Protect:
November tells us to be winter ready. Protect winter veggies from frost and extreme temperatures by covering them with a floating row cover such as remay, (we sell packaged Harvest Guard or sell in bulk by the yard) or a portable cold frame. If you haven’t done so already, disconnect your garden hoses, and drain, and insulate any outdoor faucets before it freezes.
Place mulch around your berries, and use composted manure and straw for your rhubarb and asparagus beds. Plant cover crops, or cover the beds in about 4 inches of leaves to help prevent soil compaction, winter weeds, and to help suppress early spring weeds. Mulch or add compost around your shrubs. This provides insulation for root zones, helps soil to resist compaction, suppresses weed growth, and provides a slow break down that will release micronutrients and biology into the existing soil.
Cleanup:
Leaves are starting to cover the ground, and they can be a valuable natural resource for mulch in the garden. Check out this article from the City of Eugene about Leaf Recycling. You can also keep an eye out for when and where Eugene does Leaf Collection. Destroy any diseased leaf or plant materials. Clean and oil your tools and garden equipment before storing during the winter. Take advantage of our knife & tool sharpening events while you still can!
Pests & Diseases:
Treating for slugs and snails now lessens the amount of damage in the spring. You can use an all natural control such as Sluggo, hand pick them out of the beds, or use traps. Keep an eye on when and how to treat your fruit trees for disease and prevention by referencing our handy Fruit Tree Spray Schedule.
Planting:
It is still an excellent time for planting trees and shrubs! If you haven’t yet planted your spring flowering bulbs or garlic yet, get them in the ground ASAP. Don’t forget a healthy application of Bone Meal or Fish Bone Meal for your spring flowering bulbs. A balanced fertilizer like our Rose & Flower is great for garlic at planting time.
Birds:
Consider putting suet out for our feathered friends for the fall and winter months. We’ve got a great variety of Nature’s Cafe Suet for wild birds! Suet is high in protein and fat, providing fast energy and concentrated calories to help birds stay warm in cold weather. It can bring a diversity of wild birds to your landscape, and provides great enjoyment for bird lovers during the winter. Make sure to take care of your Hummingbird Feeders in the cold weather months too! Providing hummingbirds with supplemental feeding as flowering plants go dormant and food selections become scarce can be very helpful to them.
Did you know? Anna’s hummingbird is the largest hummingbird common to our region. It is the only hummingbird regularly found in Oregon in the winter, during which time it is exposed to short day lengths, limited sources of food, and periods of intense cold. We have a nice selection of hummingbird feeders and food in our garden department to choose from- and a recipe for refilling feeders with NO honey, brown sugars, or food colorings.
