Fall Garden Chores, Hints and Techniques

It's time to put the gardens to bed for the winter. Here are some hints and techniques, please feel free to add more hints to the comments below.

Fall garden chores from Mary Dominique:

1) Dig amaryllis - pot them up and put them in the garage. They want 8-10 weeks of cool dry conditions. Then bring them in the house, they will bloom during the winter.

2) Dig caladiums and dry a few days. Cut off leaves and store in a bag in the basement.

3) Dig a few annuals - lantana, begonias diamond frost euphorbia, geraniums - into the grrenhouse for the winter.

4) Patio pots go into the garage or the all season porch - spray with horticultural oil and keep watered through the winter. There's plumbago, tender ferns and diamond frost, as well as new gardenias.

5) Patio pots with hardy perennials stay outside and can withstand freezing temperatures.

6. Tunnels in the garden produce lettuce, kale, broccoli, spinach, arugula, radish, turnips and bok choy into the winter.

7) Rest of garden is covered with leaves or straw to keep the weeds down, or a cover crop is sown.

8) Tomato, squash, pepper plants go in the trash so as not to spread diseases

9) Save seeds: pick blossoms when dry and pit into envelopes for junk mail, label and date.
10) Dig dahlias after frost and store, as Adrian Higgins, suggested with a dusting of cinnamon.  He said cinnamon is an anti-fungal.  

From Jan:

For plants that are coming inside, I dunk the whole plant, pot and all into a tub of water for an hour or so. Hopefully it will kill or chase out the ant nests, potato bugs and toads that like to live in my pots on the deck.

Then I spray them with soapy water and let dry another day.,.

Here’s an easy recipe for Organic Dormant Oil Spray : Mix 2 Tbs ultrafine canola oil with 1 Tbs  baking soda and a gallon of water in a container and shake well, then pour into a spray bottle to apply.

This and other tips on facebook: Our Fairfield Home and Garden   Tucking the garden in for winter

Winter Garden Preparation from Empress of Dirt

Please share your hints in the comments below