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by Mary Crowell
 One of the fall outs
of the economy mess is that more people are going back to the earth, eating at
home, growing their own veggies and fruits, bicycling to the store, work or for
just plain fun There is more walking and talking with neighbors and sharing. It
has been many years since I made any preserves, but a friend gave me a whole
bunch of pears and apples and I made apple-pear sauce and also chutney. Our
tomatoes were sweet this year, so make tasty; salt-free salsa with lots of
flavor. Gardeners are very generous with their harvest and plants from their
gardens. Fall cleanup and weeding is important for a healthy garden, time spent
now will pay off in the future.
Nov. is the time to
plant cool season flowers, trying your hand at seeds, or buying the small six
packs of primroses, primulas, pansies, violas, snapdragons, stock, cyclamen,
iceland poppies, and hellebores, plus trees and shrubs. Camellias, especially
the sasanquas, are in bloom and bud in the nurseries if you want to see their
color. Remember snails and slugs are really active in the winter, so donʼt
forget the pet-safe Sluggo or the beer in shallow lids! Garden debris harbors
snails, earwigs and many other pests and a host of plant diseases. By composting
your leaves, you will eliminate the hiding places of many pests and open the
sunlight to the plants below.
There is still time
to plant bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and many more spring
blooming bulbs. Plant early blooming smaller bulbs as ground cover, they will
reward you early in the spring season. It is also the time to plant winter
vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, sorrel,chard, cabbage, broccoli,
cauliflower, onions and garlic.
Roses donʼt need too
much right now but if you donʼt want to keep cutting off the spent blooms, pull
the spent petals now and let the hips form. This discourages the plant from
creating new growth and forces it into dormancy. This resting period acts as
rejuvenation to the rose plants. Continue watering until the fall and winter
rains come. By keeping the debris clear around roses, it keeps the fungal spores
and wintering insects at bay. For easier cleanup strip the roses of dried and
withered leaves before they fall. Cut out any spindly or crossed growth now to
save time when you do your major pruning later at the end of Dec. You can change
location for roses now if you are careful, but be sure and prepare the hole
ahead of time and check for drainage, a key to growing wonderful roses. They say
the mood enhancing aroma of roses can lift the spirits like no other perfume, so
consider having roses near windows or where you sit.
Speaking of
fragrance, consider that fragrant plants add another dimension to your garden
almost as strong as the visual beauty of flowers. Add fragrant plants near a
door, under a window, on the patio, or along a walkway. Try some easy to grow
scented geraniums, the smells of which can remind you of roses, nutmeg, apples,
peppermint, chocolate mint, lemon and other citrus. Herbs along the pathway that
one can brush against to release the aroma is also a great idea, try growing
mint in a container as it will get very weedy and take over a garden plot. Try
some of the following plants for fragrance: osmanthes, daphne, star jasmine,
clematis, viburnum, pittosporum, azaleas, sage, gardenia, abelia, butterfly
bush, chamomile, basil, catnip, phlox, lilies, sweet peas, and tuberose. I was
recently at a friendʼs house in Fairfax and he had plectranthus growing now in
full bloom, a great perennial for the fall.
If you have container
plants, remember to water some even though the rains might start. speaking of
containers, many veggies can be grown in containers as well as fruits.
Mary, John and >^..^< >^..^<>^..^< in San Mateo,
CA
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