Green Ideas - November

• Lime your lawn.  A 50# bag of limestone will raise pH about .5 per 1000 square feet.
• Apply an anti-dessicant to protect broad-leaf evergreens.  It acts as a "chap-stick" for your plants, protecting them from moisture loss due to drying winter winds.
• Dormant seed your lawn in the areas where crabgrass has died out.
• Shred and compost freshly collected leaves.  Alternate layers with the last of the grass clippings from your lawn.
• Mulch in rose beds.  Cover the bud union with at least 2" of mulch.  If using leaf mulch, make sure it is composted.  Remove in early spring.
• Apply winter fertilizer on lawn after the last mowing.  This can be done around the same time as your lime application.
• Lift and store all tender bulbs such as dahlias, gladiolus, begonias.  This should be done after frost has killed the foliage, but before severe ground frosts.  Sever the spent foliage; wash off bulb or tuber and let air dry.  Store in a cool, dry place in peat moss or saw dust.