Indian summer. We can't wait for this weekend and its balmy forecast to embark on essential home and garden tasks. There are bulbs to get in the ground, beds to clean, trees and shrubs to plant. Tuesday morning's light frost was a gentle reminder that these warm days won't last long.
Tiny spooks. No, not the Halloween variety. It's the season for home invaders such as boxelder bugs, Asian ladybeetles, and the dreaded brown marmorated stinkbug. Caulk those entry points before the bugs get in your home. Concentrate on the south side of your home, where insects tend to congregate, sealing up any external cracks and openings. If it's too late, carefully usher these harmless pests back outdoors where they belong. (Be especially delicate when taking the stinkbug out, or you'll be left with odorous hands that will send trick-or-treaters screaming to the next house.)
Divide and share. Share the bounty with neighbors. When you separate your perennials, giving the extras away is a chance to extend the view of plants you love.
Last call for lawn care. Finish fall lawn chores such as fertilizing, thatching or applying broadleaf weed controls this month. If you want to overseed or seed a new lawn, plant a fescue or ryegrass because there may not be enough time for Kentucky bluegrass to germinate. Or if you really want Kentucky bluegrass, put in sod right now.
Rake often, mow short. It's a recipe for a healthy lawn.
Plant now, flowers later. It's an act of faith, planting these small brown bulbs now, anticipating the colorful reward come spring. As you dig holes, plant the earliest bloomers such as crocuses first, saving the later-blooming tulips for last. Plant them at their recommended depth in well-drained soil that will receive partial to full sun. Planting in clusters, especially odd-numbered bunches, makes for more pleasing displays.
Make green manure. Finish cleaning up your "abandoned" plants. It's one of the best ways to keep from raising a new crop of insect pests for next year, and it also prevents disease spores from overwintering in your garden. Any plant materials that are not diseased will continue to serve you through the winter, if they're cooking in a compost pile.
Let it rot. If you don't have a compost pile, now is a good time to start. Begin it with garden waste and then add leaves as they fall.
Hold off on the blanket. Although it's tempting to mulch your garden beds once you've cleaned them up, wait until we've had a good hard freeze. Otherwise, you may encourage voles to make a home in the mulch and feast on your plant and tree roots all winter. Rake up any fallen leaves in your garden and ornamental beds, run over them with a mower, then save them to reapply as mulch once the ground freezes.
Q & A
The following are questions recently received by the county's Master Gardeners.
Question. My tomato plants still have lots of green tomatoes on them. Will they ripen?
Answer. You can keep your tomato plants producing, albeit slowly, through the month, until we get an extended cold snap. Simply cover them with newspapers or blankets the nights that the temperature dips. But if the forecast calls for cold for several nights in a row, it's time to pick all the green ones, bringing them inside to ripen. The more color they have, the better they'll be. Allow the fruit to ripen on a countertop out of direct sunlight, or try individually wrapping them in newspaper, which speeds ripening. Just be sure to inspect them frequently so they don't rot.
Q. As I'm cleaning up my garden for winter, should I prune my shrubs?
A. The time to prune most shrubs is immediately after they've flowered. For late summer- and autumn-blooming shrubs such as butterfly bushes, that time is in the spring. Pruning can encourage new growth and you don't want to do that going into winter. An exception can be made for limited pruning on evergreens, as many people like to use evergreen clippings for holiday decorating.
Q. How long should I leave my pumpkins and winter squash in the garden?
A. You should remove them now. Clean them off and store them in a dry location. Keep checking on them to make sure they're not molding.
Q. When do I dig up my gladiolus and cannas?
A. After the first hard frost, you can dig them up. Cut their stems 2 to 3 inches above the corms and dry them in a cool, dry location, then store them in a frost-free place.
For answers to your gardening questions, call the county extension office at 394-6851 and ask to speak with a Penn State Master Gardener.
Editor's note: This gardening column is written by Daina Savage, Intelligencer Journal correspondent, and Tim Elkner, Lancaster County Horticulture extension agent.