilliant idea to wrap the bouquets in giant kiss-me… leaves.
PS Thanks for the smile inducing frog photo.
Yes, MF, they know something’s up (and not the economy). Like Diana says, we can all use a smile. Sunshine is helping, too. :)
Great photo! It is still 100 degrees here in my suburb of Los Angeles. I envy your season change!
Shirley
Me picky? I’m just trying to live up to your standards for accuracy.
As far as bulb planting goes, I hold to the Heath’s rule. Two good weeks of ’sweater weather’ before you start putting them in the ground. The exceptions are those that perish easily like fritillarias and snowdrops. They go in as soon as the box comes in the mail.
Yes, I keep overdressing for garden work - what’s going on?!
My bulbs are already planted — am I in trouble??
Off to change into some shorts and look for frogs…
My BFF (best frog friend) has gone away for the winter. Yours are soooo handsome!
♥Rosemary
http://contentinacottage.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-new-bff-best-frog-friend.html
Don’t know how to break this to you, Rosemary, but your BFF is actually a BTF, toadboy not frogboy. He is probably Bufo americanus, or so he appears, one of my favorite creatures in the garden. A couple of big fat ones live in my barn, and one lives under the stone stoop, and I am always delighted when they show themselves. Learn more about your honey here.
Margaret…Thanks…I stand corrected!
♥Rosemary and her ToadBoy
De-lurking to say that although I’m glad we dodged the frost warnings this week in mid-Connecticut, I still go through waaaaay too many clothes in a day. I start with a sweater in the morning, t-shirt by lunch, start thinking about putting on shorts, and am back in the sweater by dinner (unless the baby spit up on me, but that has nothing to do with the weather!)
But the sun, blue skies and lovely fall trees this weekend remind me how much I love this time of year.
I blogged about our frost-dodging this week at: http://broodawakenings.blogspot.com/2008/10/garden-ghosts-ward-off-jack-frost.html
Please stop by!
Welcome, Meanders, and thanks for de-lurking. I agree: So hard to get the wardrobe right these days, with near-frost to lawn-chair weather all jumbled together. See you soon again, we hope.
Cool photo!
My Lyme was so bad, I missed the end of Summer! The sun is low in the sky, flowers are eeking out those last few surprise blooms. It should be sunny and in the high 70’s (lows in the 40’s) again this week in NJ, however, I see an awful lot of ghosts circling trees and pumpkins glaring from front porches. I love Halloween but I sure do miss the end of Summer
We had frost on the grass yesterday morning when I took the dog out for a walk. That was 10/11/08 here in the Pacific Northwest. I live on an island in northern Puget Sound sometimes referred to as the rainshadow, but what I love about living here and gardening here is the change of seasons.
Welcome, Judy. I had not heard the term “rainshadow,” so thank you for the education, and for your comment. Happy fall.
Hello Margaret! Like you, we’ve been on the edge in Minnesota for the last week, with a lovely run of bright blue skies and sunny days. Today we may have tipped as the front has come through, with a cooler rain. Temps will drop off into the 60’s during the day, and begin a downward trend toward the more typical 50’s highs. We’re lucky, it could be miserable and snowing, and might very well be by Thanksgiving.
Lovely photo of the youngsters…the return of the rains here in Portland signal the end of our dry warm season. I’ve come to welcome their clean, refreshing smell, when the craziness of the harvest calms (except for the apples of course). My hydrangeas show the turning and cold crisp nights by showing that ethereal gorgeous green/blue/plum color. And then I pick them all and bring them inside. I love this time of year.
I adore toads and frogs, and this photo captures their pleasure at sun basking while wet.
Terra
The peach colored mums (Clara something or other) have sprung up so quickly, and are now in full blooom. When the dark red dogwood leaves float down on them and nestle gently in the blossoms the whole scene is just Autumn jewelry…