October 2007

For those of you who have wondered why the traffic circle garden looks a bit sparse?  The answer is that in early October the Evergreen Garden Club members removed many of the perennials from the garden in anticipation of an early spring start date of the State’s reconfiguration of the traffic circle.  Our liaison with the DOT has confirmed that the planned demolition of the present garden is slated for early April.  The plants were moved this fall because many of them will not be up in the Spring when the demolition will take place.  A number of plants were moved over to the State Trooper’s Residence to make a new garden there on the north side of the building.  After the State finishes the reconfiguration of the circle, they will be planting a new garden that the garden club will maintain.
                       
Having had no frost as of the middle of October, all of you gardeners have more time to divide and move your perennials.  Don’t forget all of the great sales at  garden centers on those “must have”plants you haven’t gotten around to purchasing yet  I don’t know about you, but many of my annuals are going strong and what a pleasure it is to see all of that color along with the changing leaves. The bird migration has also been affected by the warm weather and is slower than in normal years.  Enjoy these extra gardening days while they are here.  Save those raked leaves for composting and mulch

It is bulb planting time —and as long as you can work the ground you can plant bulbs.  The deer and other critters do not eat daffodils and narcissi, but tulips and crocuses are another story.   Best to just accept this and avoid them as many gardeners do.  Or you can try planting them in cages or wire mesh or plant them deep or with stones around them to deter the rodents.  Some gardeners spray the bulbs with hot pepper sauce before planting them.  Other bulbs that you can plant without fear of theft by mice squirrels or chipmunks are galanthus or snowdrops, iris reticulata and scillia siberica

In my garden I have a lot of white pines and they are dropping needles like crazy now.  It is a good idea to rake them up off your lawn because they will smother the grass if the pine needle layer is too thick.  Running the lawn mower over them will alleviate the thick layer.  Pine needles make good mulch - so you may want to use them for winter protection of your more tender perennials.  You could also just save them in a pile in the woods and use them next spring!

 It is nice to see some rain - remember - your plants like to go to sleep for the winter with wet feet!

Happy Gardening