What to Do This Week
-
- November
- 13
Perennials: Finish cleanup, including pulling weeds that are still growing. Cut back late-blooming mums. Leave the ornamental grasses for winter interest. Cut back perennials to 4 to to five inches. Spread fertilizer such as 5-10-5-on perennial beds. It will work into the soil during winter. Continue planting bulbs as long as weather permits. To keep voles away from tulips, add a handful of crushed gravel to the hole.
Fruits and vegetables: Clean up fallen leaves under fruit trees to prevent overwintering diseases. Protect tree trunks from mouse and vole damage with wire mesh trunk guards. Incorporate lime and fertilizer into the vegetable garden.
Flowers: Continue potting up bulbs for spring forcing. Start paperwhites and amaryllis.
Trees and shrubs: Spray broad-leaved evergreens with an antidessicant to prevent moisture loss. Apply when temperatures are above 40 degrees. Make a note of shrubs and trees that hold onto colorful leaves until late fall. They are pleasing to the eye as the sky turns gray.
Lawns: The last mowing of the season should be short. Prepare for fertilizing around Thanksgiving weekend.
Houseplants: Keep amaryllis in a bright light. Water sparingly until foliage emerges and more often when flowering stalks appear.
Susan Henry
This entry was posted
on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 7:40 am by Bill Cary.
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Bill Cary grew up in Louisville, Ky. His gardening was limited to growing parsley and impatiens on the windowsill of Manhattan walkups until the mid-1990s when he bought a rundown old chicken farm on 8 acres in the Hudson Valley. Now he spends his weekends chasing deer, hacking away at invasive shrubs and vines and wondering why he doesn`t have more meadow and less lawn.
