November Gardening & Landscaping Tips

The cold weather has arrived and with it comes quite a bit of care in your landscape and garden for the month of November. Take a look at some of our tips for the month and give us a call with any questions or requests for services that we can help you with as the winter season settles in.

• • • Remember to continue to water newly planted evergreens, trees and shrubs until the ground freezes.

• • • Don’t forget about your fall clean ups if you haven’t done them already. Cut back all perennials, remove annuals, clear beds and turf of leaf accumulations and prepare your landscape for the winter months.

• • • Keep raking the lawn to remove late-falling leaves. Wet leaves that stay on the lawn all winter will kill the grass.

• • • Shutting down your irrigation system before pipes freeze will ensure your system is in the best possible condition for next year.

• • • Wrap young tree trunks to protect them from deer rubs and frost cracking.

• • • Protect evergreens by wrapping with burlap or with an anti-desiccant spray.

• • • Last call for bulbs. The bulbs would have been better off if they had been planted one or two months ago. Planting now is preferable to not planting them at all. One way to help these bulbs is to apply a light mulch once the ground has started to freeze.

• • • Check the moisture in the bulb beds. If the ground is dry, water it. This may be the last chance before winter sets in.

• • • November is a time for finishing up your garden clean up and planning for next spring. Collect all your gardening tools from anywhere they may be outdoors before the snow flies. Make an inventory of the tools. Scrub all the mud off the tools and wipe them with an oily rag. Check all the tools for wear. Check handles for any cracks that could cause splinters. Sand them down or replace them. Sharpen all shovels and hoes. Hand or place your tools somewhere where they can be found immediately when you need them come spring.Make a materials list of things such as broken or missing tools, materials that you ran out of, a tool you always wished you had or something frivolous that someone might get you as a gift during the holidays. Start another list focusing on chores that can be done ahead of time this winter.

• • • Dormant Pruning: the best time to reduce and renew shrubs and ornamental plants is during the winter months.

• • • Protect your roses from the harshness of winter by heeling them in with an appropriate medium (compost or mulch).

• • • Take precautions against rabbits. Install wire or plastic guards around trunks of young shade and fruit trees to protect them. Make them high enough so that the rabbits standing on the snow cannot reach over them.

• • • If you love birds, trees provide shelter for birds during winter storms. Evergreen trees are especially helpful. You can help too. Set up bird feeders and keep them filled with the kinds of seeds that will attract the birds you want. If you can supply the birds with fresh water in a heated container, these feathered friends will stay around your yard all winter.Seeds and Mixes and What They'll Attract:

Sunflower Seeds: Cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches, purple finches and possibly pine and evening grosbeaks.

Thistles: Finches, pine siskins and doves.

Cracked Corn: Crows, blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, doves and pigeons.

Suet or Suet and Peanut Butter: Woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, blue jays and starlings.

Raisins and Apple Pieces (and Crab Apple Trees with Persistent Fruit): Robins, cardinals, blue jays, and cedar waxwings.

Commercial Seed Mixes: Juncos, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches, doves, gold finches and purple finches. (They can also attract sparrows, pigeons and starlings. These imported weed birds often crowd out more desirable ones.)

• • Have you seen our breathtaking blue tree on the corner of hwy.50 & B? Let our experienced team assist you with your holiday decorating and create a custom look for your home and landscape.
    Call Breezy Hill Nursery at 262-537-2111.