(Backyard Gardener – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)
Hello Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners! Cool and crisp fall weather is here. What a slide in temperatures from 82 degrees Fahrenheit on Saturday to daytime highs in the 50s this week.
Pull out the sweaters, jackets and gloves and of course, the pumpkin lattes and hot apple cider.
Are cider and doughnuts still popular? Let me know. Apple cider was a very popular drink in early American history. Between 1800 and 1830, Americans drank an average of 15 gallons of hard cider a year! I will talk more on apple cider at a later date.
This week, I want to talk about fall maintenance chores as winter slowly closes in. Fall is a great time for backyard gardeners to mulch around the home landscape. Mulch reduces weed growth by making conditions unfavorable for germination of weed seeds and providing a physical barrier for emerging weeds. A good mulch layer can save many hours of weeding.
Mulch in the landscape has many advantages. The two main ones are conserving and maintaining soil moisture and suppressing weeds. Mulch this fall to suppress early season weeds next year.
Weeds are often noticed when they bloom, but by then, they have competed with desirable plants and can be difficult to control if well established. Weeds such as henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), purple deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), chickweed (Stellaria media) and hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) germinate in fall and early spring. As the soil starts to warm up, they grow rapidly and produce conspicuous blooms.
It is prudent to execute control measures before such weeds germinate. Applying a suitable mulch is a common practice to reduce weed germination by blocking sunlight. Mulches also serve a physical barrier that affects seed germination, conserves soil moisture and reduces the incidence of soil-borne diseases.
Mulches should be applied 2 to 4 inches deep. Weeds should be removed and the area leveled before application. Edging the area will keep your mulch where it is supposed to be. I recommend shredded bark mulch because it is readily available in bulk and bags.
When mulching trees, cover the area from near the trunk to the drip line or at least 2-3 feet out whenever possible. Mulch should not be in contact with tree trunks. Avoid creating the mulch volcano by not piling it up against trees.
When mulch is piled against the stems of plants or the trunks of trees, it keeps this tissue too wet. This creates an environment which invites insects and diseases to move into the stem or trunk of the covered plant.
Mulching in a small circle around the base of a tree will help to protect it from damage, but to give your plants the maximum benefit from mulching, mulch should extend to the drip line of the plant or tree. This covers a large percentage of the roots and helps to conserve moisture and minimize competition from grass, and can offer protection from compaction and damage.
Good fall cleanup is always a necessity in the vegetable garden. Remove all leaves, stems, fruit and other plant parts after the first frost. Most edible plants grown in home vegetable gardens have serious disease and/or pest issues that can overwinter on plant debris, increasing its impact on crops in subsequent years.
Removal and destruction of the diseased plant debris reduces the severity of many diseases in the next growing season. Removal of the plant debris also eliminates over-wintering sites for some insects and helps reduce populations.
Another word of advice this fall: While it may seem tempting, do not prune trees and woody shrubs in the fall. Pruning encourages new growth, and when done in the fall, the new growth that develops will not be well hardened off as temperatures drop, leading to more potential for winter damage.
The best time of year to prune is later winter and early spring (February through March in the Valley). Tender plants such as butterfly bushes will die back during the winter.
Keep in mind deciduous tree branches showing signs of decay, disease or damage may be pruned in fall. If the branches look diseased, be sure to sanitize in between cuts so you do not spread the disease to other parts of your shrub or tree.
Make clean cuts back to the main trunk or a healthy lateral branch, maintaining the branch collar to support healing. Make sure to use sharp, clean tools like pruning saws or loppers for precise, smooth cuts.
Finally, make sure you clean garden and landscape tools before storing for the winter. High-quality garden tools are an investment that can last a lifetime with proper care and maintenance. Tools are typically exposed to soil and moisture, which can lead to rust. To preserve them and keep them in proper working order, they must be clean and dry before storage.
Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office, 304-424-1960, or e-mail me at jj.barrett@mail.wvu.edu with questions. Good Luck and until next time Happy Gardening!
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Question of the Week: I love the color and beauty of my mums. If I plant mums this fall, will they survive the winter?
Chrysanthemums reach their peak of gorgeous blooms when most annuals and perennials are winding down for the season. Mums offer gardeners a wide range of colors and flower forms and only require moderate maintenance.
Unfortunately, many fall-planted mums don’t survive the winter. Spring is the best time to plant mums in the Mid-Ohio Valley.
Spring-planted mums have the entire growing season to get established and usually survive the winter much better than those planted in fall. When purchasing plants, be sure to select hardy, garden mums.
However, if you’re planning on planting your mums in the fall, get them in the ground sooner rather than later. Planting at least six weeks before the first frost will provide ample time for plants to establish a good root system.
Mums have a fairly shallow root system, which makes them prone to heaving during the winter. This heaving, which is caused by repeated freezing and thawing of the soil, can severely damage or kill the plants.
Gardeners can increase the odds of their mums surviving the winter by applying mulch in fall. Mulching helps eliminate the alternate freezing-thawing cycles which can heave plants out of the soil.
Apply 4 inches of mulch to your plants before the ground begins to freeze. This will help prevent wide swings in soil temperature and therefore heaving. Typically, this will be late fall around mid-November. The mulch should remain in place until early April. Do not cut back the plants prior to mulching.
Didn’t have time to get your mums in the ground? Try overwintering them indoors. After a hard frost, put your potted mums in a cool, dark location. Bring pots outdoors when it begins to warm up next spring.
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