Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

The days are shorter and it is cooler with the leaves changing color, a good time to enjoy hot apple cider, pumpkin pie, and apple pie among other delicious dishes for Thanksgiving!  Here are some gardening tips, educational opportunities, and events for November. Events include Maryland Emancipation Day Celebrations, Greenbriar Local Park Opening,  Nocturnal Neighbors, Brookside Garden Open House, Family 5K Forest Fun Walk, and Brookside Garden’s Winter Lights!

Planning:

• Take a break from the holiday stress and enjoy your garden.
• Do not place live wreaths or greenery in-between your door and a glass storm door, especially if the doorway if facing south. This placement will “cook” the arrangement on a sunny day.
• Turn off outdoor water valve and store hoses.
• Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading.
• Store terra cotta pots in a shed or protected areas.
• Clean out pots; store non-frost proof containers in garage or basement.
• Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.
• Attend a local garden club meeting.
• Sign up all your friends and family for garden magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts.
• Ask a Master Gardener a question.  Have a question? We have experts with answers. We have experts in family and health, community development, food and agriculture, coastal issues, forestry, programs for young people, and gardening. Please choose your county and enter as much relevant detail about your question as possible. We will do our best to respond to your question within two business days.  https://extension.umd.edu/ask
• Go on a local house or garden tour to see what plants are thriving in other’s area home gardens: http://www.visitmaryland.org/list/gardens-maryland

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Clean out and store containers.
• Cut back perennials that have turned to mush. Leave others with seed heads for birds.
• Continue to divide and transplant perennials.
• Deadhead spent mums and plant them (if still in pots).
• Bulb foliage already starting to surface? Don’t fret. It is normal and will not affect next year’s blooms.
• Prune and mulch hybrid tea roses.
• Plant hardy bulbs for spring flowering.
• Protect Bulbs from Pests: Use Steel Wool or These 5 Other Great Tips
  Great tip when you’re planting bulbs! | Gardening Channel
• Fall blooming flowers to consider adding to the garden: 8 Fall-Blooming Flowers Friendly to Bees, Birds, and Butterflies | Modern Farmer 
• After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials and then mark beds!
• Pests to watch for: Voles
• Diseases to watch for:  powdery mildew, fungal leaf spot
• See UMD’s HGIC’s November Flower tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• No more fertilizing for the year. But planting is still OK.
• Water slowly and deeply if weather is very dry.
• Transplant trees and shrubs.
• Trees and shrubs can be planted until the ground freezes.
• Plant evergreens for winter interest.
• Water evergreens and new plantings to keep them hydrated this winter.
• Continue removing diseased leaves.
• Dig hole now if you will be planting a “live” Christmas tree.
• Check for bagworms, pick off, bag, and dispose of them.
• Pests to watch for: Voles.
• Diseases to watch for: Powdery mildew.
• See HGIC’s November Trees and Shrubs Tips for more details.

Lawns:

• Have soil tested (every 3 years minimum).  Apply lime as needed to adjust pH.
• Fertilize your lawn and re-seed if needed.
• Fertilize tall and fine fescues and bluegrass with ½  lb. Nitrogen per 1000 square feet.
• 15 of the Best Common Organic Fertilizers | Gardening Channel
• Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile. Check your recycling guidelines.
• Save yourself the time and effort of raking, blowing and picking up leaves this fall. Leaves are a very valuable source of organic matter to improve the soil in a lawn and garden. Leaves that fall onto the lawn can be shredded with a lawnmower and left to decompose naturally on the lawn.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
• Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds.
• Diseases to watch for: dollar spot, brown patch and red thread
• Pests to watch for: Grubs
• See HGIC’s November Lawn Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
• Force spring bulbs for indoor blooms this January by potting them up, watering thoroughly, and placing them in your vegetable crisper for about 10 weeks.
• Reduce fertilizing of indoor plants (except cyclamen).
• Set up a humidifier for indoor plants or at least place them in pebble trays.
• Rotate houseplants to promote even growth.
• Pot up Paper Whites and Amaryllis for holiday blooming.
• For readying Christmas cactus and poinsettia for holiday blooming, see HGIC’s Christmas Cacti Guide and Poinsettia Care Guide.
• Bring in tender plants before night temperatures dip to 60 degrees.
• Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
• Monitor for insect problems.
• Pests to watch for: Spidermites, mealybug, scale, aphids,  whitefly
• See HGIC’s November Houseplants Tips for more tips.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Start feeding birds to get them in the habit for this winter.
• Vacuum up any ladybugs that come into the house.
• Destroy brown marmorated stink bugs in a jar of soapy water.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray if you’ve been using the same one for several months. Re-apply after heavy rains. Apply repellents such as “Liquid Fence”, ”Deer-Away”, “Deer-Off”, “Hinder” or “Ro-Pel” to vulnerable plants. 
• Signs of Vole Damage: Voles eat the roots of plants and trees.  Where voles are a problem try using mouse snap traps baited with apples. See this Fact Sheet on Reducing Vole Damage to Plants in Landscapes, Orchards and Nurseries.
• See HGIC’s November Insect Tips for more details.
• Watch for: rabbits, groundhogs, deer, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information on wildlife management and attracting wildlife see HGIC’s November Wildlife tips.

Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.

November

See below for upcoming local events in October.

Maryland Emancipation Day Celebrations