By Pat Dray
The Garden Spot
Pat Dray.
With the warm October weather we’ve had, it’s hard to believe that it’s time to clean up our gardens and put them to bed for the winter. There are several other important projects besides getting the leaves off the lawn – some involving your plants, others involving your tools and equipment.
This is the perfect time to test your soil so that you’ll be prepared for spring growing and planting. The sample should be representative of your lawn and/or garden (you may want to have two different samples tested). Using a small shovel take thin samples of soil from various spots, mix them together, and put about half a pint into a plastic bag. You can either bring a sample to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven or pick up a test kit at a local nursery.
The soil test will give you information about the pH and nutrients in your soil and the type of soil that you have. The pH is very important, since if the pH is “off,” the plants have difficulty using the nutrients you apply in the spring. Turf grasses grow best in a slightly acidic soil (5.5-6.5 pH), but the soil in Connecticut is typically more acidic and needs to have limestone added to adjust the pH. Limestone should not be applied within two weeks of fertilization, so now is a great time to add lime. Hold the fertilizer until spring, since it doesn’t do anything when the grass is dormant.
Once we have a heavy, killing frost, it’s time to toss or take clippings of the annuals and bring any non-weather-proof pots and containers indoors. If your annuals are disease free you can toss them into the compost pile along with the soil. Any plants that seem to have diseases should be disposed of in other ways. Pots and containers should then be brushed clean using a solution of 10 parts water to one part bleach. This will kill any pests, molds and funguses that can infect your plants next spring. Pots should be dried out and then stored in a protected area to prevent cracking due to freezing.
Most perennials can also be cut back at this time, hough don’t forget that many of the perennial grasses create great winter interest in the garden while providing shelter for beneficial insects. They can be cut back in early spring. If any of your shrubs or woody perennials are too large for their spots, you can either transplant or, if they are late summer bloomers, prune back now.
Don’t forget to clean and sterilize your pruners, spades, shovels and other tools. You can do this by putting some rubbing alcohol on a towel and wiping down the tool. Then oil and sharpen your tools before you put them away for the season.
If you do a little work now, you’ll save yourself a lot of work in the spring.