Last chance for 2023

I have to confess; I got caught with my proverbial gardening pants down. With all of this beautiful weather, I delayed a lot of the yard work that I should have been doing and then everything went sideways and now December has actually decided to arrive. If you are like me and didn’t get everything done, not to worry…this weekend is the perfect time to finish off a few of the projects.

Get the bulbs in the ground already! As long as you can dig the soil, you can plant those tulip and daffodil bulbs in it. Mine just sat through a snowstorm on the front porch and are still good to plant. Bulbs are one of nature’s clever survival strategies. The flesh of the bulb insulates the plant inside, almost like an underground bunker. They can handle the cold and even the hot dry summer that we just got through. Just make sure to follow the planting instructions on the package when putting them in the ground this weekend.

Dig your root vegetables. Several types of roots vegetables like carrots and parsnips really benefit from a bit of cold weather. Many experts agree that a cold snap increases the natural sugars in the roots, making them taste even sweeter. I’m digging mine out now before the ground freezes—for my own benefit not for the carrots! (It’s easier to dig unfrozen soil.) As soon as you dig them up, remove the tops just below the shoulders and store them in a crate with lots of airflow. You can wash them if you choose to, but with all of the differing research, it really doesn’t seem to matter.

Now that the leaves are gone from the apple and fruit trees, collect the remaining fruit and either store it away for the birds or make cider. Leaving fruit on the trees is great if you live in an area without deer, however, if you do, remove the temptation. Deer have a habit of eating not only the frozen fruit in the winter but also the fruiting spurs, which are the small branches that produce fruit every season. You also help prevent fungal infections from rotting fruit that fall around the base of the tree.

Clean your tools. This is really important for stopping the spread of garden diseases. I am a huge advocate of cleaning my shovels, pruners, hoes and rakes at least once every week, but I always make sure that I do it at the end of the season so that no diseases are introduced into my spring garden.

1. Wash the tools with a high pressured hose to remove the clumps of dirt and mud
2. Fill a spray bottle with equal parts of rubbing alcohol with water.
3. Soak your tools once a week to disinfect.
4. Fill a large bucket with sand and a large quantity of linseed oil
5. After you wash the tools with the rubbing alcohol mix, plunge the metal parts into the bucket to coat with oil and sand to prevent rusting and to get them ready for the next time you use them.

This really may be the last good weekend to get everything done…better make the most of the good weather before it’s done for the year!

carson@carsonarthur.com