Gardening This Weekend: November 30, 2017

We’ve had a warm and dry week so far. Before we take that big turn toward the winter early next week, here’s the list of critical tasks for this weekend.

PLANT

• Pansies, violas, pinks, ornamental cabbage and kale, snapdragons and other winter annual color. Plant in well-draining beds prepared with several inches of organic matter.
• Daffodils, jonquils, narcissus and grape hyacinth bulbs. Because soils have been so warm recently, leave tulips and Dutch hyacinths chilling in the refrigerator for at least another 10 or 15 days before planting into the garden. (That’s even if they’ve had the required 45 days at 45 degrees.)
• Living Christmas tree. Ask your local independent retail garden center operator to show you only types that are perfectly adapted to your part of Texas.

PRUNE

• Shrubs to correct erratic growth, but save major reshaping for late winter (January).
• Lawn to remove fallen leaves. Bag them and use them as mulch or in compost pile.

FERTILIZE

• Ryegrass overseedings with high-nitrogen lawn food. Apply at half the rate recommended for turf. Water into the soil deeply.
• Pansies and other winter color plants with water-soluble, high-nitrogen food each time that you water them.
• Compost pile with one cup of ammonium sulfate per cubic yard of compost each time that you turn and blend it (approximately monthly).

 

ON THE LOOKOUT

• Aphids congregating on tender new growth can be knocked off with hard stream of water.
• Broadleafed weeds in turf, including dandelions, clover, henbit and chickweed. Apply herbicide containing 2,4-D soon, before temperatures start to drop dramatically. Read and follow label directions carefully.
• Mistletoe should be removed from tree branches as soon as you see it, preferably while it is still young. See story in last week’s e-gardens.
• Remove rose bushes (roots and all) that are infested with rose rosette virus. See details I have left archived on my website.