Winter Prep & Watering For Outdoor Plants Going into November

It is time to just clean it up, but it is a good idea to do it now and get the soil prepped for next year. I really won’t do any amending of the soil until next year. I mean, you absolutely can, but you don’t really have to.

And as far as trees and shrubs around the house, I mean, this time of year, we’re not doing major pruning, but we will go through and trim the old dead heads off of the hydrangeas and stuff like that. We’ll clean up all those flower heads. We don’t really want those sitting on that plant through winter and getting a heavy snow load on them and peeling the plants open.

And it’s still a little early to be doing perennials yet. I mean, you can, as things start to get tired, hostas are starting to yellow and that kind of thing. But the best thing is to let them go dormant because they are still using the leaves for energy and that kind of thing. So after a few frosts, then you can clean it up.

And don’t forget to water any new plantings this year. I mean, it is still crucial that we water things in good. We want to make sure things stay wet until about the Thanksgiving timeframe. It’s kind of deceiving this time of year because it’s cool, so you think you might not have to water.

The wind really sucks the moisture out of the ground this time of year. It’s a cooler wind, so we don’t think about it. We’re not sweating like we are in the summer months. So it just kind of goes by the wayside, but you have to remember to water those newly planted plants, especially.

And like me personally, I’m in the greenhouse doing things and we’re getting ready for the next season, Christmas. It’s coming up quickly. But anyway, it’s easy to forget, like, oh, I should go check for water. So things are still needing it, especially if you did get mums. They need water pretty much every day.

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