October! How quickly the time goes by! By now many of us have cleared most of our gardens and planters, but I know some are still reluctant to pull out plants which still look so nice. We left a couple short rows of flowers, just in case there are still any bees or hummingbirds in the garden. But overall, most of our garden is cleaned up and things put away. It’s a good feeling at the end of the season.
A reference book that I always keep handy is “Gardening On The Prairies” by Roger Vick. This book is truly written for our climate, and has a lot of great information for prairie gardeners. One section of the book has a list of what we should be doing each month, so make a cup of tea and let’s review what Mr. Vick says about October.
It’s a busy list! He says that before the ground freezes, we should finish digging all our root crops; dig up our glad bulbs and cure them in a warm, dry place; we should plants our tulips for next spring; mound up any tender roses we may have in our gardens; rake up our leaves and save them for compost; and plant Swiss chard and parsnips for germination in the spring.
It’s quite a list, but it doesn’t end there!
Once the ground has frozen, there are more tasks to do such as pruning various trees and shrubs to prepare them for winter; service our lawnmowers before putting them into storage; clean all our hand tools and put them away; and clean our larger gardening implements such as forks and spades. Cleaning your garden tools before storage is very important; not only is it a neater way to bring tools into our garages or sheds, but it also prolongs the life of the implements.
Even if the weather suddenly turns, do not rush to wrap cedars, or tender perennials. There is still time for that around mid-November. Doing it too early could prompt the shrub to begin growth again, and it also might give small rodents the idea that this could be a great place to spend the winter! Hold off on the wrapping until November.
I have read many articles saying that this winter will be a tough one, have you heard the same? I’m sure there are many signs in nature that give us indications, if only we knew how to understand them. All in all, this has been an early year right along, and it seems the squirrels have been gathering food, and the geese have been getting organized a lot earlier than normal.
The other day when I was peeling onions for spaghetti sauce, several of them had very thick skins. Did you ever hear that thick onion skins are the sign of a hard winter? I have read that before, wonder if it’s an old wives’ tale? We’ll see!
The next meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street. This is “Member Participation Night”, where members share helpful hints and gardening advice. Our president, Liz, has been compiling these hints into handy little booklets. Everyone is welcome: come and bring your gardening tips with you to share with everyone! You don’t have to be a member to attend! Just bring a notebook along to jot down ideas; everyone is welcome!
Be sure to visit our website at www.yorktonhort.ca to keep up with what is happening with the group. Have a great week!
