- Continue to weed! Right now is a good time to get rid of those weed seedlings before the soil is too wet to work and the weather is cold. If the weeds are small enough, I just scrape them off the surface with a hoe or my hori hori (see photo.) Be careful not to damage any spring bulbs that are just peeping thru the soil. Add some mulch to keep more weeds from popping up.
- Plant spring bulbs! If you haven’t done it yet you still have time. Try crocus or freesia. These are good plants for small areas. More is better!
- Divide and conquer! If your agapanthus, daylilies, Shasta daisies, ferns have gotten too large for their space it’s time to divide and replant. Lift the entire plant’s root ball up with a shovel, find a convenient place to separate the roots and now you have several small plants versus one overgrown plant. Replant or share extras with a neighbor or friend.
- Time to clean up the summer veg garden. Pull up tomato, zucchini, and salad plants that are past their prime. Pick up all the tomato fruit or you will have volunteers next year. At this time I like to re-grade the garden plot, lay down some cardboard and mulch. This keeps the plot weed-free and neat till I am ready to plant next year.
- Rake up leaves! Be sure to get the leaves that are under or inside of your plants.
- Sow hardy annual seeds! Wildflower (poppy, clarkia) and sweet pea seeds can be sown now – they bloom late winter/early spring so now is the time to do it.
- Plant cyclamen for the holidays! Cyclamen are on sale in most nurseries and come in cheery colors for the winter blues. I think they look best when you are generous with the number planted and stick to one flower color. Look for cyclamen that have nice variegated leaves.
- Put away your tools, pots and furniture. Boring I know, but tools and furniture will get damaged in the inclement weather and empty pots can harbor slugs, snails and other insects that can damage your plants.
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