November Gardening Advice for Manchester
Editor’s note: Manchester resident, Jennifer Fairfield, owns and operates the Garden Mill in Chelsea, serves on the Manchester Community Garden Committee, and volunteers with the school gardens at Klager and the MECC.
by Jennifer Fairfield
If, like me, you’ve been procrastinating, we both need to get moving. Here are some things that need to be done, pronto:
Bulbs – There is still time to get your spring-blooming bulbs in the ground. They can actually be planted all the way up until the ground freezes, and the forecast for the upcoming week looks like it will be a little warmer, which makes the task a lot more pleasant!
photo courtesy of Jennifer Fairfield.
If you’ve had problems with creatures digging up your bulbs in the past, try mixing them up with some baby powder in a bag (think “Shake-n-Bake”) before you plant them. Squirrels and such don’t like the smell of baby powder, so it might deter them. There are other ways to deter them that can be very effective, but are also a bit more labor-intensive. Stop in and chat with me if you'd like some more tips.
Trees & shrubs – Keep watering your trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. Making sure that they have good moisture going into winter will help them get through the cold months. After last year’s extreme harshness, your trees and shrubs are already likely to be stressed, so don’t add to that stress by making them start out thirsty this winter.
To help evergreen shrubs get through the winter, provide a barrier against the drying effects of the wind. You can do this by attaching burlap to stakes in the ground in front of the plants. Wrapping burlap or any other fabric around them can cause more harm than good, as ice and snow can cling to the fabric, making it heavy and weighing down or even breaking the branches.
Perennials and ornamental grasses – If you prefer the tidiness of having your plants cut back in the winter, go ahead and do that early this month. Don’t wait until it’s too cold or there is snow on the ground, or you won’t do it at all. Of course, leaving them until very early spring is on option, too. That’s the option I choose, because I like the look of snow on the plants, and they can provide some food and shelter for the birds in the winter months.
photo courtesy of Jennifer Fairfield.
Vegetable garden – A little time spent now will make getting started next spring easier. Pull spent plants and weeds. Add compost and lightly till it in. Heavy tilling causes more damage than good, but a light tilling will get the compost worked into the soil, and will expose insects that have bedded down in your garden to birds that will remove the insects for you, and appreciate the meal!
There are also a few things you can plant now in order to have early crops next year. Spinach and peas will generally overwinter well and come up earlier than ones you plant in the spring. Those early to rise plants can stand a bit of frost in the spring, or you can cover them up with row covers if it gets too cold once they have peaked their heads out. It’s also still a good time to plant garlic. Like flowering bulbs, garlic can be planted anytime up until the ground freezes.
Lawn & leaves – You may want to do one more mowing before you put your lawn equipment away for the winter. Your lawn should not be too long going into the snowy months, as this can lead to disease problems. If you still have leaves on your lawn, you’ll want to get them up (or mulch them in) before the snow really starts coming down, too.
Tools – Once you are finished all your other chores, be sure to clean off, sharpen, and lubricate all of your tools before putting them away. Leaving them dirty for months can shorten their useful life, and having them clean and sharp at the beginning of the season means you won’t be slowed down trying to get them cleaned up, which is much harder to do with dirt caked on them from months ago. Also, put your watering equipment away. Hoses should be emptied of water and rolled up for storage. Putting all of your tools away in one place now will make it much easier to find them in the spring, too!
Birds – If you have birdbaths that can be damaged by ice, as long as the days are still above freezing, fill them up during the day and just empty them out in the evening. Birds need water all year long, so the longer you can provide it for them, the better off they will be. If your birdbath is impervious to the cold, consider adding a heater to it so the birds have a source of water all winter long.
photo courtesy of Jennifer Fairfield
Feed them! Providing food for the birds is not only good for them, but it can give you hours of entertainment. I’m sitting watching all the birds in my feeders as I write this, and it looks sort of like an airport out there, with all the flying in and out. I think they need an air traffic controller though, since I’ve seen a few near-collisions.
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