November Gardening Tips by David Barkley (October 2005)

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Inquiring Gardeners Want to Know...

Each fall a number of people call in or write wanting to know if they still have time to perform certain gardening and landscape chores they forgot to do in the spring and summertime. A gardener contacted us and wanted to know if it is too late to prune and fertilize some of the shrubs he planted last spring. More specifically, will it do any good to fertilize now or will it hurt the plants? He also wanted to know what chores he should be doing at this time of the year.

Tip pruning can be accomplished this month. Many evergreens are used in various Christmas decorations from both the foliage and berries. Favorites include the holly species, nandina, pines and cedars. Save the heavy (renovative) type pruning until late winter or early spring. Heavy pruning now would cause too much tender growth that will be prone to cold injury later this winter.

As for fertilizer, a lot of people think that fertilizing is a magic cure-all for all kinds of plant problems. Not so in this case. Same rule applies as for the pruning. Fertilizing plants this late into the season would cause them to remain tender throughout the winter. Since I don't have a crystal ball to tell just how nice a winter we will have, I must advise to wait until around April 15th (tax time) to fertilize your landscape plants and later for your lawn areas. Just remember, when it is time to pay "Uncle Sam" it is time to pay your plants with some fertilizer. Usually 2-4 pounds of 10:10:10 per 100 square feet will suffice.

WATCH OUT FOR FALLEN LEAVES

Keep fallen leaves from accumulating on lawn areas. Leaves can be mowed and mulched, or raked and added to the backyard compost pile. A heavy, wet layer of leaves on grass won't take long to turn into a heavy, wet layer of leaves on dead grass! Keep an eye on those turf areas near the trees.

MAKE YOUR PUMPKINS LAST

Pumpkin, gourds, and other cucurbit fruits with hard 'skins' and starchy rinds may rot after harvest and in storage. Control rots by harvesting the fruit when it is mature and the rind is hard but before night temperatures are below 40 degrees F and well before a frost or a hard freeze. Harvested fruit should be stored with good ventilation at temperatures from 50 to 55 degrees F and relative humidity between 50 to 75%. Refrigeration temperatures (35 40 degrees F) may cause chilling injuries and shorten shelf life. High temperature storage will result in excessive loss of weight, color, and culinary qualities.

For better keeping, some growers cure pumpkins for 10 to 20 days at 80 to 85 degrees F with good ventilation. High humidity may promote rots. Storage life without significant loss in quality is typically two to three months.

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST

• Now is the best time of the year to plant your landscape trees and shrubs.
• November is the time to select your Christmas tree for the Holiday Season.
• Fall gardens may be harvested right on through the cold weather.
• The first freeze can occur in mid October but the average first freeze date is November 20th.
• Pecans often need a couple of really cold nights to open the husks that holds the pecans to the trees.

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