seasonal alerts
* If you were on top of it and put your pots of amaryllis into dry, dark storage sometime back in late August or early September, they can be pulled out now and revived. If you were not so on top of it, file this away until it has been 2 to 3 months since you DID do the dry dark deal, the goal of which is to make them think it’s winter in South America.
Amaryllis don’t like root disturbance, so it’s better not to divide them, but they can’t bloom well if they’re choked, either. Take a deep breath, make a decision, then split apart any bulb clusters so fat they’re bursting out of the pot.
It also pays to remove the pups; just cut them off at the soil line unless you want to start an amaryllis farm. Refresh the pots: discard the top inch or so of old soil, loosen what’s underneath with a fork, then put on an inch of new soilless mix like pro-mix.
Water well – just water, don’t add any fertilizer – and put in a warm, bright spot. Then wait, resisting the impulse to water again, either until you see signs of growth or a month has passed, whichever comes first. The accepted rule is that any bulb that made 5 leaves or more last season will be strong enough to flower this time around, but as far as I can tell from my ever-growing 15 year old herd of amaryllis, this rule is complete hooey. Pixies tell amaryllis when and whether to flower, so there’s no point in getting too het up about it.
* Before you put leftover seeds away, go through and discard everything more than 3 years old …unless it’s some kind of rare heirloom bean or what-all that you’re SURE you will plant next year, before the seed expires completely. Next, applying the same criterion in the rarity department, throw out all the asters, parsley, onions and delphiniums, which seldom last more than one season. Not every old seed is a dud, but in the North, the window for second tries is small, so there’s no point in risking failure unless you really have to.
* While you’re seed-sorting, supplement your notes ( if any) about how all this stuff did. Start next year’s list – catalogs are already coming in. And if you didn’t map this year’s vegetable garden; waste no time. You won’t get far with rotation planting if you forget what went where..
* If you potted up some spring bulbs to force for winter bloom, don’t forget to buy some winter rye seed now, while it’s still available. About a week after you bring the bulbs out of storage, scratch the grass seed into the soil surface. There should be a pretty green lawn around the stems by the time they bloom.
* There isn’t much point in transplanting full grown basil that’s flowering; even if you cut it back the new growth will be tough and strong. But if you planted a second or third crop, this is a good time to pot up young plants for another couple months of use. Basil grown in the house isn’t tasty – and is a major bug-magnet as well – but basil that can live mostly outdoors in fall is well worth having. Choose a big pot, and don’t crowd it too tightly. Bring it in on nights when frost threatens and take it back out in the morning.
* If it’s still dry where you are, hold off on fertilizing the lawn. Otherwise, anytime in the next few weeks is just about ideal. And rain or no rain, have a go with a low-toxicity (acid-based) weed killer on broadleaf weeds like plantain and dandelion. Established plants will regrow, but less strongly, and if you hit ’em again next month there’s a good chance you’ll starve the root enough so it can’t compete with late fall grass. To make sure the weed-killer doesn’t hit said grass, use an old paintbrush – or a sponge in a gloved hand – to target your death-dealing.
* There are bargains to be had as nurseries frantically try to unload the last of this year’s perennials, but there are also dogs galore. Be sure to check the roots before buying. A bit of circling is inevitable and can be unwound or cut, but a tight net of thick, brittle roots is a guarantee of disappointment somewhere down the road. Keep whatever it is in the pot , where it’s easy to water, until the weather turns.
You do have to think of it in advance, but mail order bulbs from places like Scheepers, and Brent and Becky’s are almost always larger and healthier than the ones that come prepackaged at supermarkets and garden stores. And they are more likely to be true to name than bulk bulbs, which would otherwise be fine. The problem is the customers, not the stores: I have with my own eyes seen oblivious jerks tossing rejects back into whatever bin was handiest.
* It’s time to haul out those bulb maps I was nagging about last spring, then – unless you are very well fixed indeed – you can start having an argument with your inner accountant. It isn’t time to plant yet, but by the time you make up your mind and make up your orders, it will be.
* There is still a great deal more to come from the vegetable garden, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start cleaning up. Look around for anything that’s hanging on by a thread, then get rid of it. Compost everything that’s simply dying of old age, send disease-victims to the landfill – or pile them up somewhere deep in the woods where there isn’t any underbrush. The assorted ailments that hit soft growth can’t get much purchase on tree trunks.
* If you have to ration water in the food garden, give the first drinks to tomatoes, peppers, beans, leafy items like lettuce and chard, and any young fruiting plants – like squash or peas – you planted for autumn crops. Don’t worry about melons and summer squash that are already producing – plants may look wilty at midday, but once the fruit is set it’ll taste better if it ISN”T irrigated.
* Among annual flowers, give preference to those that will keep blooming after frost: asters, calendulas, honeywort , snapdragons, stocks … And don’t forget that big plants in pots are practically on hydroponics by now – those pots have more roots than soil in them and may need water as often as twice a day.
* Inconsistent water supplies lead to blossom end rot in tomatoes, and being where it’s on the blossom end you often don’t notice it until the rotten part gets huge. But why let the tomato plant waste energy on failures? It only takes a minute to get down , look up, find the ailing fruits and get rid of them. If getting down far enough to look up isn’t easy, you can use a mirror just gently turn large tomatoes that appear to be ripening. With any luck, that’s what they’re doing, but changing color can also signal that something’s going wrong.
Take advantage of the wilting heat to fiddle with crisp stems that are prone to breakage: tie up floppy dahlias, unravel wayward bean and morning glory vines, tuck tomato branches back where they belong in the trellis. At midday these plants are limp and easy to work with – assuming you’re not so limp yourself you can’t bear to be out there.
This is about last call to cut back repeat-blooming roses – new growth needs quite a while to toughen up before freezing weather. But cutting them back is well worth doing ; by now a lot of the old foliage is bound to be freckled with blackspot or turned to lace by the Japanese beetles. Removing it instantly makes things look better, and it usually results in a good flush of fall bloom.
Even when it’s too hot to work, it’s not too hot to write, and the notes you take now will come in mighty handy when it’s seed and plant order time. Which tomatoes are ripening soonest? Which ones are fighting off the blight? Is there a rose that doesn’t appeal to our little brown and green pals? Which daylily is covered with buds, its blooming days still to come? You might think you will remember this stuff, but the chances are you won’t.
Take advantage of the wilting heat to fiddle with crisp stems that are prone to breakage: tie up floppy dahlias, unravel wayward bean and morning glory vines, tuck tomato branches back where they belong in the trellis. At midday these plants are limp and easy to work with – assuming you’re not so limp yourself you can’t bear to be out there.
This is about last call to cut back repeat-blooming roses – new growth needs quite a while to toughen up before freezing weather. But cutting them back is well worth doing ; by now a lot of the old foliage is bound to be freckled with blackspot or turned to lace by the Japanese beetles. Removing it instantly makes things look better, and it usually results in a good flush of fall bloom.
Even when it’s too hot to work, it’s not too hot to write, and the notes you take now will come in mighty handy when it’s seed and plant order time. Which tomatoes are ripening soonest? Which ones are fighting off the blight? Is there a rose that doesn’t appeal to our little brown and green pals? Which daylily is covered with buds, its blooming days still to come? You might think you will remember this stuff, but the chances are you won’t.
It’s unscientific poll time: would you rather have mosquitoes or Japanese beetles? I ask because we are plagued with both — the plant eaters in New York, the blood suckers in Maine. Bill hates the mosquitoes so much he votes for the beetles, but I think he’s nuts. Mosquitoes’ only harm the garden by keeping you away from it. Japanese beetles, on the other hand, are out there chewing 24/7 … and humping away at the same time, a formidable combo.
Fortunately, they don’t like rhododendrons, so our late pink one is glorious…assuming you don’t mind disorder. I never seem to get around to pruning, so it has become a vast, undulating lump, pulsing with bumblebees.
Lilies are this week’s showstopper flowers, especially the yellow trumpets, but the brugmansias are coming on strong, well festooned with giant white trumpets that cede nothing to jasmine in the night fragrance department.
If you peer closely at the brugmansia leaves, you can see that cucumber beetles will eat what Japanese beetles won’t. But years of hauling these tender beauties in and out of the cellar have given us big, bushy plants that hit 6 or 7 feet by September, and they can take a fair amount of damage without looking too shabby.
This week’s garden tips: It will soon be safe to cut off garlic scapes without risking bulblet failure, and while you’re in the garlic patch, don’t forget to weed. Also the onions and leeks, if you’re growing any of those. All these alliums are weak competitors – crowding really diminishes quality – and because they don’t make broad leaves to shade out weeds they need lots of help from you.
If you haven’t mulched your tomatoes with straw yet, put it on top of the list. Covering the ground beneath the plants is one of the best ways to fight the blights that live in the soil, splash up on the lower leaves and spread from there. It also helps to remove the lowest leaves and generally make sure there is lots of air circulation at the base of the plants.
And just in case you’re not busy enough; take a look at the bottom of the fence to be sure it’s nice and tight. The deer are such a constant plague it’s easy to forget that the world is full of rabbits, but the wretched things are lurking everywhere and if they get into the garden will make short work of lots more than lettuce – speaking of which, don’t forget that bolting lettuces too bitter for salad do make delicious soup: butter, spring onion, a new potato, lettuces and water (not chicken stock!) . Puree when done. Add cream and chill – chives on top.
