Clean the air, indoors, and you’ll clear you mind. NASA studies have chosen
the following plants as top air purifiers: bamboo palms, Boston ferns, dwarf
date palms, English ivies, gerbera daisies, peace lilies and rubber trees. Indoor plants help to remove such pollutants
as formaldehyde, odors from paints/stains/varnishes, adhesives, particle board,
ammonia and alcohol.
Poinsettias have been a holiday favorite since
the 1920’s. They do best in a sunny
window with an indoor temperature of 60 to 70 degrees. Avoid temperature
fluctuations and areas where there are warm or cold drafts. Don’t fertilize the
poinsettia when the plant is in bloom this month. One of the biggest mistakes
we can make with poinsettias is overwatering. They are prone to root rot if the
pot sits in saucer-full of water.
(Poinsettias exude a milky and sticky liquid that may irritate the skin,
but is not poisonous. It is a good idea
to keep them away from young children and pets.)
Prune wisteria by cutting out long,
undesirable branches. Prune the roots of
the vines that have failed to bloom.
Gather remaining leaves for the compost pile and for winter mulch on
beds. One inch of organic matter on top of the soil
in a garden bed is adequate for most of the garden. Two inches is better. Three inches or more is
counterproductive. If your leaves are
piled too high, water can be trapped, preventing moisture from reaching the
soil below. The reverse is also worth considering: too much around the base of
trees can hold moisture around the trunk, leading to rot and disease. Raking
leaves off the lawn is a good idea, and may save your turf. In the rest of the
garden use the two inch rule.
Vegetables, Fruit and
Berries:
Side-dress vegetable rows.
Prune grapes and low-chill
raspberries.
Plant your celery this
month.
Remove fallen fruit.
If using a cold
frame to grow greens through winter, use your floating row cover / or plastic
sheeting over the frame for extra warmth.
Anchor it down to protect it from wind.
Cut back
asparagus fronds.
Plan a crop
rotation for your next vegetable garden.
It may help to confuse overwintering pathogens and pests next year.
Pick a hand full
of fresh herbs for making herbal vinegars.
Use 8 cups of fresh herbs to 1 gallon of your favorite vinegar. (Pour
the gallon of vinegar into a second container.
Stuff the herbs into the vinegar’s original container. Now, with use of a funnel, pour the vinegar
back into its' original container covering the herbs. Cap tightly and store in a dark place for a
few weeks. When you are ready to use it,
or give it as a gift, strain the herbal vinegar into a clean bottle, only
filling it half way and add a few sprigs of the fresh herbs. Top it off with more vinegar, and enjoy the
fresh flavors.)
An inexpensive, easy to grow and nutritious
way to add fresh greens to your diet, any time of year, is to start sprouting
seeds for your sandwiches, pizzas and salads.
A variety of seeds hold a variety of healthy benefits. Try sprouting alfalfa, broccoli seeds,
cabbage, celery, clover, garlic, kale, mung bean, radish and sunflower
seeds. The amount of time needed for
the seeds to sprout depends on the type of seed used. (Directions for sprouting : place 2 tablespoons of seeds in to a quart
jar. After rinsing seeds, cover them with an inch of warm water. Cover the jar with a tight lid, and let the
seeds soak for 24 hours. Drain the
soaked seeds and rinse twice. Lay the
jar on its side on a kitchen counter, out of direct sunlight. At this point in the sprouting process, I change the lid to a
perforated one, and rinse daily until the sprouts are ready for the table. If they stand in water, they will rot.)
Flowers:
Consider using your winter vegetables and herbs in the flower beds. Kales, cabbages, mustard greens and curly parsley
add a lot of texture and color.
The hellebore’s soft blooms appear
in winter to add a bit of delicate color to the shade garden. Hellebores have
an unusually early bloom time and a vigorous growth habit, making it a
self-seeding perennial favorite. It is
considered a deer resistant plant. The
evergreen leaves are a favorite of mine in floral arrangements and as a garden
accent.
If you grow poinsettias as an
outdoor garden plant, have a floating row cover ready for chilling
temperatures. Keep in mind that they are
native to Mexico, and do not like being cold or too wet.
Feed cool-season flowers with a
balanced fertilizer for growth and bloom.
Do not prune your roses this
month. We’ll start in January. **Do not
feed them either.
Do not remove more than one-quarter to one-third of your trees branches in
any one season. Pruning more than that will potentially reduce the trees
ability to photosynthesize and feed itself.
This creates stress, making it more prone to attack by pests and
diseases.
Begin pruning fruit trees.
Feed cool season lawns,
but not warm season grasses (unless it’s Bermuda that has been over seeded with
an annual rye grass).
You can enjoy
some time off from mowing warm season grasses.
Mow cool season
lawns as needed.
Let your mower
mulch the leaves and grass to add more organic material to your soil. If you have not changed your mower blade to a
mulching one, one is available at your local Home Depot. Do it now.
Please remove
leaves from your turf, as they will kill the grass if left there through the
winter.
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