Connecticut Garden Journal

This Thanksgiving season is a good time to mend fences. I'm not talking just about relations with family and friends, but literally, fixing your garden fences. The weather is cool, the ground hasn't frozen yet and it's a good time to assess not only fences, but other garden tools and features to see if they need fixing, removing or replacing.

Let's start with the fence. We have a 7-foot-tall wire fence around the main part of our garden for deer control. It's worked well except for the occasional errant deer that tries to jump the fence every few years. That means it's been bent and broken in places. We've been cutting and mending that fence so the deer stay on “their side” of the garden. This is true for wooden and plastic mesh fences as well.

Hoses and nozzles always seem to leak for us after a few years. First of all, drain them of water well and store the hoses in a dry, protected spot in winter. This will reduce cracking and breaking of the hose and couplings. Check the nozzles and, if they leak at the point of contact with the hose, get a new O-ring rubber washer to fit in the nozzle. Clean the nozzle as well.

Take a good look at your cutting tools such as hand pruners, hedge trimmers and loopers. Clean and sharpen the blades now and oil the movable parts. Finally, do an assessment of what needs replacing such as grow lights, plant markers and plant stakes and do a little shopping now since you're already in the holiday spirit.

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When I was a boy growing up in Waterbury, each November my mom would send me “into the woods” of my grandfather's farm to gather branches of mountain laurel. Mom had a brick planter box as part of our front porch and she liked to decorate it for the holidays. Mountain laurel was perfect because this broadleaf evergreen shrub grows in abundance in Connecticut and lasts into winter. It got me thinking about decorating outdoor containers for winter.

Broadleaf evergreens are a good place to start. Kalmia, or mountain laurel, Pieris, evergreen holly and rhododendrons all make nice evergreens to fill an outdoor container. Try not to cut the flower buds of the rhodis, though, so you'll still get flowers in spring. Evergreen boughs, such as spruce, pine and cedar, are nice green backdrops as well.

To add splashes of color include some berry plants. Some shrubs and trees with nice berries are winterberry holly, red or yellow crabapples, beauty berry or callicarpa and cotoneaster. You can add color with branches, too. Red and yellow twigged dogwoods, paperbark maple and red barked Japanese maples all add brightness and texture to compliment the evergreens.

Once you gather the branches, take a large plastic container filled with potting soil and decorate the container. Recut and place tall branches in the center with smaller and cascading branches along the edge. Don't be surprised if the birds find your creation and help themselves to some berries over winter. Place the container out of the wind and within view of your windows so you can see the beauty you've created from inside the house.

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Fall is a great time to harvest root crops. But if you have lots of carrots, beets, parsnips, potatoes and other roots, consider storing them indoors so you can enjoy them into winter.

The first step is to know the storage needs of your roots. Root crops generally like a cold, damp place in winter. Ideally it would be a room that stays between freezing and 40 degrees and has moderate humidity. Root crops are prone to shriveling in dry homes. You can store most roots (except beets) for a few months in the refrigerator if you wrap them in a damp paper towel and store in a crisper. But for long term storage, a basement or unheated garage that stays above freezing, is best.

Once you find the best location, prep your roots. For carrots, beets and parsnips, clean and cut off the greens to one half inch of the top. Only store undamaged roots. Use a cardboard or wooden box and add a 4-inch thick layer of sawdust or slightly moistened peat moist to the bottom. Lay out the roots not touching and cover with 2- to 3-inches of material. Keep layering until you fill the box. If freezing is a concern add some insulating materials around the box to keep it warm. Your roots should last 3 to 5 months.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes are easier. Let them cure after harvest in a warm, well-ventilated room, for a week or so. Store them away from onions in a cool basement or garage and, depending on the variety, they will last for 5 plus months.

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With all the warm, fall weather we've been having, getting out in the garden is a pleasure. One of the fall tasks we can do is a soil test.

A soil test is an inexpensive way to get a snapshot of soil nutrients in your garden, the pH and organic matter content. While you can purchase simple home test kits, I like to use the pros to sample my soil. The University of Connecticut Soil Lab in Storrs will test home garden soils for $15/per sample. Their analysis will test levels of phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium and other nutrients as well as pH. Based on the results they will give you recommendations for ways to remedy anything that's out of whack.

While doing a soil test can happen anytime the ground isn't frozen, fall is best because you'll get a more accurate reading and you'll have plenty of time to add sulfur, limestone or nutrients. These will slowly breakdown over winter and be ready for your plants next spring.

Download the forms and instructions online. Take a different soil sample for different types of landscape areas. For example, take separate samples for a blueberry patch, vegetable garden, lawn area or tree section. In the vegetable or flower garden wait one month after spreading compost or manure to take a sample so not to skew the results. Follow instructions as to how deep to dig for each sample and randomly take 10 samples in the same garden. Mix the samples together and take 1 cup to send it to the lab. You can mail or drop off the samples.

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So, you bought more pumpkins and winter squash for carving and decorating than you have willing hands to help. Now you're wondering what to do with those extra pumpkins and gourds Why not make planters out of them?

This is a simple way to add to your Halloween decorations and have a planter for the holidays! You can make planters out of large or small pumpkins and gourds. Simply cut off the top, hollow out the center (saving the pumpkin seeds for roasting) and fill the squash with potting soil.

Now the fun begins. Check out local garden centers and farm stores for left over annual flowers, herbs or veggie transplants to plant or dig some from your own garden. You can also use succulents and small houseplants, too. Decide on your hair style. We use scallion transplants I found at a local garden center to create mohawk look. We also found some calibrochoa trailing plants for a floppy hair style. Finally, we bought some small flowering cabbages for a crew cut, flat top look. You can combine these plants with some scary face painting as well. Once the fall freeze causes the pumpkins to soften, move the whole creation into the compost pile.

For a more elegant look, use smaller gourds and mini pumpkins and place one small succulent or houseplant, such as sedum, echeveria and aloe, in each. Keep them in a cool, sunny room indoors in November and use them to decorate the Thanksgiving table. Once the gourds and mini-pumpkins start to soften, transfer the houseplants into plastic pots for your indoor winter garden.

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With the leaves dropping and the weather still warm, it's a perfect time to start fall garden cleanup. This time honored process has undergone some recommended changes over the last few years. Let me explain.

First, if the flowers are still blooming and veggies and herbs producing, leave them. Enjoy every last moment of this year's garden before frost takes it all away. In annual flower and vegetable gardens, cut to the ground and remove any diseased or insect damaged plants. If the plants were mostly healthy this summer, consider trying the No-Dig Gardening method of chopping the foliage and dropping it right on the soil. This will protect the garden soil from erosion, keep the soil microbes healthy and be less work.

In the perennial flower garden, the current recommendation is to leave the plants until spring. Cleaning up the dead plants now removes beneficial insects and pollinators that overwinter in the leaf and stem material. In spring, after a week of 50 degree days, you can clean it all up.

Add arborist's wood chips to the perennial flower beds that have open areas and around shrubs and trees. A 3- to 4-inch thick layer of arborists' wood chips keeps weeds away, breaks down to feed the soil and is better than shredded mulch because it doesn't block air and water transfer. Check with your local arborists to get a load of chips.

Top dress lawns with a 1/4-inch thick layer of compost and reseed bare spots to create a thicker, lusher lawn with fewer weeds and help the lawns stay green during a drought.

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Now is the time to plant tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths and all types of bulbs for a spring flower display. While many gardeners like planting similar bulbs together in groups, if you only have a small yard or area for planting, there's another technique you can use.

Layering is planting different bulbs together in a large hole. If done properly, you can have many types of bulbs blooming in succession in spring. The key is bulb selection.

Bulb packaging in garden centers often lists the bloom times of the various bulbs. Select a number of different bulbs and mix and match early, mid and late spring flowering times so something new is blooming every week or so. Start with the large sized bulbs such as hyacinths and daffodils. Those will be planted deepest in your hole. Then look for medium-sized bulbs such as tulips and alliums. Those will be on top of the large bulbs. Finally, select small bulbs such as crocus, scilla and chionodoxa. These are planted on top.

To plant, dig a good sized hole about 8 inches deep and wide enough to fit your bulbs. Plant so the bulbs are almost touching in well-drained soil. Lay the largest bulbs 6 inches deep and cover with soil. Layer the medium-sized bulbs 4 inches deep and again cover those with soil. Finally, layer the small bulbs on top of the medium bulbs only 1- to 2-inches deep. Cover it all with soil and water well.

In spring, depending on your selections you'll have waves of crocus, daffodils, alliums and tulips blooming giving you weeks of bulb joy.

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I recently visited a garden center in Massachusetts and was amazed at the variety of pumpkins. No longer are there just large, medium or small pumpkins. Now there are pumpkins with different skin colors, shapes and interesting abnormalities. Let's look at some options.

Pumpkins for carving haven't changed much over the years with orange, yellow and white skinned versions. But for Halloween displays, the options are much broader.

Mini-pumpkins are only 2 pounds and fit in the palm of your hand. They've become popular for small displays and accents. While there's orange, white and yellow skinned versions, I like the 'Lil Pump-Ke-Mon' pumpkins with orange, white and green stripes on the skin.

Flat pumpkins look like a flat tire version of regular pumpkin. 'Flat Stacker' is a white variety that weighs 15 pounds. 'Rouge Vif D'Etampes' is a French heirloom with red-orange skin. It makes an excellent eating pumpkin once you're done with the decorating. 'Long Island Cheese' is a 10 pound, tan skinned beauty with a tasty, deep orange flesh. And 'Jarrahdale' is a blue skinned flat pumpkin that's also great for eating.

For something really spooky try some of the warty pumpkins. 'Knucklehead' is a 12 pound, orange pumpkin loaded with warts. 'Warty Goblin' is a smaller orange pumpkin with lighter colored warts that give it a sinister appearance. 'Marina Di Chioggia' is an Italian heirloom that's flat, warty and blue skinned. The flesh also makes a great ravioli filling.

Once you have your spooky pumpkins, remember to protect them from a hard frost. Many can be stored and eaten like winter squashes for the holidays.

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Fall is upon us and before we get ready to give up on the herb garden, consider overwintering some herb plants.

Now is the time to start moving some of those herbs indoors. Not only will you save the plants, but also you'll have some fresh herbs in winter. Some herbs are better adapted to the move than others. I find chives, mint, parsley, oregano, thyme and rosemary all can be moved indoors successfully. While basil, cilantro and dill are better left for planting anew next spring.

The key is to start preparing these herbs now for the move. Pot small plants into containers if they aren't growing there already. Cut back plants and move the pots to a part shade location such as a porch. This will help simulate the lower light levels indoors. After a week or so, move the plants indoors, but quarantine them. Watch for any hitchhiking insects, such as aphids and mealybugs. Spray those plants outdoors with Neem oil and insecticidal soap. Once cleaned up, bring them back in.

Grow your herbs in a sunny window away from cold drafts. Mediterranean herbs, such as rosemary, thyme and oregano, love a well-drained soil that dries out between waterings and lots of sun and air movement.

Parsley, mint and chives are okay with a little less sun and need a more consistently moist soil. But don't overwater, especially in the depths of winter.

As new growth emerges in fall and again in late winter, snip it for cooking. Parsley may end up naturally dying by spring, but your other herbs should survive to move back outdoors with warmer weather.

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Fall is a great time of year to build better soil in your garden. Soil is the soul of your garden. It's loaded with billions of microbes that help your plants take up water and nutrients and keep them healthy. By amending the soil with local, organic materials, you'll be feeding the microbes for a healthier garden.

But not all microbes are alike. In annual garden soils, bacteria dominates and it likes easy to break down organic materials such as untreated grass clippings, chopped leaves, compost, hay and straw. Make sure your beds are covered with these materials going into winter. Not only do these materials slowly break down to feed the microbes in fall and spring, but they protect your soil from wind and rain erosion. Don't work the organic materials into the soil. That will only destroy the microbial networks that have been created. In spring, simply move aside whatever materials are left, add a thin layer of compost and plant.

For perennial flowers, trees and shrubs, these soils are more fungi dominated and, like the forest, they like slow to break down organic materials such as bark and wood chips. Add a 3- to 4-inch thick layer of arborist's wood chips around these plants. Ask your local arborist to deliver some chips from a nearby job site or check out getchipdrop.com to sign up for a delivery. Often it's free. The chips let air and water easily flow through it.

Based on a soil test, you can also add lime and any nutrients your soil seems deficient in now. This will give the nutrients time to break down before spring.

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