Gardening tips for November.

 

 

 

 

November gardening tips.

 

 

Time to get serious about cleaning up the garden. Begin by removing any plant supports, such as trellis or tomato cages. Next remove all the spent plant material from the garden. Dead plants, old fruit and vegetables, including tomato plants and diseased plants should be disposed of. Plant material that looks healthy can be composted, adding organic material to your garden soil. This would include fall tree leaves and grass clipping from the lawn. A great way to clean up leaves from the lawn is to put the catcher on your mower and gather the leave while you mow the lawn. All this material can go right into the garden. It will break down over winter and is a great addition to your garden soil. This is also a great time to incorporate peat moss, compost, raised- bed amendments into the soil. Preparing garden soils now is easier because the soils are generally drier, it means less work in the spring and a generally earlier start to the garden. Next, turn your attention to your perennial beds. Look for obvious trouble spots, such as plants that exhibit any dead, diseased or damaged branches. Clean up any fallen leaves and other debris from around rose bushes to prevent diseases from wintering over. The same goes for aspen trees. Black spot, powdery mildew and other diseases can winter over and infect plants in the spring.

Most of your actual pruning can be accomplished with a good set of hand pruners. For larger branches or canes, use loppers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can prune roses back to about 30 " now, but avoid severe pruning. We’ll talk more about fall rose care in a future article. Perennials such as Catmint (Nepeta), hardy hibiscus, mums, bronze fennel, hostas, columbine, daylilies, phlox, peonies, salvia, veronica, and yarrow can be pruned to the ground. Spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia and lilac form their flower buds soon after they bloom. If you prune them now, you will cut off most of the flowers. Better to prune these bushes shortly after they bloom, next spring. Ornamental grasses can be pruned now, however they will add interest to your winter garden, so you can wait and prune them in early spring before they start to green up. Artemisia is best pruned in the spring. Butterfly bushes can be trimmed lightly now, but wait until late winter to do any serious pruning. These are general guidelines. If you have specific questions, contact us at 303-772-3454 or stop by the Diagnostic Center in the Hardgoods section of the store.

 

 

 

Choosing the right pruners.

Choosing the right pruners. Your hand size and grip strength and the type of pruning you’ll be doing are important factors in choosing a pruner. Pruners can be broken down into two basic categories: anvil and bypass.

 

Anvil pruners have a fixed flat blade (anvil) and one moving blade that pins the branch in place and then cuts it. It’s much like using a knife on a chopping board. Anvil pruners tend to crush the branch rather that cut it. Anvil pruners are very useful in cutting dead branches.

 

 

Bypass pruners cut like a pair of scissors. One sharp blade cuts the branch as it moves by a thicker, unsharpened blade. Using a bypass pruner will result in a cleaner cut and less damage to the branch you’re working on. Hand pruners will cut stems and branches up to 1". For branches that are 1"-2", choose a lopper.

 

Unlock the pruner and hold it in your hand. It should fit comfortably. Try it out. Ask to cut something with it. The bottom line is pick a pruner that feels comfortable in your hand, that you can use for a long time and one that makes easy cuts.

You’ll be pleased with the results of having spent the time to find just the right pruner for you.

Felco has been making their classic model #2 for decades, but the #6 may be a better fit if you have small hands. Check the chart.

 For light trimming and deadheading, consider a pair of Garden Cut Pruning Shears. These shears stay sharp over many cuttings. Bonsai shears offer another choice for trimming and shaping. This one is nice because it has a finger loop to increase accuracy and reduce fatigue. Pruning, trimming and deadheading roses and shrubs is a key part of gardening. Having the right tools makers pruning much easier. Disinfect pruners with a Lysol or Clorox disinfectant wipe or dip your pruners in disinfectant solution to reduce risk of spreading disease among roses or bushes. Once you are doing pruning and disinfecting, spray blades with a silicone lubricant, to keep your pruners in top working shape.