Winding Down the Outdoor Garden
By Jos Van Hage
Saturday, September 13, 2008 03:45 AM
The outdoor gardening season is soon coming to a close.
Most vegetable gardens will soon be ready to harvest and many of the flowers have gone past their prime.
This is a good time of year to write down a few notes for what worked well and what needs to be changed for next year. In the next couple of weeks you can move and divide perennials such as iris, peonies, and daylilies as these prefer to be divided in the fall. Other perennials are best divided in the early spring. You can also start cleaning up your perennials that have finished blooming by cutting them back to within 4-5 inches from ground level. Some people would rather not cut back their perennials till next spring as the dying foliage gives extra winter protection to the plant and I have done this as well, but I’ve noticed a large population of mice this year and they like to nest in the old foliage and in turn eat the perennial roots over the winter so on certain perennials such as the Siberian Iris, and Daylilies that have a lot of foliage I will trim down.
As I mentioned I have seen a lot of mice and they will do a lot of damage over the winter months that won’t be noticeable until next spring when the snow melts. It is important to protect your trees with mouse guards which are expandable plastic tubes that you wrap the bottom 4-5 feet of the tree trunk, stopping the mice from chewing the bark of the tree. Put the mouse guards on anytime now, before it starts to snow. Also, wild brush, or high grass that is near your landscape should be kept low so that the mice cannot hide in it and then sneak into your landscape over the winter. I like to keep a 5-6 foot space between my landscape and the wild brush. You can lay down a good quality landscape fabric and then place bark mulch or decorative stone on top of it so that it looks nice. This should help deter the mice from going into your planted landscape.
It is still a little early to dig up the potatoes, carrots, beets, and parsnips for storage. Potatoes can be dug up after the foliage has died off and the skin on the potato has hardened up. Carrots and beets can remain in the soil until the temperatures go below freezing by 5-10 degrees. Leeks and parsnips can stay in the soil until the frost starts going into the soil. They actually can stay in the garden over winter and be harvested in the spring if the soil is well drained. We had parsnips that we over wintered in the garden last year and dug them up this spring and they were very tasty and sweet. Parsnips, leeks, brussel sprouts, and kale are better tasting after they have had a good frost on them because the frost enhances the flavor. Onions can be dug up when the tops have fallen over naturally. Let them sun dry for a few days and then store them in a cool dry area...
In the flower garden the annuals can be removed when they no longer look good or after the frost have killed them. Tender bulbs such as dahlia, gladiolus, canna, calla, and tuberous begonias are dug up and stored after the first killing frost. Geraniums and fuchsias can be brought indoors now and enjoyed or you can wait for the first frost. Remember to always treat your outdoor plants with a spray of insecticidal soap before bringing them indoors so that you don’t bring any unwanted insects into your home that could go after your indoor tropicals.
If you want to add to your landscape by planting trees, shrubs, and perennials, this is a good time of year to do it. These outdoor plants are on sale as the garden centers are getting ready for winter and clearing all the outdoor stock. This is also a good time because of the cooling temperatures and more rain so that you don’t have to worry about plants drying out. These plants still have another 2 months to grow before the frost goes into the ground. You also want to plant your spring blooming bulbs now so that they can produce a good root system before the frost sets into the ground.
-Jos
Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden centres in Prince George:
- Highway 16 West at Kimball road
- Highway 97 North at Northwood Pulpmill Road
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Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2008 03:45 AM in
Home and Garden by
Jos Van Hage
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