Time To Clean Up

OK, time's up! Now that we have had a frost and a long, gradual fall, let's get the garden, yard and flower beds ready for winter. We are quickly running out of time and there's a lot to be done.

Some things you do this fall can pay dividends next year. This was a bad year for anthracnose and blight, both fungal diseases. Sanitation is one way to reduce the spores available to infect your plants next growing season. Get rid of oak leaves, don't mulch them! Bag up the leaves for disposal or compost if you can get the compost hot enough to kill the fungal spores. Tomato blight can also be reduced with good sanitation. Try to clean up really well where your tomatoes were grown.

Now is the time to dig and store tender bulbs like cannas, callas, glads, four-o-clocks, dahlias, and begonias. Wash the soil off after digging, then let them dry for a couple days in a warm, dry place. Packing the bulbs in vermiculite, sawdust or peat moss that is slightly damp but not wet works well. Dahlias, tuberous begonias and glads store well at 40 - 45 degrees; cannas and caladiums are warm weather bulbs and cannot be stored below 50 degrees.

Before the snow starts to fly, get out there and prune out the old raspberry canes if you grow a summer bearing variety. Look for signs of cankers or virus lesions on the new canes. Many other perennials should be trimmed or pruned now. Hydrangea can be cut down to one or two latent buds. Peonies, on the other hand, need to be trimmed as close the the ground as possible and all foliage removed and destroyed.

Asparagus tops should come off now. Carefully cut them even with the ground, clean up weeds, and mulch heavily to protect the roots. If you till near your asparagus bed, stay at least two feet away from the edge of the bed; more is better. Asparagus roots really reach out there!

Strawberries need to get ready for winter as well. Get rid of old plants, clean up the dead leaves and runners, and thin down the bed if it is getting overgrown. Don't mulch just yet, wait until after we have had a killing freeze and the ground is starting to freeze; cover them at twenty degrees.

Have you dug your carrots and parsnips yet? Try keeping some of them in the ground as long as possible this year. Mulch them with a good thick layer of straw before the ground starts to freeze; then you can just peel it back and dig crisp, fresh carrots after everything else has been stored away.

Tender trees like apple, young maple and any thin-barked tree need winter protection from sun-scald. Wrapping is a good option; there are also plastic tubes, shields and other products on the market. Keep wrapping these trees until the trunk becomes thickened and able to withstand the late winter sun. Rodents are best kept from the trunks with hardware cloth cages. Mulching roots on young trees can also help them survive.

Last, give yourself a treat and plant some spring bulbs. to look out on after a long, cold winter. It is not too late for tulips but is for many others that need more time to grow roots such as daffodils.

You can call 218-444-7916, the Beltrami County Master Gardener voice mail, leaving your query, name, and number.