If you have any leftover seeds and tender perennials, you can store them over winter until the following spring. Seal seed packages, if open, and place them in a jar or plastic container with a desiccant material, such as a little packet of silica, to keep the seeds dry. Then, seal the container with a tight-fitting lid and place it in a refrigerator until spring. (Make your own packet of desiccant by folding up 2 tablespoons of powdered milk in the center of a facial tissue and tying off with a rubber band.)
To overwinter tender perennials:
*Dig up gladiolus bulbs and dry for a day or two. Twist off the stem; place the corm in a dry, warm place to cure, until a corky layer forms at the scar end. Store the bulbs in mesh bags, such as an onion bag (right). Hang in a cool, dry location.
*Dig up tuberous begonias, leaving the roots and soil intact. Cut back the stem to the soil line and cure in a warm area for 2-3 weeks. After the plant is thoroughly dry, remove excess soil and pack the tuber in a box of vermiculite, peat, or sawdust (right). Store in a dry, cool location.
*Let pot-grown caladiums go dormant by gradually cutting back on water. After the leaves are dry, put them in a dark basement and keep cool. If the plants are garden-grown, dig them up, remove the leaves, dry, and store the plants in peat moss in a cool, dry location.
*Cut dahlia tops back to 4-5 inches and dig up the roots with a garden fork. Remove as much soil as you can, but don’t wash the roots. Let the roots dry in a shady area for about 1 week; store them in peat moss, vermiculite, or dry sawdust in a cool, dry location.
Benefits of Composting
Yards and gardens produce bags of grass clippings, mounds of leaves, and buckets of spent blooms. It is easy to turn this organic garbage into a usable product for your landscape.
Composting, or garden recycling, turns organic garbage into a wonderful soil that can go back to the garden or yard. Here are some tips for building a compost pile:
First, create an 8-inch layer of a good mixture of small-sized organic materials, such as grass clippings, leaves, old mulch or straw, dead plants, spent blooms, twigs, sawdust, and fruit and vegetable scraps. Next, add a 1-inch layer of soil or compost. Sprinkle one cup of 10-10-10 or 6-10-4 fertilizer on top. Repeat, layering organic materials, soil, and fertilizer again, then sprinkle with water so that the compost pile is moist -- not soggy. To speed up decomposition, keep the compost pile moist. Oxygen is also necessary for decomposition, so every week or two turn the compost pile inside-out.
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