Planning
•
Now is a great time to plan a new garden bed. Use newspaper or cardboard covered by mulch to
remove lawn and/or weeds for conversion to garden beds.
Maintenance and Clean Up
•
Recycle plant material and kitchen scraps into compost. Adding plants that have gone to seed or are
diseased could spread problems unless you are using the "hot compost"
method (120-150 degrees).
•
Drain or blow out your irrigation system and insulate
valve mechanisms, in preparation for winter.
•
Use newspaper or cardboard covered by mulch to discourage
and/or kill weeds.
•
Clean and paint greenhouses and cold frames for plant
storage and winter growth.
•
Dig and store potatoes; keep in darkness, moderate
humidity, temperature about 40°F. Using
your own potatoes as seed potatoes for next year could continue a disease
problem if you had one this year. See this link
•
Harvest and immediately dry filberts and walnuts; dry at
95 degrees to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
See this link for filberts
•
Ripen green tomatoes indoors. Check often and discard
rotting fruit.
•
Harvest and store apples; keep at about 40°F, moderate
humidity.
•
Harvest squash and pumpkins; keep in dry area at 55 to
60 degrees F.
•
Place mulch over roots of marginally hardy plants for
winter protection. Roses, azaleas, rhododendrons, berries, and many other
plants also benefit from mulching.
•
To suppress future pest problems, clean up annual flower
beds by removing diseased plant materials, overwintering areas for insect
pests; mulch with manure or garden compost to feed the soil and suppress weeds.
Cover cropping is another good option with similar benefits.
•
Cover asparagus and rhubarb beds with a mulch of manure or
compost.
•
Clean, sharpen, and oil tools and equipment before storing
for winter.
•
Store garden supplies and fertilizers in a safe, dry place
out of reach of children.
•
Prune out dead fruiting canes in raspberries.
•
Now is a good time to add organic material soil
•
Lime if indicated by soil test results.
Planting/Propagation
Planting/Propagation
•
Dig and divide rhubarb. (Should be done about every 4 years.)
•
Plant garlic for harvesting next summer.
•
Propagate chrysanthemums, fuchsias, and geraniums by stem
cuttings.
•
Save seeds from the vegetable and flower garden. Dry,
date, label, and store in a cool and dry location.
•
Plant ground covers and shrubs.
•
Dig and store geraniums, tuberous begonias, dahlias, and
gladiolas.
•
Pot and store tulips and daffodils to force into early
bloom, indoors, in December and January.
•
Pest Monitoring and Management
•
Gather and use windfall apples in cooked dishes. Hot compost any that are not useful for eating to reduce the risk of harboring
apple maggot or codling moth larvae.
•
Rake and destroy diseased leaves (apple, cherry, rose,
etc.), or hot compost diseased leaves to help reduce spread.
•
Spray apple and stone fruit trees at leaf fall to prevent
various fungal and bacterial diseases. For more information, see Managing Diseases and Insects in Home Orchards (PDF - EC
631).
•
If moles and gophers are a problem, gathering soil from the mounds to expose the holes can discourage them. Trapping is the official recommendation, but it is often ineffective and not necessarily humane.
•
Control fall-germinating lawn weeds while they are small.
Hand weeding and weeding tools are particularly effective at this stage.
•
Monitor landscape plants for problems. Don't treat unless
a problem is identified.
Call or email the Master Gardener hot line with questions.
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