Early November Punch List

Gardening isn’t over even though we “fall back” an hour on November 3. Turn your focus indoors to get your planting and blooming fix. The rake may also need a few more workouts after the snow melts.

Holiday Bulbs

• It’s not too early to think of holiday gift giving with plants. Indoor bulbs will be ready to bloom in time for the month of December if you start now.
• Amaryllis blooming bulbs are super easy to grow and a favorite by seasoned and new gardeners. If planted by November 15 they should bloom anywhere from December 20 to early January. Garden centers have the best selection now so don’t delay, get out there and stock up. Have fun choosing colors and sizes - some as large as softballs. If you're too busy to deal with soil, containers and planting, look for potted bulbs in kits—all ready to bloom for the holidays. They range in shades of red, salmon, pink, green, yellow, white or dramatic bi-colored or striped colors. Stagger planting bulbs well into the New Year.
• If planting a new amaryllis bulb place fresh potting soil in a 6-inch container with a third of the bulb showing above the pot rim. Bulbs don’t like to be in large pots. Insert a support stick at planting.  Water well and place in a cool area. Hold off on watering until growth appears, then water more frequently and move to a sunny location. Fertilize every couple of weeks after it starts growing. Good quality bulbs should produce two flower stalks with four flowers on each stem.
• To prep past year amaryllis bulbs, click here. 
• Paperwhite narcissus bulbs are quick and super easy to grow in either water or soil. Have the family join in to help with planting. Use a clear container filled with a 2-inch layer of pebbles, place the bulbs on top and fill in around them with more pebbles to keep them in place. Add water until it touches the bottom of the bulbs and maintain that level. Place in a bright room, not too warm (70 is just fine). They start blooming as early as three weeks. Use twigs, chopsticks or stakes to support the stems as they grow taller. 

 General Houseplants

• Houseplants add warmth, fullness and interest to your indoor spaces They need regular attention during the winter with our dry air, fluctuating temperatures and light conditions.
• Know your plant and what kind of moisture it prefers, too much or too little watering are common problems. The general rule is to water when the top third of the soil is dry, water until it drains from the bottom of the container.
• Regularly rotate plants so they receive light from all exposures (same for indoor bulbs). Move them away from heater vents and open windows. Groom regularly, cut off yellow or withered leaves. Watch for whiteflies, mealybugs or scale insects, many pests can be treated with insecticidal soaps. Read the bottle directions to make sure your plant’s leaves are safe to be sprayed. 

  

  Golden Pothos

• Most houseplants don’t need fertilizing this time of year unless they are getting ready to bloom.
• When purchasing plants from the garden center or grocery store before heading to your car cover them with bags or cloths to prevent cold exposure. Isolate plants for a few days to make sure they aren’t carrying hitchhiker insects.
• Expand your indoor garden this fall: try beautiful bloomers like orchid, cyclamen, gesneriad (best known in this family are African violets) and bromeliad. For fragrance try gardenia, jasmine and lavender. Terrarium gardening, cacti and succulents for indoor enjoyment, are easy to care for.
• Click here for handy, how to care information for many popular indoor plants.

              

Mid-Late October Punch List

Maple Tree in my neighborhood, Fall 2017 - not this great color this year!

The high country foliage color show is mostly over—not along the Front Range, albeit not as good as most years. There are a few maples, hawthorns and other trees around town that are putting on a colorful show.

Trees

• Recalling  from grade school days the science behind leaves changing color each fall—shorter days with less sunlight means a winter break from photosynthesis (you know, when plants make their own food with help from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide).  
• The natural substances that make up leaf cells (pigments) become more noticeable each fall as chlorophyll production wanes. Environmental and plant genetic factors affect the pigments in leaves which play an important role in fall leaf color intensity and duration.
• Many warm, sunny days and cool (not freezing nights) allow the anthocyanins pigments to shine through with all those brilliant shades of crimson, purple and red.
• Yellow, gold and orange leaves are fairly consistent from year to year due to carotenoid pigments that remain present in leaves despite the weather.
• Fall moisture helps leaves stay colorful for a longer period of time. Drought conditions while leaves are losing chlorophyll pigments lead to brown leaves and early drop.
• Rake leaves from the lawn as soon as the trees are bare. Leaves that remain during the winter can smother the lawn. 
• Dry leaves can be mowed into the lawn, adding back valuable organic matter to the soil. Set the mower height high and make several passes over the leaves.
• Avoid blowing leaves into the street or tossing them in the garbage—many municipalities have collection or drop off sites through early December. Denver leaf drop and post Halloween pumpkin compost information at 3-1-1. 
• We’ve only had one or two adequate water producing storms so far this fall along the Front Range. Landscape plant roots need to be moist going into cold weather prior to the ground freezing. Dry plant roots coupled with lack of winter moisture can lead to root and branch death, less foliage, scorched foliage, no foliage or no tree next year.
• Water all plants, trees being the most important. Water well so they enter winter with adequate soil moisture—trees to a depth of twelve inches.

Landscape

• It is a gardener’s choice whether to cut back perennials with dead foliage in the fall or spring. Plants receive additional insulation and protection from our frequent freeze/thaw winter cycles when foliage is left in place. Snow covered foliage can add interest during the winter months.
• Any recent spring or fall planted perennials and shrubs should not be cut back in the fall. 
• Birds appreciate seedheads and using the foliage for screening.
• Do not cut back woody plants including butterfly bush, culinary sage, lavender and other late summer or fall blooming plants. 
• Established perennials that had disease, harbored insects or may keep the crown too wet through the winter can be cut back in the fall—bee balm, phlox, salvia, Japanese anemone and penstemon to name a few.
• Continue putting in garlic planting stock and spring-flowering bulbs until the ground freezes. To deter critters like squirrels, voles, and mice from bothering newly planted flowering bulbs, sprinkle or roll each bulb in an animal repellent powder during planting. Sprinkle more repellent or hot pepper flakes on top of the soil. Chicken wire can also be placed over the planting hole for additional protection.

Fall Planted Garlic Cloves

Vegetables

• Remove spent vegetables and foliage from the vegetable garden, toss if diseased or add to the compost pile.
• Root vegetables that are up and growing (not frozen) including beets, carrots and parsnips and hardy spinach can be thickly mulched (6-8 inches) and harvested through the cold months or until the ground freezes. 

Lawn

• Keep watering the lawn each week if the weather is dry. Use hoses and sprinklers if automatic systems are turned off. Water mid-day when temperatures are over 40 degrees. Drain hoses after use.
• Fertilize the lawn while it is green and the ground not frozen. Use one half pound of actual nitrogen per five hundred square feet. Fertilize after aeration.   

 

October Polar Plunge is Over ... for Now

"Where's my long underwear ... now!" I replied in the middle of the night and early this morning. We made Colorado weather history the past forty-eight hours. I won't recite the number extremes - all I know is that I was wearing shorts and full spectrum sunscreen until 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 9 and this morning, October 11 I couldn't get out of bed because the room was too cold. Okay, the weather guy said it was 9 degrees outside. "Wow," says everyone.

How will our landscape plants fair after this weather event? Your answer is as good as mine. For the most part we'll have to wait and see - especially for recent fall planted trees and shrubs. To lose fall planted perennials isn't pleasant, but if they were on the garden center sale rack, then consider the loss minimal based on the weather cards we were just dealt.

The obvious spring-summer planted annuals are dried, dead toast and ready for the compost pile. Same for seasonal warm-season vegetables like tomatoes and peppers (if diseased or buggy, toss in the garbage). Hardy, well established cool-season crops may have come through fine with heavy mulch or use of cold frames. If you covered iffy plants well and they made it through the cold - way to go. 

I've called the outdoor gardening season over ... lights out, time to move onto indoor amaryllis, paperwhites and several post season naps. There are plenty of harvested blush colored tomatoes in the basement that should provide a couple of weeks of sandwich layers and fresh taste for homemade red sauces. Hopefully you have some preserved homegrown fruits/vegetables as well.

As of this writing (Friday evening) click on the links below for pertinent after the polar plunge information. 

Frozen IV: The Aftermath of November 2014 Cold Snap Colorado State University Horticulture Agents and Specialists Blog - CO-Horts

Vegetable Growers News Michigan 2019

Denver Records Largest October Temperature Drop on Record The Denver Post 

Denver Weather: Cold Front Breaks not one but two Record Lows Overnight The Denver Post

Ornamental Container October 9, 2019 80 degrees

Ornamental Container October 10, 2019 twenty degrees and falling

No Surpise in October - Winter Preview Soon. Are you Covered?

Colorado October weather can be anywhere from divine warm sixty degree days to disastrous, sudden cold - often with snow that can snap branches on leafed out trees and freeze sprinkler pipes in mere hours. Guess what is predicted in less than seventy-two hours? They're saying a temperature drop of sixty degrees. Are you ready? Is your landscape ready? At least a little bit? 

This isn't unusual for October or any fall months along the Front Range. That's why every seasoned Coloradoan has a down jacket hung right next to a sleeveless shirt.

I'm prepared as much as I can possibly prepare. The landscape trees and shrubs are well hydrated from supplemental watering the past couple of months. All the warm-season vegetables have been harvested and cleared out. Some lettuces are popping up here and there - I'm leaving them to fend for themselves - no cold frame or covering this fall. I'll hold off and plant garlic seed next week or I may get it in the ground before Thursday's storm. I have plenty of grass mulch to cover the planting area, plus snow is a fine insulator. 

If you have planted your garlic already be SURE to place a 3+ inch layer of organic materials such as chopped leaves and or chemical-free grass clippings over the planted cloves. If low on mulch, use a heavy floating row cover or flat bed sheet or plastic. Use care when using plastic and don't let it touch any nearby plant foliage (I doubt your garlic has sprouted with green leaves showing, but if it has, don't use plastic over them). Plastic conducts cold to whatever foliage it touches. 

It's never a good idea for plants to go into the fall and winter with dry roots. Dry means damage to the fine root hairs, so try to remember "winter - wet" - not sopping, but moist soils are advantageous to plant roots to get through dry times and abrupt weather events. Things can still happen even with the best intentions and preparedness.

Sometimes the weather is so drastic in change that plant death is unavoidable, not all plants, but some. The most talked about deadly storm system that affected Canada and most of the United States was back in November of 2014. There's even a Wikipedia page for this damaging storm. Click here for a local summary of that event from The Denver Post.

Until Jerry arrives to blow out our sprinkler system I have securely wrapped and covered the exposed back flow preventer and the attached pipes so they don't freeze. It's about a five minute task.

The shut off valve is usually inside the house (should be two shut offs, one for the sprinkler, one to the whole house). Drain excess water in the exposed pipes as well by opening the ball valves attached to the back flow preventer (located on the outside pipes, see the 9News video below).
 

Resources for Weather Cold Snap Landscape Preparedness: 

 

October 6, 2019 9News Video on wrapping sprinkler pipes.   

Video from the Broomfield Parks Department on how to winterize your pipes.

My previous blogs on fall and wintering watering - SO IMPORTANT for newbies to Colorado!

My short video from a couple of years ago on wrapping the sprinkler pipes. Ferris wanted to be part of the action.

 

Four final words - snow shovel, find it. 

Early October 2019 Garden Punch List

Keep your trowel active in October - there’s plenty to do outside on cooler, sunny October days. Include indoor garden projects too - I've already purchased yellow narcissus for indoor forcing - woohoo ... the yellow ones smell nice!

Dust off the rake and the snow shovel – one or the other will be getting a work out soon.  

Cover Crops

• Plant in areas where summer vegetables and ornamental annuals grew – anywhere where there’s bare soil.
• For fall cover crops look for winter rye, oats, Austrian winter pea or hairy vetch seeds in garden centers or online. Plant by mid-October when the ground is still warm so they sprout, grow and provide coverage all winter.
• Follow package instructions for seeding depth and area coverage. They will need water to get established, but generally no care after that until next year.
• In late winter, or when the soil isn’t too wet, cut down the growth low to the ground (it may not be very tall), then turn it over, giving it a least two months to break down before planting the first crops or annuals. 

In the landscape

• Early in the month there is still time to divide and replant or share overcrowded perennials. The general rule is to divide early spring and summer blooming perennials in the fall, while dividing late summer bloomers in the spring. Cut back top foliage before dividing.
• One of my favorite, easy, go to documents on what to divide and when is from Garden Gate Magazine. Click here. It doesn't include each and every perennial we grow in the mountain west, but a good reference none-the-less. 
• Continue planting spring-blooming bulbs through November as long as the ground is not frozen. Water bulbs during dry weather all fall and winter. 
• Bring herbs such as basil, chives, rosemary and oregano indoors and grow near a sunny window. Carefully dig up a portion of the plant with roots and place in a sterilized container using new potting soil. If gnats or insects have hitchhiked onto the leaves or parts of the soil, treat with insecticidal soap. In some cases outdoor dug herbs may not produce well from lower winter lighting, so supplement with grow lights as needed. 
• If you're decorating outdoor containers for the fall and winter with twigs, pinecones and other winter do-dads, be sure to clear out spent foliage and potting soil to make room for your creation. Do this well before the weather turns cold so the potting soil doesn't freeze. 
• Perennial weeds put on deep growth in the fall to get them through the winter, so get a jump on next year’s weeds and remove them now. Hand dig or spot treat. 
• No needs to toss leaves in the garbage, some municipalities have collection or drop off sites through early December. Check with your local county. 
• Denver leaf drop and post Halloween pumpkin compost information at 3-1-1 or click here.  
  

Trees and Shrubs 

• We’ve been dry most of the summer and into fall. How dry are your landscape trees and shrubs? Are they ready for winter?  
• Plant roots need to be moist going into cold weather prior to the ground freezing. Dry conditions can lead to root and branch death, and less foliage next year, or no foliage.  
• Trees (both deciduous and evergreen) require moisture to a depth of twelve inches through the growing season. Sprinklers and drip lines may not have provided enough water. It may take time to re-hydrate dry trees and shrubs, so focus on it now while temperatures are mild. Water will soak down much easier now than when soil is cold or frozen. 
• Check the soil surrounding tree and shrub roots. The easiest way is to poke a long screwdriver into the ground where tree roots are growing (mature tree roots can extend two to four times wider than the height of the tree). If it goes in easily the ground is moist. If you need to push the screwdriver down, the area needs water.  
• Get the landscape well hydrated before sprinkler turn off or supplement dry areas by using hoses and sprinklers.

Fall Lawn Care

• A fall aeration followed by fertilization is very beneficial to the lawn. The fertilizer moves into the holes left from the plugs and gets right to the root system. Water the lawn a day or two before aerating so deep plugs are pulled.

• Areas along the Front Range affected by Japanese beetles can apply products in the fall to kill larvae that live in the soil below turf all winter. Adult beetles emerge next summer, so ridding larvae in the fall may reduce numbers and or turf damage. I wrote about this on a recent blog, click here.

• Schedule the automatic sprinkler shut off for the season.

Indoors

• Take stem cuttings from geraniums for new plants next year. Root 4-6 inch cuttings in fresh potting soil and keep in bright light. Also take cuttings from coleus, fibrous begonias, sweet potato vine and place in water until rooted, then pot up and grow as houseplants near a sunny window. 
• Plant amaryllis bulbs indoors in October for December bloom.
• It’s time to cue Christmas cactus to bloom from Thanksgiving to Christmas with cooler temperatures (60 degree nights) and nine hours of sunlight daily for approximately six weeks. Reduce watering when the flower buds form, then weekly as the buds swells. Flower color deepens when the plant is allowed to dry out between watering (too dry and the flowers will drop).