Cool Climates (Pennsylvania and north)

• Remove dead flower stalks (example: daylily flower stalks), dead leaves, flowers and debris, but wait until perennials are fully dormant to trim back to the ground. Removing as much dead plant debris as possible will help avoid problems with diseases overwintering.
• Rake the yard, shred and add leaves to the compost pile. Leaving dead leaves on the ground can cause turf problems over the winter and into spring.
• Plant spring blooming bulbs before hard frosts occur regularly. Be sure to water the bulbs after planting so that they can establish a healthy root system before the ground freezes.
• Continue to mow the lawn as long as it is actively growing.
• Winterize irrigation systems.
• Plant new trees and shrubs.
• 
  Create winter containers with ornamental Kale, small evergreen shrubs or shrubs with berries and pansies.
• Install cold frames to extend the season for lettuce, spinach and other cool crops. Continue to vent the frame so that the temperature is not too high on sunny days.
• Mulch beds for the winter.

Warm Climates (Virginia and South)

• Prepare vegetable garden and plant cool season vegetables such as lettuce, broccoli, spinach, leeks, cabbage, radishes, turnips and kale.
• Mow the lawn closely and over-seed with winter rye if desired.
• Plant cool-season annuals including: snapdragons, pansies, violas, Swiss chard, osteospermum, calendula, and petunias.
• Rake leaves and remove dead plant debris.
• Plant new trees and shrubs.
• Divide perennials.

Fall gardening is very similar in many ways to gardening early in the spring. There are some preparation steps, and thought needs to be put into what will grow successfully, and what to grow where.

Prepare the Soil For a Second Harvest

Put some thought into what plants you have growing that are close to or are finished growing.  Perhaps you have a bed where broccoli and cauliflower were planted, and have already been harvested.  Maybe bush beans are done for the season, or carrots have been pulled and eaten.

In those empty spots, take a look at the soil.  It is important to remember that whatever was just growing there has probably depleted the soil of many of the nutrients necessary for successful growing.  It is time to replace them.

First, check soil pH, and maybe even have a sample examined at your local extension office. Next, dig in some finished compost, and add any amendments that may be necessary to help your plants grow as efficiently as possible.

Also consider what was growing in the bed that you are about to plant in.  Any beds that have been home to leguminous plants such as peas or beans are a great place to plant vegetables that need a lot of nitrogen.  Legumes fix large amounts of nitrogen in the soil, and it should be readily available in the soil.

Find Crops That Will Tolerate Cold and Frost

There are a number of crops that do well, or maybe even thrive in cold weather or with a little bit of frost.  Some crops even do well remaining in the soil after the freezing temperatures arrive.

Generally, crops that you were able to plant early in mid to late spring, will do well with planting in late July and early August.  These include:

• peas
• beets
• turnips
• collard and mustard Greens
• swiss chard
• carrots

All of these crops, when planted now, should have enough time to become established enough to handle the cool weather.

Understand What Needs to be Done to Protect Fall Crops

Peas should be able to mature and bear before they are killed off by the first frost.  In many cases, peas will continue to do well even after the first snowfall.  If you are concerned with the crop, cover when frost warnings begin in order to protect their continued harvest.

Root crops will do fine in the cold weather, and are known to sweeten as they are stored in the soil during cold weather.  Ensure that root crops are heavily mulched, so that the ground does not freeze solid around your crop.  This will make their harvesting easier, ensuring that you are able to get them out of the ground.

Hardy greens such as Kale, Chard, and other greens will tolerate cold weather, but require either small hoop houses, cold frames, or row cover to protect them from some of the elements.  Do not forget that beet and turnip greens can be harvested as a cut and come again crop as they mature.

Move Plants Indoors

Some plants that are already growing in containers, such as herbs or lettuce, can be moved indoors and treated almost like houseplants.  Both will continue to grow indoors given a sunny location.  Grow lights and heat mats can help this process if you do not have a convenient sunny location present.

Buy a sprouter, and start bean sprouts for addition to salads and as a substitute for lettuce on sandwiches.

Also remember to bring in or protect vulnerable plants such as fruit trees and berry bushes that are not yet well established.

Have fun with your second harvest!

A few weeks ago, I captured pictures of the first Eastern Black Swallowtail in our garden.  She was busily laying eggs all over our fennel plants.  I have since been inspecting the plants each day to see if the eggs had hatched.  Last week, I thought they had.  However, the little green wormy looking thing did not match the Swallowtail larva I have seen before.  So, who knows what that was. I’m sure my plants will let me know if they are being eaten by something unknown.

Garden at Night

Well, I’ve procrastinated writing additional blogs this week.  Plus, I’ve been busy celebrating getting old.  So,

tonight, I took the camera outside and started hunting for butterfly larvae in the dark, with the aid of my camera flash.  All I can say is, those poor little boogers must have been saying (in their very best southern accents) “What the HAIL is going on?” as I snapped away, in macro mode, with the flash, in the pitch dark.  My neighbors already think I’m strange because I have squash growing in old tires on one side of the house.  Unfortunately, they were disembarking for somewhere while I was squatting in the garden, tormenting the caterpillars.  In addition to some great larvae pictures, I took some beauties of my plants in the dark.

Butterfly Babies

I’ll be closely monitoring the butterfly larvae as they grow.  Last year, I got a great shot of a butterfly chrysalis attached to the ornamental grass plants in our yard, and then-miracle of miracles-a picture of the butterfly emerging from the

chrysalis.  Luckily, my husband likes to keep an eye on the larvae as much as I do.  He even named a particularly huge one last year.  Between the two of us, hopefully we’ll catch all of the life cycle stages.

Hellebores (Lenten Rose)

These little (mostly) perennials are evergreen.  They generally bloom in late winter to early spring.  They do best in the shade, and the easiest to grow are the Oriental Hybrid Hellebores.  Neutral to slightly acidic soil makes them happy, and they don’t like to have continuously wet feet.  You need to be careful to not plant them too deeply-if the crowns are more than just barely covered with soil, they won’t bloom as well. 

There are hybrids and species, and almost every single color imaginable!

Daphne ‘Carol Mackie’

Daphne is notoriously picky.  It either loves or hates where it is planted, and it is almost impossible to tell the plant’s ultimate verdict until you plant it.  However, if you can find a place that Daphne loves to live, you are home free.  The fragrance, alone, is enough reason to plant this.  You have never smelled anything as nice.  Ever.  It likes the shade, and a neutral soil pH.  Carol Mackie has a golden leaf margin, and the glossy green leaves are pretty in the garden, even when the shrub is not blooming.

Prunus mume

I want one of these, BADLY!  I remember the first time I saw one of these blooming.  They bloom in my town around late January-early February.  They look like cotton candy.  They are adorable and pretty.  They are a shocking surprise in the middle of winter.  Their common name is the Flowering Apricot.  They are fluffy and frivolous, but I love ‘em.  At a full height of 20 feet, they make nice ornamental trees for near the house or beds near the center of the lawn.  If you plant these in your yard, you will get lots of admiring looks from passers-by.

There is more eye-candy for my winter garden beyond these three.  I’ll bring you more organic-garden friendly winter plants in a few days!

Give Thanks for Gardening

• Gardening is a marvelous stress release.  It allows for physical exercise outdoors with tangible results.
• Gardening helps the earth, especially organic gardening, by maintaining wildlife habitats that would otherwise be carved up by development.
• (Ok, this one is a bit shallow, but, anyway)  Gardening gives me an excuse to buy fun swag.  I especially like the multi-colored hoses and watering wands from Dramm.
• Gardening is my passion, and I’ve been lucky enough to make a career out of it.  Not many people can say that they do what they love every day.
• Plants do not talk back.  If you are having a bad day, chances are great that it will get better if you spend time in the garden.
• Nothing is more fun than bringing in an armload of flowers you grew yourself to display on the kitchen table.
• Gardening presents endless opportunities to learn and grow.  (I could not resist the pun!)  There is always a new plant to culture, a new color combination to try and a new vegetable to wrangle.
• Eating your own lettuce is the yummiest part of any dinner.  Growing and eating your own lettuce is one of the most satisfying things a person can do.  (Aphids or not.  Shout out to Liz!  We can beat those aphids!)
• When you grow your own organic flowers and vegetables, you know what you put into the garden, so you do not have to be worried about what you are eating.

You probably have your own list of reasons to be thankful for gardening.  Share them with us!

Pun-kins

Puns are always fun. Luckily, there are a bunch of fun gardening and nature Halloween Puns. My favorite is the one about the squash.

What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?
Squash

What kind of protozoa likes Halloween?
An amoeboo!

What do the birds sing on Halloween?
Twick or Tweet

How did the ghost patch his sheet?
With a pumpkin patch.

What did the little ghost have in his rock collection?
Tombstones

Pumpkin Brains

Ingredients
• 1 Large pumpkin (small enough to fit in your oven)
• 1 lb of spaghetti
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
Instructions
Hollow out the pumpkin. Cut a large opening in the top—larger than you usually would cut for jack-o-lanterns. Save the seeds to roast. Use a knife to etch a face into the side of the pumpkin, but do not cut all of the way through, as the spaghetti will fall out!

Cook the spaghetti, drain and stir in the sauce. Pour the spaghetti mixture into the pumpkin, and cook the pumpkin on a cookie sheet with sides in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. (The pumpkin will get a little bit juicy as it cooks.) Serve with garlic bread carved into the shape of hands!

Save the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin. Clean them as well as you can. Then toss in olive oil and salt and spread on a cooking sheet. Roast at 400 degrees for ten minutes or so until brown. They will be VERY HOT when they come out of the oven, so you will want to wait a bit before eating. You can serve these as “Pumpkin Teeth!”

Fall color is at peak in some areas and passed in others. To leaf-peepers at home and on vacation, the fiery red of sugar maples, purples of sweet gums and brilliant yellows of birches is a beautiful mystery. It doesn’t have to be so. Here is an easy primer on fall color.

You Look Lovely in Red

Most of the year, tree leaves are lush and green. That is because the production of chlorophyll exceeds the production of other plant pigments in the leaves. Chlorophyll reflects green light, which is why leaves looks green when chlorophyll production is high. Chlorophyll is part of photosynthesis, which is how plants produce sugar from light, water and carbon dioxide. As the days become shorter, light becomes less intense and the temperature drops, plants slow down their production of chlorophyll and the other pigments become more prominent. Carotenoids, which reflect yellow and orange light, and anthocyanins that reflect red and blue light. These pigments are in the leaves year-round, but only visible in the fall.

Razzle Dazzle Fall Color

Sweet gum trees thrive in many locations of North America. They do not, however, display the same fall color everywhere. Up north, sweet gum trees turn brilliant shades of purple, red and yellow. In the south, their leaves turn brown and fall off. What gives? The cooler the area, the more likely brilliant fall color will paint the hillsides. Cool days and nights above freezing are optimum for breakdown of chlorophyll and persistence of the carotenoids and anthocyanins. Consistently warm temperatures late into the fall ensure that chlorophyll production does not stop until the leaves fall off the trees. That means brown leaves. Blech.

Best Trees for Fall Color in the North

• Sugar Maple
• Amur Maple
• Sweet Gum
• Birch
• Aspen
• Ornamental pear (This is the ONLY thing ornamental pears are good for.)
• Ginkgo (Be sure to plant the males. The fruit from female ginkgo trees smells like rotting vomit.)

Fall Color in the South

The south, except in mountainous regions, is pretty lackluster for fall colors. There are a few plants that perform, even in the heat.

• Red Maple
• Virginia Creeper
• Tupelo
• Bald Cypress
• Flowering Dogwood
• Japanese Maple

Many shrubs get broken by the roadside with the weight of the snow and the salt from the snow ploughs. This also takes its toll on the lawn, but oh, how I revel in it!! I imagine all the things that I am going to achieve this spring (same things I was going to achieve last spring!) but this year I will do it. I will find all the bits of paper that I have stuffed in my pockets in my gardening coat giving me advice that I forgot to take, old packets of seeds that I was going to plant but never got round to it, and I will sit down with a cup of coffee and peruse this year’s plant catalogues for all the new varieties which of course, I must have.

Spring, wonderful spring! Eternal hope for life, bringing with it the promise of wonderful summer days to come; the joy and anticipation of hot sunny days; barbecues, swimming, cycling in the park, and all the family get-togethers to look forward to. Meanwhile I will get out my old wheelbarrow, that has seen better days and proceed to get my feet all muddy with soil, break my back bending to dig up weeds, and peer into the ground to see if any of the grass seed I sowed last year is emerging.

I often think that it would be nice to live in a climate that had sunshine all year round and all the chores that I would not have to do. I could just laze around and watch the grass grow, sipping on my ice cold lemonade. Then, reality sets in and I know that I would miss the changing of the seasons, the fall colors, the snow at Christmas (and the scraping of my windshield!) and the promise of spring.

For those of us who live in colder regions, I have one complaint: winter seems so long and spring and summer seem so short! Is this just my imagination or are we getting short changed?

Later shrubs, such as Forsythia, Star Magnolia and Bridal Wreath, flower shortly after the new foliage emerges, giving a fresh green halo to the blooms. As spring proceeds, a succession of new shrubs opens in turn, giving the garden a new look from week to week. Make the most of this feature by including as many different types as possible. Spring shrubs are very versatile – most can be used in several different ways. Spectacular compact shrubs such as Star Magnolia make brilliant specimen plants; a single plant makes a great centerpiece for a small front garden, surrounded by grass. It can also be grown in a large tub on a patio, as Magnolias need shelter else the flowers will not last.

Bridal Wreath makes billowing white clouds that are useful for filling out the back border and invaluable for cutting to use in flower arrangements. Depending on the variety, shrubby cherries can either run randomly, spreading pink blossom through a border, or form specimen shrubs or small trees.

Early-flowering shrubs produce their best flowers on shoots that grew the previous year. Prune them straight after flowering to give the plants the longest possible time in which to produce long, vigorous shoots for flowering in the following year.

Although it was the custom to decorate live evergreen trees in  honor of the Gods, our modern day practice of cutting down a  tree to bring indoors is a desecration of the original concept.

The Evergreen is one of the few plants to remain green even in winter and it is a symbol of life during the seasons.

Decorating a tree and branches was thought to be a celebration of life. The Christmas tree,  was adorned with lights to encourage and honor the sun, tinsel to encourage the melting of snow, and the fruits of the harvest to give thanks and to ensure a bounty for the next planting season.

Electric lights only became popular in the early 20th century as a substitute for candles. Decorating the tree with light is believed to have originated in Germany and Scandinavia.

Families would bring a “live” tree into the home so that the wood spirits would have a warm place to live during the cold winter months.

Martin Luther, a German, is credited as the first person to decorate his tree with candles. After seeing how beautiful the stars were at night, he wanted to recreate the image for his children.

Holly and Ivy are also Christmas symbols. Their origins are ancient. Romans used holly during the Winter Solstice and gifts of holly were exchanged. Holly was believed to ward off lightning and evil spirits. It was also seen as a symbol of the masculine, ivy, the symbol of the feminine. Celtic people believed that mistletoe was a strong charm against lightning, thunder and evil. Other cultures considered mistletoe to be aphrodisiac, thus came the custom of kissing under the mistletoe.