Happy Garden Newsletter - October 4, 2007

We have lots of fall tips this week including an October's Garden To-Do List. Do you have any fall or winter gardening tips to share? Please submit them on one of the contest pages!

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Photos:

• Big Geranium
• Wisteria In Bloom
• Take a Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Tips and Articles:

• Use Warm Water For Fresh Flowers
• October's Garden To-Do List
• Edging And Trimming Your Lawn
• Brown Spot On My Lawn
• Winter Care for Garden Tools

New Requests:

• Caring for Lilac Saplings in the Winter
• Getting Rid of Underground Bumble Bee Nest
• What is This Flower?
• What Not to Put In Compost Pile

Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Big Geranium

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Wisteria In Bloom

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Take a Trip to the Pumpkin Patch
By Susan Sanders-Kinzel

Here's the story and pictures about our trip last year:

Our Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Arizona

• Tolmachoff Farms - Glendale, Arizona

• Mother Nature's Farm - Gilbert, Arizona

California

• The Pumpkin Patch - Redlands/Yucaipa, California

• Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Patch - Morgan Hill, California

Georgia

• Burt's Farm - Directions from Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia North of Atlanta, GA

Illinois

• The Great Pumpkin Patch - Caledonia, Illinois

• Goebert's Farm - South Barrington, Illinois and Goebert's Pumpkin Patch - Hampshire, Illinois

Kansas

• KC Pumpkin Patch - Gardner, Kansas

Minnesota

• Tweite's Pumpkin Patch - Byron, Minnesota

Nebraska

• Vala's Pumpkin Patch - Gretna, Nebraska

• Bloom Where You're Planted Farm & Pumpkin Patch - Avoca, Nebraska
  911-108th St., Avoca, NE.
  402-267-4104
• Kimmel Farm and Arbor Day Farm
  Nebraska City, NE
  see feedback

New Mexico

• McCall's Pumpkin Patch - Moriarity New Mexico

Oregon

• Plumper's Pumpkins - Hillsboro, Oregon

• The Pumpkin Patch - Near Portland, Oregon

Texas

• Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch - Flower Mound, Texas

Virginia

• Hill High Farm Pumpkin Patch - Winchester, Virginia

• http://www.pumpkinpatchesandmore.org/

No doubt there are many, many more. This was all we had time to find. If you would like to recommend one in your area or if you own a pumpkin patch, post it below.

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Use Warm Water For Fresh Flowers

Fresh cut flowers should always be placed in warm water rather than cold because the stem will absorb the warm water more rapidly. This prevents air bubbles from blocking the stem. Follow this tip and you will be able to enjoy your garden cuttings for a longer time.

By Marie from West Dundee, IL

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October's Garden To-Do List
By Ellen Brown

Fall is officially here and with it comes a list of important seasonal chores to keep gardeners busy. No matter what zone you garden in, getting fall chores done can depend a lot on the weather. Some zones will get hit hard with rain and other zones will dry out. Just about all zones will end up with cooler temperatures and (hopefully) calmer weather as we transition into November. For those of you in cooler zones, here's wishing you an Indian Summer!

October's Checklist

• Plant or transplant shade trees & shrubs, ground covers and vines: Cooler temperatures and adequate rain make fall ideal for planting most trees, shrubs, ground covers and vines. Fall is also a less busy time for most gardeners.

• Divide and transplant perennials.

• Sow perennial or annual seeds that need stratifying. Certain seeds need a cold period to make them ready to for germinating once spring weather arrives. Sow them at or just before the first frost at a depth slightly deeper than you would in the spring. Protect the sides of the beds with boards or barriers to keep seeds from washing away with fall rains.

• Plant spring bulbs: It's not too late to plant spring bulbs like tulips, daffodils and crocus. Plant them right up until the ground freezes.

• Pot bulbs for winter forcing: If you plan on forcing bulbs indoors this winter, this is a good month to pot them up and begin chilling them.

• Dig up tender bulbs, let cure and store for winter.

• Take perennial cuttings and continue to collect and dry seeds for next season.

• Prune shade trees, vines and perennials.

• Fertilize lawn: Continue to mow your lawn as long as grass keeps growing, but set your lawnmower blades high. Fertilize the lawn for the final time after the last mowing.

• Clean up and compost garden debris: Fall is a wonderful time to start a compost pile with yard waste and garden debris. Turn over already established compost piles. Leave some plant debris in the garden to add winter interest and provide protection for insects and birds.

• Rake leaves: Start to rake up leaves. Till them under, compost them or use them as a winter protection for tender plants.

• Protect vegetables and flowers from frost: Stay alert for frost advisories and be prepared to protect vegetables and fall blooming flowers from cold damage. Keep row covers, sheets or portable cold frames at the ready.

• Overwinter potted plants indoors: Place cold sensitive plants in protected areas or indoors for their dormant period.

• Mulch for winter protection: After the ground freezes, add winter mulch around perennials, trees and shrubs as needed.

• Wrap smooth bark trees: Wrap smooth bark trees like maples with tree tape to prevent cold damage.

• Water as needed: Evergreens need at least 1 inch of water until the first frost. So do new transplants, shrubs and flowers. As established deciduous trees lose their leaves, they usually need less water, but if your area has seen a drier than normal summer and early fall, keep watering them until it freezes.

• Keep up with weeds. Most continue to grow until the ground freezers. The more you remove this fall, the fewer you will have to battle in the spring.

• Clean and store garden tools: Clean tools with soap and water and use steel wool to remove rust. Oil moving parts, drain fuel and sharpen the blades of motorized lawn and garden equipment. Hang up long-handled tools and store hand-held tools, blade side down, in a pail filled with a mix of sand and motor oil.

• Clean and store empty pots and containers: Wash out empty pots with warm water and a stiff bristled brush. Smaller pots can be washed and sanitized in the dishwasher (without detergent) providing they are made of a durable material. Pots made from ceramic or terra cotta should not be left outdoors over winter as they may freeze and crack.

• Stock up on bird seeds and clean and prepare feeders for winter season.

• Repair fences, trellises and store garden accessories.

• Prepare ponds and outdoor water features for winter.

• Cover or store firewood indoors for winter.

• Harvest fall vegetables and herbs: Take in remaining green tomatoes for ripening indoors. Harvest and freeze herbs.

• Get your soil tested. Contact your county extension agency for directions on how to collect samples and where to send them for testing.

• Start the clock on Christmas cacti and Poinsettias: Move to cooler temperatures (50-60ºF) and start monitoring photoperiod (13 hours of complete darkness for Christmas Cacti and 15 hours for Poinsettia). Remember that street lights, car lights and indoor lights can disrupt this sensitive period.

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Edging And Trimming Your Lawn

Tips for edging your lawn without using gas powered machinery. Post your own here.

Electric Weed Eater

You could use an Electric Weed Eater to do your trim work. Use a 50' to 100' Outdoor Power Cord. Or get a neighborhood boy that needs some spending money.

By starlight2007

Manual Edging Blade

They make, or used to make a manual device that looked like a lawnmower wheel edged up to a saw blade (actually, more like a seamstresses perforator) on a stick. You'd roll the wheel along the edge and the overhanging blade would cut the "edge" you wanted. It takes a fair amount of elbow-grease and muscle power to use, but they do exist.

I'm not sure if you could make your own or not but if you give it a try. The blade part of it went about an inch or so past the edge of the wheel.

Best of luck!

By Qryztufre

Plant A Border

You might consider just pulling up/digging, a foot or two at a time, a 12-14" wide swath of sod, planting small evergreens, such as dwarf boxwood, that will naturally shade the edge, requiring almost no care. You can create your own mulch from brown paper grocery sacks, cardboard, or old newspapers covered with soil around each plant, adjoining the patio edge.

If your budget is as tight as mine, I'd consider finding some individual plant sale which has 4-6" young cheap evergreen plants for cheap ($.50-$1.00 each or less. Plant them about 2 feet apart and hand trim them only once a year with scissors, if you prefer, saving the trimmings for mulching neatly under them to retain moisture. It will take a year or two to get them going well, but worth the wait if you plant towards the outer edge of the bed to allow for growth. They provide their own root shade. Many folks like Dark green Lirope (reg. or dwarf "Monkey"grass) because it is so easy to grow and outlines well. However, it can be and is usually invasive requiring thinning after a year or two, depending upon the size of the plant. Our local newspaper offers freebies for the pickup. Yours may offer this, too.

I am striving to have a more maintenance free yard. Any sort of mechanical equipment seems more than I can handle at my age now, and I certainly cannot afford lawn care or to pay anyone for regular help. God bless and help you.

By Lynda

Feel free to post your ideas below.

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Brown Spot On My Lawn

Question:

I have a spot on the lawn. We are in a new home and the front lawn was sodded last summer. There is a patch of brown grass in the very middle of the front yard that goes brown, then greens up a little after a heavy watering or rain. We regularly water the whole yard so we can't figure out what is causing this. It's not grubs. Could there have been an excess of rocks or pea gravel left under this sod when planted that would cause the grass in this one area to brown. It's about 3 feet in diameter an is almost circular in shape. What can we do to keep this area green?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Hardiness Zone: 6a

Marianne from Trenton, OH

Answer:

Marianne,

The symptoms you're describing sound like Brown Spot (also called Brown Patch), a fungus afflicting Bermuda Grass, Kentucky Bluegrass, tall Fescue, Perennial Ryegrass, and Creeping Bentgrass. It often occurs in areas with high humidity or in lawns growing in heavy shade. Brown Patch is characterized by a small round or horseshoe-shaped brown spot, which eventually grows and spreads to a few feet wide. It's common for the inner portions of the spot to green up (recover), while the outer edges of the spot stay brown. To prevent Brown Patch, aerate the soil in affected area, and if necessary try to increase the amount of sun exposure the areas receives. Avoid using excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizer.

Another (fungus) possibility is a Dollar Spot. Dollar Spot is common to Kentucky, Bluegrass, Bent Grass and Bermuda in humid climates. They are characterized by small, silver dollar-like circles (up to the size of a grapefruit), that are brown or straw-colored in appearance. This fungus is most commonly seen during warm, wet weather and on lawns lacking in nitrogen. To prevent Dollar Spot, water only as needed and in the morning hours so that grass has plenty of time to dry before nightfall. Keep your lawn well aerated, remove dead thatch and avoid excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizers-especially in the spring and fall.

Good cultural practices go along way to preventing these diseases. Your local garden center can also recommend fungicides that are appropriate for both of these diseases, but they are expensive and are also only recommended as preventative measures.

Ellen

Ellen Brown is an environmental writer and photographer and the owner of Sustainable Media, an environmental media company that specializes in helping businesses and organizations promote eco-friendly products and services. Contact her on the web at http://www.sustainable-media.com

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Winter Care for Garden Tools
By Ellen Brown

After spending the winter thumbing through seed catalogs and dreaming of digging in the dirt, the last thing you want to do in the spring is waste your time (and money) shopping for new tools. Take a few minutes this fall to properly clean and store your garden tools for winter. You can use the money you would have spent replacing neglected tools to buy more plants for the garden next spring.

Clean & Disinfect

Hand Tools (trowels, rakes, shovels, hoes, etc.): Use soap and water to remove residual dirt and dried-on materials from tool surfaces. Scrape off stubborn clumps with a putty knife or a wire brush. The steel brushes made for cleaning grills work great for this because they usually have bristles on one side and a scraping tool on the other. Don't use wire brushes on painted surfaces though, or you'll scratch off the paint and make the surface more susceptible to rust. If surfaces are showing signs of rust, try loosening the specks with steel wool and then rubbing with a dry cloth.

Mowers and Trimmers: Grass is acidic and can cause a chemical reaction that leads to rust during prolonged contact with metal. Scrape off the undercarriages of lawnmowers and weed whackers with a putty knife.

Grass is acidic and can cause a chemical reaction that leads to rust during prolonged contact with metal.

Sprayers: Empty chemical sprayers and properly dispose of leftover contents according to package guidelines. Sprayers should be flushed at least three times with soap and water before storing for winter.

Disinfect all tool surfaces that are in contact with soil by dipping them in a solution of one part non-chlorine bleach, to four parts water. Hold them in the solution for about 15 seconds. Empty used pots and seedling flats should be disinfected now too so they will be ready to start early spring seeds.

Remove Gas

Gasoline should not be held over from one season to the next. Old gasoline can gum up parts and slow down ignition. Use an old turkey baster for the sole purpose of siphoning out leftover fuel from gasoline powered equipment like lawn mowers, weed whackers and tillers. If you can time it right, you can also run equipment until its out of gas. This is also a good time to check and replace sparkplugs, examine electrical chords and remove and store batteries for winter. Remove (and recycle) used motor oil and replace or clean dirty air filters. Check your owner's manual for any other storage or lubrication requirements.

Sharpen Blades

Sharp blades make cleaner cuts, which when dividing plants means quicker healing and less likelihood for disease. Following the existing angles of the blades, use a whetstone or file to sharpen dull blades on trowels, hoes and shovels. Have your lawn mower blades professionally sharpened now to avoid the spring rush.

Prevent Rusting and Cracking

Sand down splinters on wooden handles and apply a coat of linseed oil to prevent wood from cracking. Wipe off any excess to prevent handles from getting sticky.

Lubricate all tool pivoting points and springs and pay special attention to wheels, axels, and moving assemblies. Paint exposed metal surfaces or rub them with a sock dipped in motor oil. A spray-on lubricant like WD-40 also works well for this.

A great way to store tools and keep them from rusting is to insert them blade down into a 5-gallon bucket filled with builder's sand and one quart of 10W-30 motor oil.

Drain and Hang

After the garden gets one last, long drink, remove nozzles and drain and hang your hoses and irrigation equipment away from freezing temperatures.

Tighten Up & Check for Leaks

Tighten up loose nuts and bolts and inspect moving parts for wear and tear. Check the tire pressure on wheelbarrows, garden carts and lawnmowers and check tires for any cracking and splitting or signs of leaks.

Proper Storage

For safety, tools with sharp blades or tines should be stored upright and off the floor using hooks or nails or wooden pallets.

Dry chemicals need to be kept dry throughout the winter and liquid chemicals should to be kept from freezing. Store them in plastic bins or garbage bags away from humidity and keep them up off the floor on wooden pallets and away from children and pets.

Organize Manuals & Other Important Data

Keep chemical application instructions and growing information organized in a 3-ring binder or photo box so they are easy to access. Create a separate section for manuals, fertilizer rates, planting notes, and photos tracking your garden's progress from year to year.

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Caring for Lilac Saplings in the Winter

I have three brand new Lilac bushes and it is starting to get very cold here at night. 38 degrees this morning. I am wondering if it will hurt these young saplings to keep them inside for the winter or if it is wiser to go ahead and plant them outside before the first snow really hits which of course could be any time.

Hardiness Zone: 5a

Wendy from Fort Collins, CO

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Getting Rid of Underground Bumble Bee Nest

How should I go about getting rid of a bumble bee nest in the ground? They take offense at our mowing the lawn. I've heard those nests can get very large under ground if left alone.

Lynn from Albany, NY

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What is This Flower?

What is this? It is loaded with flies and butterflies constantly, and I mean loaded! Thanks. Linda

By Linda from Bellevue, NE

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What Not to Put In Compost Pile

I am starting a little compost pile, and I would like to know what NOT to put in it. I am using a kiddie wading pool for this. Thanks for any feedback.

Peggy from Chillicothe, OH

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Crafting for Fun and Money!

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