Gardening This Weekend: November 23, 2023
Here is your short list of things to tackle as time allows.
PLANT
• Spruce things up with cool-season color, including pansies, violas, pinks, snaps, ornamental cabbage and kale. In South Texas or and protected areas, sweet alyssum, Iceland poppies, wallflowers and “hardy” cyclamen.
• Daffodils and grape hyacinths now. Leave tulips and Dutch hyacinths in the refrigerator at 45 degrees until mid- to late December. The “pre-chilling” will fool them into thinking they’ve had a real winter.
• Nursery stock. If you’re trying to finish up a fall landscaping job, nurseries that cater to landscape contractors will be most likely to have what you want now. Other than plants you know to be tender in your area, this is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs.
PRUNE
• Continue mowing your lawn at the recommended height to remove fallen leaves. Use them in the compost.
• Remove rose bushes that have been infected with rose rosette virus. I’ll cover it in more detail here in e-gardens soon, but here is information on my website.
• Trim to shape foliage plants you hastily brought in from the patio recently.
FERTILIZE
• Pansies, pinks and other winter color with high-nitrogen, water-soluble plant food to keep them growing vigorously. Failure to feed adequately is a common cause of poor plant performance.
• Ryegrass and fescue (cool-season grasses) with high-nitrogen or all-nitrogen lawn food. Water immediately after feeding.
• Houseplants monthly with high-nitrogen, water-soluble plant food at half the recommended rate – just enough to keep them healthy without encouraging lanky new growth in dark indoor conditions.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Broadleafed weedkiller spray on a sunny, warm and relatively still day to kill cool-season broadleafed weeds before winter moves in. Read and follow label directions.
• Fire ant mounds that have sprung up following fall rains. Treat with one of the extended-control, area-wide baits for best results.
• Bacterial stem canker of plums and peach leaf curl of peaches. Apply a copper-based fungicide now that trees have lost their leaves.