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Gardening tips and tricks for Autumn

Preparing for the Winter Months: Gardening in October

When you feel the bite solids First in the breeze and see the birds flying on their way south, and the trees are bursting with fire-laden hues, you know you can not spend the weekend rolled in front of the fireplace with a good book. Not for long.

While the weather is still gardener-friendly, you must reduce your "to do" lists for the coming of autumn and early winter. Now is the time to attack your lawn and garden by planting your spring bulbs, buying and maintaining your trees and shrubs, making your lawn care at the end of the year, using common sense strategies for irrigation, building a compost bin and making your own compost, controlling many common garden pests, and winning the weed-whacking war before the sudden onset of the fickle winter season, cold and engaging.

Planting Your Perennials

Plant spring-flowering bulbs until the soil becomes frozen, and prepare its proposal, but tenacious perennials for the coming seasonal changes. Remember that in warmer climates, lamps can also be divided and transplanted. Plant hardy bulbs anytime before the soil freezes, but it is best to plant them early enough to that the root system can grow before winter arrives. In some climates, you can plant until Thanksgiving or even Christmas. Late-planted bulbs develop roots in spring and may bloom late. But they will arrive on time next year.

Be sure to position the bulbs in their proper depth. They should be planted so they rest their funds to a depth and diameter of two-a-half times each bulb is. In well-drained or sandy soils, plant an inch or two deeper to increase life and discourage rodents.

Bulbs look best planted in groups. Therefore, use a garden spade instead of a bulb planter, which encourages the plant individually. Groups Set the bulbs from side to side and plant them in holes the size of a plate, or dig trenches curve and the position of the lamps in background. Water your bulbs after planting to stimulate the roots to grow.

Interplanting creates maximum flowering in a tight space and eliminates bare patches when "dead" bulbs do not grow. For a succession of flowers and foliage, plant perennials around the bulb holes. Like the leaf of the bulb decreases, the perennials will grow, leaves camouflaging the bulbs' yellowing.

Choosing Your Trees and Shrubs

October is a wonderful time to purchase of trees and shrubs in the nursery. They are now showing their best and the brightest colors there. You can plant them now and over the next months, so that strong, healthy roots will grow during the winter.

You should carefully plan your landscape to choose the trees you want to provide good grass cover and the landscape more beautiful. When an appropriate tree is purchased, selected and planted in the right place, pictures of your home and beautifies his land, making it more enjoyable. Trees can greatly increase the resale value of property, and even save on energy costs.

Show new trees in their maturity when you realize that some trees develop as wide as height if given enough space to develop. Image size and shape of each tree in relation to the global landscape and the size and style of your home. Trees reaching forty feet do best near or behind a one-story house. tallest trees mixture with two-story houses and large lots. Trees under thirty feet tall suit in street locations, small lots and enclosed areas such as decks and patios.

There are two basic types of tree will be considered for purchase. Deciduous trees include shade of large trees which frame areas with a canopy of summer a cool and colorful autumn rack of superior colors. In winter, their silhouettes provide passage for sunlight. These trees can shade a southern exposure to summer heat and allow sunlight in winter to heat the house. Evergreen trees have dense green foliage that suits them for planting as privacy screens, windbreaks or scenarios of flowering trees and shrubs. But they are beautiful enough to stand alone. They do not lose their leaves, called needles, and providing shelter throughout the year and color. You should be sure to include a wide variety of both types of trees in your landscape to avoid losing them to diseases or pests. Buy disease-and trees resistant to pests.

When buying a tree, look for healthy green leaves, if any, and yet well-developed top growth. Ramos should be continuous and balanced around the trunk, and stock or dormant bare-root, must be flexible. Examine the roots, which should form a mass, balanced fully formed. Reject trees with broken or dried roots. Avoid trees showing signs of disease, pests or stress such as wilting, discoloration, misshapen leaves, marked growth of the shell and nonvigorous. Consider the size of the tree. The young trees have a better success rate when planted, and most flowering trees grow quickly, so start with less expensive, smaller specimens. And be sure and buy all your plants from a nursery of good quality with a decent reputation.

Not prune a newly planted tree unless its form needs improving. Prune flowering trees in spring, after blooming, to correct problems unsightly. Crab apple trees are an exception and should be pruned in late winter. But you can remove diseased or dead branches anytime of the year, and much of this is done during the winter. Apply fertilizer when needed, the seasons, second and subsequent growing. Mulch to conserve moisture, reduce and eliminate cutting weeds near the tree. wood chips or bark Spread four inches deep and as wide as the tree's canopy around the base. But do not mulch poorly drained soil saturated. Wrap tree trunks after planting to prevent winter damage from weather and pests. And participation of young trees, especially trees bare-root perennial, to strengthen them against high winds. Stake loosely and allow the tree to bend slightly and remove stakes after one year.

Shrubs are often planted and used merely as foundation plants or screens for privacy. But shrubbery foliage is much more versatile, and can go a long way to animate your Landscaping. Countless varieties of gorgeously colorful and beautiful leafed shrubs are available through nurseries and garden catalogs.

You must start by learning what varieties thrive in your area. Try to visit the local arboretum, where you can see different types of shrubs and decide whether they fit their gardening plans. Decide what you want to look overall at different times of the year, and then find out which shrubs will be flowering, fruiting or sports colorful foliage at those times. Compare what you find inventory in your local nursery and ask the professionals who work there are many questions.

Understanding the characteristics of each shrub before you plant it. Flowering shrubs and fruit promote a new home, but improper pruning and care will ruin the beauty of the whole their hard work. Some shrubs bloom on second-or third-year wood. If you're maintaining a shrub because you're hoping it will bloom, but you are cutting in the first year wood every year, it will never flourish.

Some varieties are a foot high maturity, while others reach over fifty feet. A large shrub will usually require more pruning. Also determine the plant's ability to tolerate various soil conditions, wind, sun and shade. You do not put a plan that is sensitive to elements in a open area. Use plants more resistant shelter to her.

Not all shrubs work in all climates. Hazel witch, for instance, blooms in fall or winter and is more resistant than the minimum temperatures range from thirty degrees below zero to twenty degrees above. It would be a good choice for very dry, hot climates. But some shrubs like buddleia, hydrangea, and spirea perform well in a wide variety of areas of growth.

Most shrubs are relatively rapid growth. Those who follow the shape and size of a house will do more to make a site look established at home. For example, if you have a home, too Ranch-style shrubs should be rectangular. If you have a two-story house, you will want some bushes of leaves, which are a little more upright.

You could try buying larger shrubs instead of trees, because it costs much more than smaller shrubs and help landscape look fuller. larger shrubs will go through a recovery of shock, but usually does not take a bush, a tree while back. shrubs position as if they are in size, leaving a ample space for them to fill. Viburnum, barberry, honeysuckle and hydrangea are good choices to surround almost any home.

Late Autumn Lawn Care

Aerate lawns in mid-late October, while the grass can recover easily. If you core aerate, make your cores three inches deep, spaced about every six inches. Break up the cores and spread them around. If your lawn needs, straw and follows with a fall or winter fertilizer. Even if thatching is not needed, the lawn will be happy for a dusting of fertilizer to help roots gain strength before the spring growing season. Seeded bald patches or whole lawns, as needed.
Rake and compost leaves falling, as well as clippings from mowing. If left on the floor now, I'll make a mess, that is wet and slippery inviting to pests.

Good gardeners use heavy molded plastic for shaping neat edges of beds. You can buy these from garden centers, nurseries and suppliers of Mail Order in rolls of flat, plastic for four to six inches in height, and plant edging easily. You will save countless hours of removing grass and weeds that otherwise creep into their beds.

Watering your lawn Home & Garden

You can not forget showering in the middle of fall. The summer is long, but proper moisture now is the key to the survival of your plants during the cold months of winter. You are likely to hear two pieces of advice on watering. One is that you should give established plants an inch of water per week either from rain or irrigation. The other is that personal observation of his own garden is the only way to judge how much water you need. A fact about which there are more in agreement: the ideal is to maintain constant moisture, not a cycle of wet soil followed by dry soil.

Although overwatering can be as big a problem as underwatering, most gardeners err on the side of too little. Their needs vary throughout the year depending on the evapotranspiration rate in your garden. Reference evapotranspiration for the two ways that plants lose water. There is no evaporation, water loss to air from soil, water and other surfaces. Then the other is called transpiration, or water lost primarily from the leaves and stems of plants. You can often obtain evapotranspiration rates for the area local water services and other agencies. You'll see a graphic description of how the natural need of a plan to change during Water the growing season.

However, keep these pointers in mind:

1) water when needed, not according to the calendar. Check out the top six inches of soil. If it is dry and falls apart easily, water. Their plans also show signs that they need water. Wilting, curling or brown leaves mean that your plants may lack adequate water. However, note that excess water creates a lack of oxygen in plants, making them show symptoms similar to underwatering.

2) Water slowly, not more than an inch and a half of water per hour. Too much water can be lost for disposal. It's why handheld handheld watering cans or hoses generally work only for watering small areas.

3) Water deeply. Established with vegetables and flowers, six inches is a minimum. With trees and shrubs, water 1-2 feet or more. Shallow watering does more harm than good, it discourages plants from developing the deep roots they need to find their own water. Except when you water plants, the soil should never be wet only the top layer.

4) The water in the morning, never during the hottest part of the day. Too Much Water can be lost by evaporation. Watering in the evening sometimes causes problems in humid climates, especially with aerial irrigation, which wets all the foliage. Plants that remain wet at night sometimes come down with the disease and growth fungi.

5) Do not allow drainage. In heavy clay soils, one inch of water will probably cause runoff. At the first sign that water not penetrate the soil, turn it off. Irrigate in an hour or so after the initial water penetrated.

The increased use of piped water and municipal the invention of sprinklers have made mechanical irrigation the most commonly used watering method, particularly for lawns and large areas. sprinkler irrigation works best with well-drained soil and plant root surface, or a cooling effect is desired. But sprinklers have several disadvantages. They waste water, since much of what is sprayed on areas other than the root zone around the plant. How much water is released into the air, evaporation loss can be significant. Sprinklers can also foster fungal diseases and other problems with some plants, like roses, do not like having wet foliage. Sprinklers require good water pressure and are best used on plants that are not in bloom. Several types of sprinklers are available.

irrigation Drip or trickle low flow hoses or emitters can save more than half the water that sprinklers overhead lost to evaporation or runoff. Also reduces the disease, because the foliage is not wet. This type of irrigation did not saturate the soil, so there is a small negative effect on soil structure in general. As the area that is irrigated is smaller, the weed growth is reduced as well. And drip systems do not require excavation. You can create a system drip simple to direct the flow of water down to individual plants, either by polyethylene tubing, which on the ground or bury it shallowly. Or you can buy a more sophisticated custom design. But the drip systems have their limitations. They do not work for large lawns or fields, and they can be damaged if children or pets dig them up. The required number of emitters, misters and sprayers can add up costwise. A drip irrigation system may also require a lowering of water pressure to keep the volume down accessories functioning properly.

Soaker hoses are similar to drip systems in some respects, but are even simpler. Soaker hoses "water" leaking along the length of the hose. You can buy plastic hoses or soakers smooth made from recycled tires known as sweaty hoses or leaky pipe soakers. And garden shops are full of many other types of devices and tools to assist you in your water garden, such as rain gauges, mechanical and electronic timers, and watering cans.

To small areas of plantations, container and seedlings, watering cans work well. Make sure your can have an attachment so that water can be delivered as a fine rain. By choosing a can, keep in mind that they are very heavy when full. A two-liter container filled with water is as heavy as most people can carry. Make sure the cable and the rest of the can are designed for ease of transport.

Building a Bin and make your own compost

A box will contain your cell composting and make it more attractive and keep it from spilling or blowing over into your yard. A circular or square structure can be made of wire fences. The idea is push the compost material together to make it warm up and rot properly. The box should be at least three feet wide and three feet deep to provide enough space for the advertising material. Use treated wood or metal posts around to the corners and wrap sturdy wire fencing around them. The mesh fence should be small enough that rotting materials will not fall. When the compost is ready, unwind the wire and scoop from the bottom of the pile. Then re-pile the undecomposed material and wrap the yarn around back of the stack.

Many hard-core gardeners feel that three compost boxes are best for serious composting. For the construction of a trio of boxes that you can compost in stages: one bin will be ready, a beer will be and always will be a match. Installing a cover, such as a plastic sheet or a piece of wood, helps to reduce odors, control moisture and keep out wild pests. You will also want to use ingredients some for a good compost pile, lovely smell rotten.

It's easy to cook their own stack. At first, layer grass clippings with a dash of leaves and twigs to create a mixture that turns into humus, the best food from the plant. Added ingredients for the compost from waste every day in the kitchen and backyard. But avoid the items that ruin your compost. Use green materials such as fruit and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds and grass clippings and plant material and brown, like leaves, wood and bark chips, shredded newspaper, straw and sawdust from untreated wood. Avoid using any meat, oil, grease, diseased plants, sawdust or wood chips pressure-treated, the dog or cat feces, weeds that go to seed or dairy products. They can smudge, spoil and make smelly and rancid a stack perfectly good productive compost.

There are two types of composting: cold and hot. Cold composting is as simple as piling up your yard waste or withdraw organic material in your trash such as fruit peels and vegetable motifs, coffee or egg shells and stack them in your backyard. Over a year or more, the material to decompose. Hot composting is for the more serious gardener, you'll get compost in one to three months during warm weather. Four ingredients are needed for fast cooking hot compost: nitrogen, carbon, air and water. These items feed microorganisms, which speed up the process of decay.

To create your own pile of organic compost, hot, wait until you have enough material to make a stack that is three feet deep. To ensure an even composition, first create alternating layers of four inches of green and brown. green materials, such as crop residues, wood chips, grass and vegetable trimmings create nitrogen. Brown materials like leaves, twigs and shredded paper to create Carbon. Sprinkle water over the pile regularly so it has the consistency of a damp sponge. Do not add much, or microorganisms will be flooded and not heat the pile.

During the growing season, you must provide the cell with oxygen, turning it once a week with a pitchfork. The best time is when the center of the pile feels very warm. Stir the pile helps to cook faster and prevents material being matted down and develop a bad odor. At this point, the layers have served their purpose of creating the same amount of green and brown materials throughout the pile. Stir thoroughly, turning the several times. When the compost does not emit heat and becomes dry, brown and brittle, it is completely cooked and ready to feed your garden.

Concentrate Pest Control

Slugs and other pests do not disappear as the weather gets cooler. You'll find them at all stages of life, in October, from eggs youth and adults. To use slugs, whatever measures you prefer, salt, slug bait or beer discs to eliminate them. You better get them in the early stages to stop the breeding cycle. And keeping the soil well leveled and tidied to reduce their natural habitat.

Here is a list of common garden pests and how to control them:

Thrips: Adult are about one-tenth-inch long and have dark bodies with four fringed wings. Their size makes them difficult to detect in the garden. They attack new leaves, stems and flower buds. Spray young foliage, buds and the soil around the bush with an insecticide containing acephate.

Cane borer: This insect is the larva of eggs by wasps or carpenter bees in the freshly cut cane of the rose after pruning. A telltale sign is a clearly visible hole, drilled at the top cane. To remove the pest, cut several inches down the cane until there are no more signs of the maggot or pith-eaten core. Seal all pruning cuts with pruning cement.

Japanese beetle, Fuller rose beetle: These will eat parts of the foliage and sometimes the flowers. Pick beetles off the bush with his hands. Or spray foliage and flowers with an insecticide containing acepate or malathion.

Leaf miner: This insect can be spotted on the sheet by the emergence of bubbles irregular white chain, with its grub. Remove leaves and discard it to prevent further infestation.

Saliva ERROR: This small, greenish-yellow insect hides inside a circular mass of white foam on the surface of new stems, usually during the development cycle of the first bloom in early spring. Spray a jet of water to remove the foam and insects.

Roseslug: When you see new foliage with a skeletonized pattern, indicating that it was eaten, chances are that it is the roseslug. Remove the infected foliage and spray with water and insecticidal soap or an insecticide containing acephate.

Leaf cutter bee: As its name indicates, this small, yellowish-green insect jumps in the bottom of the sheet to feast, often leaving its white skin behind. The damage caused by this insect often results in defoliation. Use an insecticide containing malathion acephate or to avoid is to establish a strong colony.

Rose scale: This insect hides under gray scales, normally on old canes or stems. Feeds sucking the sap, weakening the plant. If the infestation is located, try removing it with your fingernail. Or spraying with an insecticide acephate containing.

Mite: It builds huge colonies underneath leaves, giving the appearance of particles of salt and pepper. If a problem is detected early, can control it chemically with insecticides containing acephate or malathion. Spray the underside of leaves. Or you can apply a fine mist of water to the foliage undersides to wash the mites soil. They can not fly, then they will die on the soil surface.

Rose aphid: This is the common enemy of the insect in the rose garden, and is often referred to as the greenfly. It is a small green soft-bodied insects often found in large colonies, particularly on the lush spring growth first, sucking the sap from stems. Control by washing off the stem increased with water or spraying with an insecticide containing acephate or malathion.

Plant bugs: This is of a large group of insects that includes the bug genera Lygus and stink bugs. Plant bugs attack the developing buds by sucking sap. While feeding, they inject a substance that destroys the toxic plant tissue, causing distortion and premature death of the yolk. Apply a systemic insecticide such as to prevent further systemic RosePride attacks.

The Great Weed Made Easy

Actually, this is an exaggeration. There's no rest for the wicked. Keep staying ahead of your herbs nasty weeds all this and next month. They serve as Home Sweet Home for all types of pests and insects, and destroy them before they flower and seed will save you much work in the future.

Preparation is the key. All gardeners know what it is to have their yards invaded by undesirable plants. Although there no really easy way to banish weeds, there are some solid techniques you can use to retrieve your lawn. At a minimum, you can limit this maximum of hostile takeovers.

Here is a simple outline of effective battle strategies you can use in the fall:

1) Be a mulching maniac. Mulch acts as a suffocating blanket by preventing light from reaching weed seeds. At the same time keeps the moisture for your plants and provides nutrients for the soil that decomposes. Apply coarse mulch, such as bark or wood chips, directly onto the ground. Leaves, grass clippings, or straw work better as a weed deterrent with a separation layer of newspaper, cardboard or fabric between them and the ground.

2) Water those weeds. Pulling weeds is easier and more efficient when the soil is damp. You are more likely to get the whole root system, and tore her not to disturb plants around much either. Neither the rain? Turn on the sprinkler or even water individual weeds, leave for a few hours and then get your hands dirty. Just ignore the strange looks from your neighbors as you water lovingly your weeds.

3) Cut weeds at its peak. Weeds love to the ground. But if you till or cultivate the plant and wait, you can overcome the herbs weeds. To the ground at least twice before you plant. Your first digging will bring dormant weed seeds to the surface where they can germinate. Watch and wait several weeks until they begin to grow. Then cut the weeds again with a tiller or a hoe, only do not dig too deep. Now you should be safe to put precious plants into the ground.

4) Pass the salt. Try scanning salt into crevices between paths. Although it is harder borax also works well. Make sure to use rubber gloves with the second material. You may have to apply a few doses, but be aware of all the plants around, because both products kill the plants good with the bad.

5) establish the law. Try using landscape fabric as a weed controller. Landscape fabric is usually made of a nonwoven fabric, material polypropylene porous that allows air, water and nutrients to reach the soil but keeps weed seeds in a dark, cool where they can not germinate. You lay the fabric, cut a hole where the plants are positioned or will be planted and then cover the screen with a layer of two to four inches of mulch or gravel. However, landscape fabric does not work well on steep slopes or a windy site, where coverage often slips or is blown away, exposing the fabric. Never wear the plastic, because it prevents the moisture from the air and reaching the roots of your plants.

6) Boil them alive. If you have pesky weeds in a place without grass in or near valuable plants, boil water and pour it over the unsuspecting weeds. To control the flow of boiling water and save around plants and toes feet from a scalding, use a kettle.

7) To compost or not to compost. Once you have worked to rid your garden of weeds, be careful you do not throw them in the compost pile, where they can drop seed and infect your entire backyard. When you pull or till young weeds, leave them where you chop them and let the sun dry them, and then use them as mulch. Throw the weeds mature on a hot compost pile where they should cook at two hundred degrees or more for several weeks to ensure that seeds are killed.

Cover the floor. Cultivate plants grow together or ground cover in winter in areas which typically suffer from weed invasions. A thick mass of plants is not only attractive but also shelters the soil from direct solar radiation, making more difficult for weed seeds to prosper.

9) elbow grease old-fashioned. Weed every two weeks during the growing season to stay in control of weeds. If you're going to get down and dirty, use a comfortable cushion or knee pads to try to lessen the impact Removal of weeds in your body. You can also try an upright tool such as the Weed Hound, which prevents excessive bending or tension the body.

10) Soil Solar-powered. Solarization uses heat to disinfect your soil. If you have a large planting bed or area of lawn want reseed, till the area to clean all vegetation. Then, water the area until it is saturated. Wait a day, and then cover with plastic clear three to six thousand leaves. Bury the edges of the sheets to seal it. Let the soil cook for four to six weeks, then remove the plastic. If all weeds appear, even slightly, without disturbing the soil. Wait a few days for the soil cool and then start planting. This method of getting rid of many diseases in the soil as well.

11) Kiss my grits. You can try a natural weed control such as WOW! (Without Weeds), which is made from a byproduct of corn. It acts as a preemergent, and is best applied during the spring, killing weeds before they germinate. A second application at the end of the growing season kills weeds that sprout at the end summer and go to seed in the fall. Its nontoxic formula is safe, and releases nitrogen into your soil.

12) Identify your weeds. If you can identify the threats sprouting in your backyard, you can control their reseeding habits better. Annual weeds complete their growth cycle from seeds of plants in a few months and then die. Unfortunately, they can leave behind thousands of babies if they go to seed, forever trying to remove annual before releasing seeds. Perennial weeds usually live for at least three years and are more difficult to eradicate, so the first observation to remove them immediately.

13) Time is tight. If your weeds are starting to grow, but you have no time or energy to pull them so far, suffocate the weeds by covering them with a stick or a piece of plastic. Better yet, use a few large decorative stones, a great work of art based on one or birdbath. At least you will stop the spread of weeds so you can meet them at your leisure.

14) Out of their heads. To stop the spread of weeds, rip off their heads before they flower seed fall. This technique can be especially useful with annual weeds, which love to offer generation after generation of seeds.

Food for Thought

In addition to performing these autumnal lawn and garden duties, you may want to pick vegetables from his fall, like pumpkin perennial. Do a taste test and harvest them when flavor is at its peak. If you would like to extend the harvest carrots, turnips and other root vegetables, leave a little straw on the ground that the weather gets colder. At the beginning of next month, before temperatures drop too much seed cover crops such as clover, peas or vetch to enrich the soil. It will serve as a natural fertilizer, stifle the growth of weeds and help release the soil for crops next year.

As for your houseplants that you've put off for the summer, if September was mild enough that your geraniums and other plants but also abroad, be sure to make them comfortable in before the first frost takes a bite out of them. Take geranium cuttings of two to four cm root indoors. If you treat houseplants chemically, be sure to keep them warm and away from direct sunlight. Fertilize houseplants now and they will not need it again until March. And remember to get your poinsettias and your Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti ready for well-timed holiday color. Give them a daily dose of ten hours of daylight or four hours of direct sun and fourteen hours of darkness at night. Cacti need a legal framework to fifty sixty degrees, while poinsettias prefer a warmer 65-70 degrees. Be sure and let your cacti dry out between waterings.

For a gardenaholic fact, winter is often regarded as the enemy. But with a few steps toward preparation in the early to mid fall, you can care for your lawn, garden and plants home in a way that will keep them thriving and surviving until the dawning of another spring very welcome and generous.

About the Author

Executive Director and President of Rainbow Writing, Inc., Karen Cole writes. RWI at http://www.rainbowriting.com is a renowned inexpensive and affordable professional freelance writers, book authors, ghost writers, copy editors, proof readers, coauthors, manuscript rewriters, graphics and CAD, digital and other photographers, publishing assistance and screenplay writers, editors, developers and analysts service.

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