Garden tools make great gifts

Organic gardening isn't just about getting your hands in the soil, it's also about sitting on the deck afterwards with a glass of wine in one hand and a ...timestranscript.com - Garden tools make great gifts - Breaking News, New Brunswick, Canada

Things To Do For November:

For those growing carrots, beets, turnips or Jerusalem artichokes and wishing to extend the harvest into winter, apply a heavy mulch of straw to the crops to prevent the soil from freezing deep and ruining the crop. Parsley will continue to grow well into December, especially if covered by a basket on particularly cold nights.

Fertilize the lawn – after a soil test! November is the ideal time to develop a proper root system to get your lawn through next summer’s droughts and the soil test will tell you what formulation of fertilizer is best.

Remove heavy accumulations of leaves from lawn areas. Minor amounts can be shredded and allowed to filter through the grass to the ground. These leaf fragments have been found to be a good source of organic matter and minor nutrients for lawns.

Bring in all the hoses and to drain outdoor pipes and irrigations systems. Continue to water newly planted shrubs and trees if we do have a prolonged period without rain.

For Roses, Peonies, Lilacs, Dogwoods and other plants that may have had black spot, powdery mildew, or other foliar diseases, make certain that all the leaves, which could overwinter disease organisms, are removed from the base of the plants.

Shred and mulch your beds with newly fallen leaves. Why send your leaves to the dump? They can be shredded and serve as a great mulch for annuals perennial and shrub beds.

Cut back Asters as soon as they finish flowering to prevent self-sowing. As the frosts become more severe, more perennials will require cutting to the ground to keep the border neat and tidy.

For those with Fig trees, November is the time to wrap your plants or bring them into a cool basement or garage if they are in a container.

Finish planting bulbs. Remember, the need to be planted to a depth of 3x the diameter of the bulb. It always takes longer than we think, and some garden centers may offer sales towards the end of the month.

Finish emptying clay containers that can crack over the winter and store in a protected area or upside down under a tarp if left out doors.

At the end of the month, pot up Paperwhite Daffodils and Amaryllis for Holiday displays. Save some interesting seed capsules from perennials (such as Blackberry Lily) and combine them with Holly or Beautyberry for a wonderful Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Four uses for coffee grounds in the home garden

Four uses for coffee grounds in the home garden

Saving Bumble Bees

Saving Bumble Bees and Honey Bees We can encourage agricultural practices that are better for the bees by buying organic foods when we can, and supporting small farmers at our local farmers' ... Southside Pride

Did you know that during the molting stages of the caterpillar, a "juvenile hormone" keeps the insect in the caterpillar stage and will not allow it to enter the chrysalis stage. When the caterpillar has fully grown, it stops eating and crawls away from its host plant to find a safe area for its next change. The hormone is no longer produced, and the caterpillar sheds its skin to reveal its chrysalis.

Who are the pollinators and why are they important? Bees: Bees are the best pollinators in the Eastern United States and their tireless work benefits the reproduction of a myraid of crops essential to human existence such as alfalfa, melons, soybeans and tomatoes. Not all bees are created equal and most of us are familiar with the colonies of honey bees that have provided agricultural pollination in America for decades. These honey bees were first imported to America for decades. These honey bees were first imported to America from Europe more than 400 years ago. In addition to these celebrity-type imported workaholics, there are nearly 4000 species of less well known native ground and twig nesting bees in the US! Some of these native bees form colonies but others maintain a solitary life of tireless servitude that results in the production of fruits, vegetables and nuts for the benefit of us all. Native bees currently pollinate many commercially important food crops and their numbers can be increased if their nesting habitat, nectar and water needs are known are are provided by the average homeowner. More on bees tomorrow...