Landscape

        • Install low-voltage lighting to illuminate the path to your door.

        • Erect burlap wind shields to protect tender broad-leaved evergreens — boxwood, azalea, rhododendron — from winter burn.

        • Turn off and drain outside water lines, and store garden hoses for the winter.

        • Repair fences, trellises and similar structures.

        Flowers

        • Add soil amendments, till and smooth the garden now if you want to start flowers and vegetables early in the spring.

        • Till in 3 to 4 inches of soil conditioners such as compost and aged manure into garden beds.

        • Edge the beds and shape them into slight mounds.

        • Plant tulip, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs and crocus corms.

        • Clean rose bushes and the surface around the plants well to remove leaves infested with black spot.

        Vegetables

        • Cover the compost pile with a tarp. Excess water will slow decomposition. Remove the tarp as necessary during rainy weather to keep the pile moist.

        • Continue growing lettuce and hardy greens, along with radishes, green onions and carrots, in the protection of a cold frame for early winter harvest.

        • Apply a heavy mulch over leeks, carrots, beets and turnips to allow harvest into the winter.

        Houseplants

        • Move plants closer to windows for a sunnier exposure in the low-light conditions of winter. This is especially important for flowering plants to sustain bloom.

        • Provide humidity for houseplants once indoor heat goes on.

        • Water houseplants less as the days become shorter.

        • Pick dried grasses, cattails and hydrangea blooms for winter bouquets.

        Eco tip

        Store pesticides correctly over the winter. Dry pesticides should be stored in an air-tight container to prevent moisture absorption. All pesticides should be stored at a cool room temperature to prevent freezing or overheating. In addition to damaging containers, temperature extremes can destroy the potency of some pesticides.

        Contact Sue Trusty by e-mail: strusty@civicgardencenter.org; phone: 221-8733.

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