This week in your Massachusetts garden & landscape
Week of November 12, 2018
When preparing spinach, use herbs of basil, chives, cinnamon, dill, rosemary and thyme for a delicious flavor.
- When creating a wildflower-rich habitat to support pollinators, choose native plants which are easily adaptable to local soils and climates. Native plants are also usually the best sources of nectar and pollen for native pollinators. Native plants are lower in their maintenance requirements. They do not need fertilizers and are less likely to become weedy.
- Looking for a new variety of carrot for the vegetable garden? Consider ‘Purple Haze’ carrots. They are a great mid-season carrot with a gorgeous purple color. ‘Purple Haze’ has a sweet flavor with a tender crunch. Growing 7” -8” long, their purple skins give way to a beautiful orange center. They become a big hit when sliced on a vegetable tray.
- Don’t compost dairy products, meat, fat or grease, cooked foods with sauces, bones, mature weed seeds, diseased plants, weeds that spread by roots and runners, vines or whole branches. If you haven’t started your compost pile yet, begin with a layer of corn stalks or wood chips. Either one will help provide air to the pile which will help aid in the decomposition of materials.
- Apply the final application of lime and/or fertilizer to your lawn. Mow the lawn for the last time at a height of 1 ½” to 2”. Rake up all lawn cuttings with this last mowing and add them to the compost pile. This will help prevent snow mold from developing on the lawn over the winter.
- Water all newly planted trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. They will do best when they go into the winter well hydrated.
- The Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’) is a native of the U.S. woodlands and grow 3’-4’ tall. ‘Purpurascens’ sends up reddish-purple fiddleheads in the spring which unfurl into bright-green leaflets for the summer. The stems are purple and in the autumn, the leaflets turn a beautiful shade of yellow. The royal fern can be planted in woodland gardens, along stream beds, around ponds or in moist soils. Hardy in zones 4-9.
