Tim's Tips
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. In many people's minds, Friday is the beginning of winter. The calendar may not agree, but it is usually all downhill from here in the weather department.
Hopefully, you have finished all your garden chores. The leaves should all be raked and composted. Remember, the leaves that were diseased should be sent out for disposal. While they can be composted, if the temperature does not get hot enough in your pile, you run the risk of having spores of the fungus disease still living in your compost. When you go to spread the compost around your plants, you run the risk of infecting your plants with a fungus disease.
Your broadleaf evergreens should be covered with burlap to protect them from the drying wind. Rose bushes and hydrangea should be covered up as well. If you don't like the look of burlap-covered shrubs, you can use an anti-desiccant spray. This spray is applied when temperatures are above 40 degrees and must be allowed to dry in daylight hours to allow the UV rays to properly "set" the wax. A little side note: You can also use this spray to treat wreaths and evergreen garland and keep them from drying out.
We've had rainy and relatively warm weather, which means the grass is still growing. You do not want your lawn to go into winter with long blades of grass. Long grass tends to fall over under the weight of the snow, causing them to mat down. When this happens, the spring thaw will bring with it a fungus disease called snow mold. Snow mold will kill large areas of lawn. If you're looking forward to reseeding large portions of your lawn next spring, then just forget to do that final mowing this fall.
We've been getting ready for the holiday decorating season at the garden center. We have been doing this for the past 27 years. If you've only visited us during the regular planting season, you'll be surprised to see how different we look for the holidays.
Well, that's all for this week. Drive safely, and I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. I'll talk to you again next week.
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Tim Lamprey is the owner of Harbor Garden Center on Route 1 in Salisbury. His Web site is www.Harborgardens.com. Do you have questions for Tim? Send them to ndn@newburyportnews.com, and he will answer them in upcoming columns.
