HARVESTING PUMPKINS AND OTHER OCTOBER GARDENING TIPS
By October , frost has hit just about everywhere in Vermont , which mean there ’s not much develop in the garden any more . So , it ’s time to harvest those pumpkins and root crops and put the garden to bed .
For wintertime squash racquets and pumpkins , practice a precipitous knife to prune the stem from the vine , leaving about two inches of root word impound . attempt to find fault all the fruit before it is exposed to cold . It ’s not just Robert Lee Frost , but the accumulated exposure to night temperature in the 40s , that will reduce the storage living of squash rackets and pumpkins .
When harvest home , handle cautiously to avoid bruising since even small wounds create an entry full stop for microbe that cause decline . Before storing , brush off all soil and carefully scrutinize fruit for mansion of harm or disease .
Beets , parsnips , and carrots can be covered with a loggerheaded layer of straw or hay and left in the earth for harvest , as need , during the winter . Or comprehend cautiously , brush off loose grease , and store in dampened peat moss or sawdust in a composition board or wooden box in a coolheaded , humid room .
It ’s time to collect materials for puttingstrawberriesto bed next month . If you expect too long , an other winter may take you by surprisal ! To make it through the wintertime , berries usually need to be overcompensate with a thick layer of fair chaff or hay . leave also can be used , but they do n’t isolate as well as grasses that have stem ( which are like empty thermionic valve ) .
Mulch serve keep tip from heaving out of the ground as it immobilise and thawing , and also protects them from extreme temperatures that cause winter trauma . The best time to use mulch is after a few hard hoarfrost when the priming coat has started to freeze and the leaves of the berries are put down unconditional on the soil surface ( usually around Thanksgiving ) .
Toprotect your asparagus beds over winter , they also can be mulched in the same manner as strawberries . Although mulching will keep the soil from warm up as quickly in the spring , it also will protect tender raw shoots from tip kill by belated frosts .
Clean up the garden by remove all trellises , stakes , and plant dust . Compost healthy plants or leave in the garden to be plowed into the land . Dispose of diseased plants aside from the garden web site to keep overwintering of diseases .
There may still be sentence to imbed a short winter cover version crop or oat or wintertime rye whiskey . Even a few inches of growth is better than no masking at all . If you must go forth the soil bare , leave the surface crude , rather than liquid , as this will help reduce erosion .
To deflect the upsurge in fountain , you may want to obtain your compost or aged manure now . Just be sure to cover it completely to foreclose leaching of nutrients .
And while you ’re at it , have your land tested now , too . Kits are available from all University of Vermont Extension offices or by call the Agricultural and Environmental Testing Lab at ( 802 ) 656 - 3030 . The test also will tell you how much quicklime to impart this pin .
If you didn’tgrow your own pumpkinsthis twelvemonth , then plan a visit to a roadside base or pick - your - own place to pick out a pumpkin or two .
The ideal jack - atomic number 8 - lantern pumpkin is fairly light in weight for its sizing and is more or less flat on the bottom . Lighter Cucurbita pepo have less “ meat ” so are easier to carve as a rule . For good keeping quality , select a pumpkin with a stem and , if you buy your autumn pumpkin early on but do n’t plan to chip at it until just before Halloween , attempt to stack away it at a temperature between 50 and 60 stage for the recollective shelf living . When carving , do n’t forget to save the seeds for roasting .
October is the month to plant garlic . Local garlic from farmers market or wayside stands is usually a pretty good stake since it should be adapt to thisclimate . Use only disease - free cloves , and place good - side - up in a line about three to four inch abstruse . cryptical planting eliminates the need to mulch .
go forth about six to eight inches between cloves . sum some compost or a light venereal infection of blended fertilizer to the furrow . Next natural spring , garlic is likely to be the first harvest up in the garden , often poking through the last of the snow !
October is a good calendar month to mulch perennial beds , using a loose constituent stuff , such as bark chips or folio , to protect root from the wintertime common cold . A windshield erect on the visionary sides , unremarkably the compass north and west will help protect evergreens . Or use an antidesiccant atomiser , available at most garden centerfield , which may help to keep them from drying out . It is also a good musical theme to keep evergreens well - water this calendar month .
Indoors , it ’s clock time to depart storm your Euphorbia pulcherrima plant to blossom in time for Christmas . It will need about 14 hr of complete , uninterrupted darkness each night from early October to mid - November at nighttime temperature of 60 to 65 degree F. A just way of life to do this is to place it in a closet each night , remove it each morning .
Other activities for October : host a pumpkin chip at party for Halloween ; pay heed an Oktoberfest jubilation ; collect cattails , milkweedpods , goldenrod , and other plant life stuff for dried bloom arrangement .
By Dr. Leonard Perry and Dr. Vern GrubingerUniversity of Vermont Extension
