Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Here are some questions and answers from the Oct. 12 show, which was pre-recorded because of the Thanksgiving weekend:
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These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: What Halloween events are happening this month?
A: Dutch Growers has a pumpkin maze. It’s free to the public and geared towards preschool to toddler age kids. It’s free and people can wander through, pick out a pumpkin and get lost in the maze. It’s open during store hours seven days a week.
There’s also Pumpkins After Dark in Saskatoon, which features over 10,000 hand-carved pumpkins at Prairieland Park on various dates until Oct. 31. Ticket prices vary based on the date and type of admission, with prices ranging from approximately $17.49 to $39.16.
Q: Can I leave carrots or beets in the ground until spring?
A: No, you want to harvest them out before any hard frosts that go below -4 C. If you leave them in the ground, they’re just going to get mushy.
Q: Do potatoes have to be washed before you store them?
A: Yes, you want to get as much dirt as you can off of them before you store them and make sure they’re dry. Don’t wash them so much that you’re scraping the skin off of them but make sure they’re clean.
Q: How long can I store potatoes?
A: White potatoes can be stored almost all winter, if kept cold and dry. Red potatoes can be stored up to about Christmas.
Q: Can I still plant garlic now?
A: Absolutely, and tulip and daffodil bulbs can also be planted now.
Q: What should I do with fallen leaves?
A: If they are in a shrub bed just leave them there until spring because they act as a great mulch and provide shelter for lady bugs are hibernating as well. On the lawn, take them off to prevent snow mold.
Q: What can do to prevent rodents or deer getting to my trees over winter?
A: Wrap the bases with tree guards that are white and reflects the sunlight and also keeps the the deer, rabbits, mice etc away from the trunks. They also help with frost cracking. Take them off in in the spring once the once the frosts out of the ground and and the grass starts greening up again.
Wrap the trees as high as you can because a lot of places you’ll get snow banks so the rabbits can eat up higher. So most of them are three feet tall and that generally that’s where the branches on some of the younger trees start.
Q: Is it too late to fertilize?
A: If you have fertilize, do it just before rain or your last watering.
Q: How short should I cut my lawn?
A: No shorter than one or two inches. Okay, that’s a long lawn. If you cut lower than an inch, if you get no snow until Christmas time, you’re leaving not very much protection for the grass, and it tends to dry out.
It’s a balance though because if it is too long you can get snow mold. To help prevent that spray with copper spray on a warmer day so it isn’t freezing, and that can really help with snow mold in the spring. You could spray this weekend before you blow out your sprinklers. Use a backpack sprayer or a pump sprayer.
Q: How do I ready my garden tools for winter?
A: With pruners and other garden tools, the best thing to do is to clean them off then sharpen them up. Then take some vegetable oil on a cloth and just wipe it on. It will keep them in perfect condition for the winter.
If you have a battery-powered whipper-snipper or similar, make sure you bring your batteries in for the winter time so they’re not sitting out in the cold shed.
The same applies to lawn mowers with lithium ion batteries. You risk damaging them in extreme cold. Every once in a while check them and top them off with power.
If you have a gas -powered lawnmower or whipper snipper, save the sharpening the blade until the spring. Clean out any old grass. An oil change could be done now or in the spring. The most important thing is making sure that the gas doesn’t go bad in it. Use premium gas and add a fuel stabilizer, then run your engine a little bit so that it gets through to the carburetor.
Most lawnmowers have a fuel shut off somewhere on the engine or near the gas tank — a lever. Shut the fuel off while you’ve got the engine running to empty out the little bowl on the engine and the carburetor.
You can buy some engine fogging oil. Take your air filter out and spray it in there and while you’re running it tocoat all the valves and the pistons to prevent rust.
Q: Should I cut back perennials now or wait till the spring?
A: It’s personal preference and also depends on your yard. If you get lots of snow, it doesn’t really matter when you do it. I prefer to do it in the fall if I get lots of snow because I don’t need to worry about needing extra insulation and I like to start with a clean base in spring. I also don’t like dealing with the moldy leaves in the spring.
Major pruning should wait until the leaves have dropped but most pruning can be done in March or the beginning of April.
Right now you probably still couldn’t get away with pruning maples, birches and pines but once we start getting into November then they’ll still bleed in the spring.
The only time I will prune a lilac in the fall is if I have a 12 foot lilac and I want to prune it down to 4 feet tall and start all over again. Then I don’t care about the blooms next year.
Q: When do I wrap cedars and other evergreens?
A: Basically you wrap to shade the plant. You are not trying to put a coat on them, to put an insulation on them just trying to shade them from the sun in case we get a chinook during the wintertime, or in the spring when the ground is still frozen and the sun’s getting higher in the sky.
If it’s a big tree, get the burlap that’s made for wrapping. It’s a looser weave, so it has lots of holes in it, you can almost see through it. Start at least six inches off the ground when you wrap so snow goes right to the trunk to prevent frost hitting the roots. You can put stakes in the ground before it freezes and wrap later on in the winter.
There is a product called Wiltproof or Foley Guard. It has to be above 0 C when you spray but you do it as late in the season as you can. It puts a wax coating on the needles, and keeps them from desiccating. You can also use if for green arrangements like wreaths at Christmas.
Q: Can I bring my outdoor herbs inside and keep them growing?
A: Yes. Make sure you wash them off with a good insecticidal soap or even trim them down, and use a grow light. With watering, consistency is key — make sure that you’re watching the soil and don’t water a wet plant.
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