Meet Mike this Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Fredericksburg Home & Craft Show.
Mike will discuss compost making and fall planting at noon and 2 p.m. at the Expo & Conference Center in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Pick your tomatoes before they’re foiled by Jack Frost
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for your favorite garden landlord to call “time” for the season. Last night was darn chilly, and the weekend nights will be well below freezing just about everywhere beyond D.C. proper.
So if you have any tomatoes growing on plants outdoors, pull them off today and bring them inside. Just sit them out on a kitchen counter — single file — and any greenies that have reached full size will ripen over the next few weeks. Don’t put them on a sunny windowsill.
The same goes for squash, eggplant, melons, peppers and the other tropical plants of summer gardens. This is as ripe as they’re going to get this season, so the smart money says pick them today. (Or you can drape spun fabric row covers over them if you really want to spend 20 hours getting one more zucchini out of the deal.)
Summer bedding plants will also bite the dust, so cut any big flowers — such as rose blooms — for indoor display.
Pot up annual begonias and impatiens and bring them inside to a sunny window. They’ll live for many years if you protect them from frost.
Don’t prune anything. Wait until the tops of the plants are frost-killed to lift the roots of summer blooming bulbs — such as cannas, callas and dahlias.
You can’t sow grass seed and apply corn gluten
Leslie in Silver Spring writes: “I’m getting ready to apply corn gluten meal to my lawn. How long do I have to wait after application until I can apply grass seed? And by then, will it be too late into the fall for the seed to germinate?”
Yes, Leslie; it will be way too late. As with any pre-emergent, you have to wait a good six weeks after application to sow fresh grass seed. Whether it’s a chemical “weed and feed” or a natural product such as corn gluten meal, pre-emergent herbicides prevent germination of all seeds, whether weedy or wanted. And six weeks from now, the soil will be much too cold to expect any seed to sprout — especially grass seed, which requires a fairly high soil temp for good germination.
Absolute last call for grass seed sowing
So you have to choose one or the other.
If the lawn just needs feeding, that gives corn gluten meal the edge. It probably won’t prevent any weed seeds from sprouting this time of year, but it’s still a great natural lawn food with the perfect amount of slow-release nitrogen. And if you’re going to feed your lawn at any time of year, the fall feeding is the most important. Still, don’t delay any longer — it’s getting late to do anything other than give lawns their last mowing or two of the year.
If reseeding is necessary, it needs to be done right away, before the soil gets any cooler. You can “feed and seed” — just don’t use corn gluten meal as food. I strongly suggest spreading an inch of compost over the entire lawn, sowing the new seed into the compost where necessary, and, if possible, using lukewarm—not hot!—water to get the seed sprouted fast. The compost will provide a nice fall feeding for the entire lawn and help that new seed germinate promptly.
Is that a swarm of termites? Or just winged ants?
Joe in Derwood sent us two close-up photos of a winged insect with this email message: “I see these flying insects every year about this time of the year in the middle of my yards, both front and back. Are they termites?”
Good news and bad, Joe! Though I can’t tell conclusively from the photos, your flyers appear to meet the four big criteria that separate termites from ants:
- Their antennae appear to be straight, as opposed to bent;
- The length of their two sets of wings look to be equal;
- They seem to have a thick waist as opposed to a thin one;
- They appear to have a two-sectioned body as opposed to three.
All four are indicators that these are indeed swarming termites looking to form a new colony, as opposed to flying ants. The good news? Swarms are common in both spring and fall, and do not constitute any increased threat of termite damage to your home.
Termite swarms are not an imminent threat
Joe says those termites have been swarming at this time of year for quite a few seasons. And still I say “relax.”
These swarms have a very poor success rate, and aren’t nearly as big a danger to homes as the invisible colonies that may be lurking underground. These swarms occur in the spring and fall, when the ground is moist and members of a large colony break off to try and establish a new nest. To achieve this, mating has to occur quickly and successfully. And then the mated queen has to evade a huge number of predators and make it quickly underground, a set of circumstances that the odds are about 1,000 to 1 against.
But, the fact that Joe sees these swarms every fall means he has a big colony nearby that keeps trying to establish satellite headquarters and/or has a very brightly lit landscape. (Swarming termites flock to excessive outdoor lighting. Yet another reason not to light up the night more than necessary.)
No matter what, the best way to keep all termites at bay is to have a solid foot of bare soil around your foundation. Mulch or stones or anything that keeps the soil constantly moist next to your home protects the underground invaders and invites them to dine in your framing. If you have mulch up against the side of your home, you are asking for termite troubles.
Want some insurance after you rake the mulch back to create that protective area of bare soil? Install bait stations around your home. You can buy the stations at home stores or have professionals install them. Termite scouts enter the station, which is open underground and baited with wood or cardboard, then take the treated bait back to the colony, where it kills the queen before her subjects can eat your siding.
Bait stations pose no threat to you or the environment and are much more effective than toxic trenches.
Here’s a detailed article I did on them a few years back for my public radio show.
