Gardeners Checklist: Here is What to Do the Week of Oct. 2

By Ron Kujawski

• Create a grow-tunnel to extend the growing season for leafy green and root crops. It’s simple. Bend flexible PVC pipe, high tensile wire, or other flexible material into hoops and set these in the garden. Place clear plastic sheeting over the hoops and secure the plastic with medium-sized binder clips (available at office supply stores). Oh, don’t forget to sow the vegetable seeds before covering the hoops.

• Prepare soil for planting garlic. Garlic grows best in full sun in soil that drains well yet holds moisture. Work in ample amounts of compost and an organic fertilizer, preferably one derived from cow manure.

• Survey trees for dead, diseased, and broken branches. This task becomes easier once leaves have fallen. Remove the affected branches. Otherwise, such branches will be prone to breaking unexpectedly, hopefully not onto someone’s head, under the weight of heavy snows this winter.

• Cut back and clean up all the dead leaves from irises. This will help prevent borer and disease problems next year.

• Clean flower pots. Scrub all the crusted soil and salts from the pots. Be sure to store clay and terra-cotta pots someplace where temperatures remain above freezing.

Plants carry out two opposing functions to sustain themselves. One is food making, which is primarily a light-dependent function. The other is food consumption via cellular respiration, the rate of which is primarily determined by temperature. The higher the temperature, the more stored food the plant consumes. Obviously, when food consumption exceeds food making there comes a time when the plant can no longer sustain itself.  By now you’re probably thinking: “Is this Botany 101 or is this a gardening column with some useful information?” Well, it’s a little bit of both. Bear with me. As we head deeper into fall, the duration of daylight is getting shorter and the intensity of sunlight is also decreasing. This means less light for plants to make food. On the other hand, as the days get cooler, we’ll be turning up the heating systems in our homes. This means houseplants will continue to consume food at a fairly high rate.  Add together the two factors, low light and warm temperatures, and you get a plant that begins to look sad. A sad plant in such circumstances will typically look weak and spindly. So, what is one to do?  Start by moving houseplants closer to south and east-facing windows where they will receive the maximum amount of light available at this time of year. Next, avoid locating plants near heat sources such as radiators. Keeping thermostats at 68° F during the day and 60° F at night is a good regime for most houseplants and for those who are trying to conserve energy and keep heating costs down. There you go: a little botany, a dose of houseplant gardening, and a dash of social responsibility.

Ron Kujawski began gardening at an early age on his family's onion farm in upstate New York. Although now retired, he spent most of his career teaching at the UMass Extension Service. He serves on Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Horticulture Advisory Committee. His book, Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, is available here.