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Fall Gardening Checklist

Before we wrap up this Fall Gardening Checklist series we wanted to give you a few more valuable and important tips. These are things you should also be preparing to take care of during the autumn and before the cold arrives.

VEGETABLE STORAGE Beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes (late) must be stored in a cool place. All except the potatoes could stay outdoors for a longer time by ridging soil over the rows in the garden. Other means of storage are pits dug in the ground and the vegetables covered with boards and hay. For small lots bushel baskets, or boxes submerged in the ground will do. Celery can be kept by covering with soil in the row. Cabbage is best dug and put in a cold cellar or pit.

Eggplant, peppers, and pumpkins must be stored where the temperature is mild. Tomatoes picked before frost and individually wrapped in newspaper will ripen in 2 weeks.

Radishes, lettuce, endive and other greens can be carried along in the garden for some time by covering each evening with cardboard, burlap, or the more enduring plastic sheeting.

COMPOST AND HUMUS All but diseased and insect-infested material can be composted. Burn all questionable material.

Leaves can be put in a separate heap if there is space, or all materials mixed in one pile.

Begin with a bottom layer of coarse leaves, corn stalks, or dried stems. Next spread layer of the mixed materials 6 inches deep. Sprinkle a pound or more of any fertilizer, compost activator, or dried cow or chicken manure over 4×5 foot surface, then a thin layer of soil. Wet thoroughly.

Repeat layer by layer to build the pile. A 5 foot height is enough. The pile can be as long as desired. Keep the width to 6 feet. Mulching attachments for power tools are handy for fall work.

The humus supply in the soil is increased too, by sowing rye, or rye grass seed on areas left vacant by removal of crops in the garden. Three pounds per 1,000 square feet is ample. Rake the seed in, as in lawn making. Rolling is not necessary.

SOIL IMPROVEMENT Before hard frost threatens, dig the soil and leave rough over winter. Where manure or compost is available, spread and dig in. Stiff soil is especially benefited. If soil needs lime, this is applied as ground, or pulverized limestone, 3 pounds per 100 square feet. It is merely spread over the surface after digging.

Soil on sloping ground must be covered to prevent washing. A cover crop of rye, a layer of compost, leaves, hay or the like will prevent erosion. Fall is a good time to dig in soil conditioners.

PROTECTION In winter protection of outdoor hardy and semi-hardy plants, no covering is applied until all growth has ceased. Growth is ended by frost which opens tissue and prepares the plants for winter. Roses can be covered after several frosts, by mounding the soil up and around the base of the stems. Not all northern rose growers agree on covering, but I prefer it. The pink spirea (caryopteris), shrubs like the crape myrtle of the South, and those of similar tenderness are also covered.

The stems are tied loosely together with soft twine or burlap strips and wrapped with burlap. Where winters are severe, hay is used inside first, then burlap, or chicken wire surrounding the shrub. Fill with dry leaves and top with a piece of canvas. An inverted bushel basket stuffed with leaves is the best for low plants.

Climbing roses are protected where the winter temperatures go below zero. The stems are taken down from their sup-ports, tied together, laid on the ground and covered with 3 inches of soil.

It’s a practice in extremely cold sections to loosen the roots on one side and tip the whole plant over into a trench. No bending can be done when the stems are frozen. They will snap off. So do it early. Pansies and English daisies are covered with marsh (salt) hay.

EVERGREENS These are protected in a different way and for a different reason. Exposed to winds, the leaves dry out, especially if the roots are in frozen soil. Protection consists in covering the root area with a mulch of leaves, and using a wind barrier of some sort. Burlap attached to stakes, branches of pines pushed into the ground, or smaller ones tied to several stems of the plants serve to break the wind.

PERENNIAL PROTECTION Last to be covered are strawberries, hardy perennials, and rock garden plants. This is best done when ground is frozen. Covered while still soft, the plants will rot.

Soft crowned plants: delphinium, columbine, liatris, anchusa, are best covered with a cone of coal ashes, or 3 parts of soil mixed with one part of sand.

Others are covered with a light layer of marsh hay held in place with light twiggy branches. Provision must be made for water to drain off and not collect around the plants in prolonged wet weather.

Beds of spring flowering bulbs must also wait until they are thoroughly frozen before being covered else mice may harbor there for the winter.

SNOW PROTECTION Bushy evergreens are, in regions of heavy snows, prone to injury when deep snow collects in the interior splitting them apart. Strips of burlap wound spirally around will give some protection. Tying the stems to each other in the interior is still better.

TREE PROTECTION The stems of fruit trees, especially those newly planted, are in danger of having the bark peeled off by rabbits and mice during winter. Surround these with a band of close meshed chicken wire 2 feet high. Newly planted shade and flowering tree stems are wrapped with burlap strips, or the special craft paper used by tree men. This is protection against frost injury and the action of freezing winds.

Be prepared and ready to go with your fall flower gardening protection plans. You will be thankful you did come next spring!

How To Protect Plants From Frost & Bugs

More Fall Flower Garden Protection Tips

Mulching: Spread Organic Materials In Fall To Protect Plants

Mulching: Spread Organic Materials In Fall To Protect Plants, Improve Soil. Mulching is the simplest and most advantageous thing you can do for your garden. And it needn’t be pricey — whatever of the prizewinning mulching materials. Leaves: Collect leaves in the fall. Chop with a lawnmower or shredder.

How to Protect Plants in the Winter: Tips for Protecting Plants

Wrapping Plants in Cloth Will Also Help Protect Them During the Winter. Using old blankets, burlap sacks, sheets, towels or other thick fabric will help to protect tender plants from frosts and high winds.

How To Protect Perennials And Roses For Winter

But the sun will get lower on the horizon and the leaves will turn red and fall from the trees. Winteris inevitable. It’s time to plan and prepare before that first frost. Protect. Gardens need protection in the winter. In the north, the snow cover acts as a thermal blanket. But it isn’t the cold that kills the plant or shrub. It’s the drying winds and the freezing and thawing.

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Grow Orchids Easily

I had always believed that to grow orchids would be exceedingly difficult… tender, delicate and temperamental… and so expensive as to be entirely out of reach of the average person. But I have learned that none of these things are true. Orchids are within the means of any of us. There are reasonably priced plants as well as expensive ones, and because the plants remain handsome and increase in size from year to year they are an investment that brings thrilling dividends. This article is about orchid flower gardening made easy.

As for their reputed delicacy, the fact is orchids are remarkably tough and hardy. Indeed. they are freer from disease than any other plant I can think of. The

chief requirement to grow orchids is to learn the conditions under which they thrive in their native haunts and to approach those conditions as closely as possible in the home or greenhouse.

Perhaps the most important condition is proper light. Orchids, like African violets, want light but not glaring sun, in other words, filtered sunlight. Keep in mind that their native habitat is jungle "rain forests," where dense tropical vegetation allows only filtered sunlight to penetrate. Try growing an orchid plant next to your African violet in a window with a north or east exposure and watch it grow! But if you must use a window where the sunlight is too strong filter the sun with Venetian blinds or place the plant so that it receives maximum light but not direct sun.

In the greenhouse, the glare of full sun can be cut by the use of roller blinds or by painting shading on the outside of the glass, especially on south and west sides. I simply use a light coat of white enamel paint, then stipple it with a sponge.

Second only in importance to light is humidity. In tropical jungles, the air is very humid, so it follows that moisture in the air is a necessity. The why of this is readily seen. Orchids are epiphytes, usually growing upon logs or stumps (epi means above or on, phite means plant). Their roots are mostly aerial, and they take their nourishment mainly from the moisture in the air (possibly also from minerals in the decaying humus with which their roots come in contact, although they are not parasites, as is often thought).

In the greenhouse, humidity is achieved by hosing the floor and benches in the morning, at noon and in midafternoon. As this moisture evaporates into the air, it creates the needed humidity. In my own greenhouse, I have a small automatic humidity system, geared to an adjustable temperature dial, which throws a fine mist spray under the benches when the temperature reaches a certain point. This is a tremendous help, because I am away all day and can’t do the sprinkling needed in hot dry weather. More sprinkling, of course, is needed on hot, dry days than on dull, cloudy ones.

Another humidity aid in the greenhouse is to place pans of water on the floor, particularly in front of or on top of the heater. I keep a pan of water directly in front of my electric heater, and the amount of evaporation from this pan is surprising.

If you grow orchids in the home, you can achieve humidity by placing the orchid pot in a saucer of gravel and keeping the gravel moist. But do not allow the water to touch the pot, for orchids must not be set in water or allowed to become soggy. Good drainage is essential. Pot watering of orchid plants is needed only about once a week.

Doesn’t orchid growing sound unbelievably simple? It is! If you have windows in your home that afford good light and the night temperature doesn’t fall below 58 degrees, you can grow orchids just as easily as you can grow African violets.

Having been an iris grower for several years, I’m interested to note the similarity in structure between orchids and iris. Like iris, orchids have rhizomes, and the buds come up through the stems in similar manner. An interesting feature about orchids, however is that they have thickened stems called pseudo-bulbs, which are storage places for food and moisture for use during dry seasons in the Jungle.

Another surprise to those unfamiliar with orchids is the fact that they are not grown in soil. Remember that in the jungles they grow on trees or stumps, not on the ground. The potting medium for most orchids is osmunda fiber (roots of tropical ferns). This is a coarse material and very porous, so that water drains right through it. From this osmunda fiber and from the air, the roots of orchids derive the nourishment they need.

Some orchid families, however, require compost with the osmunda. These are called terrestrial or semi-terrestrial orchids. The compost is usually a mixture of sphagnum moss and a form of leaf mold. A well-known terrestrial orchid is the cypripedium or lady-slipper. Many of you are undoubtedly familiar with the hardy form of lady-slipper which grows wild in the woods of many regions.

In selecting your first orchid plants we need to follow some flower gardening basics, choose species whose requirements of light, heat, etc., are similar so that they will do well together. Some orchids require cooler conditions than others, some more shade, etc. So unless you have facilities ‘to suit varying types, it’s best to choose orchids requiring similar conditions, In my greenhouse are cattleyas, epidendrums and oncidiums, all of which have like tastes. My greenhouse is an intermediate house with the night temperature ranging from 58 to 63 degrees, the daytime temperature from 60 up into the 70’s. A small Humidial indicates both temperature and relative humidity. To grow orchids, the humidity should be about 80 per cent of the temperature, and a dial of this sort makes it easy to keep check on this.

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How to Make a House Cleaning Schedule

Having a program of cleaning the house can really make a difference. Instead of washing without a goal, you have a plan. It ‘set to make things as they are. When you do not have organized a plan, you do things. Some things can end up cleaning more than they are. Some people know exactly what to do when it comes to cleaning the house. Others are not so lucky. Some of us have clean houses if we had a family schedule. The following tips will help you create a customized cleaning program that works for you.

Creating a schedule for cleaning is a process. You should evaluate each room in your home. What should be done and how often. It will take some time and effort to put together, but it’s worth it when finished. When you create your calendar, I suggest you do so either in a word processing program or spreadsheet. You will be able to move things and edit them easily. You will be able to insert rows and delete them. It is much more difficult to do on paper.

Having a checklist is also a good way to transfer the daily chores “honey do” list, or your child. Each person is different. Many people do not have the same objectives, or would set the same schedule. People have different ideas about what is clean and how things are clean. You should evaluate each room in your home. You need to prioritize them. When you have room in your house a priority, the main hall will be on top of the list when you are ready. Make the number of the most important room.

It can be difficult to get a room as more important than the other. Some will be easy to put on the bottom of the list. The rooms, like kitchens and bathrooms will be closer to the top of the list. You can have multiple bathrooms, where a bathroom is more important because it is in the bathroom that customers use. There follows an assessment of each room and the cleaning is carried out in the hall.

You can schedule the tasks of each month at the first week of the month. Make sure there will be a balance like from Monday, Tuesday clean the room, and then on Wednesday and Thursday clean the outside of the house. With the help of household cleaning schedule you will be able to achieve a lot in no time.

When you work with your schedule, you probably need to move the items. All right, cleaning schedules are very helpful it does not only save your time but your energy as well. Do what you must do to do the job. You can find things going well, when something changes in your life and you have to change your schedule. Go ahead. With the steps outlined here, you have all the tools you need to measure the domestic schedule that works for you. Good luck and start your cleaning now!

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