Garden advice, tips & tricks for the home gardener

Many pests that attack garden vegetables and fruit trees during the spring and summer months over-winter in the debris that is left in the garden or under fruit trees. A fall clean-up of these areas will remove the pest’s winter hibernation home and help prevent a pest infestation.
Cucumber beetles, squash bugs, corn borers, etc., make their winter homes in garden debris, weeds and mulch that remain in gardens or around fruit trees through the winter. Clean-up spent vegetable plants by removing them from the garden or plowing them under in the garden. Rake all debris like rotting fruit, fruit tree twigs and last season’s mulch out from under fruit trees so pest’s won’t have a welcoming environment to over-winter in.

If you have tame or wild blackberry or raspberry bushes, follow these winter care tips for maximum berry production next year.
Prune away all canes that are 2 years old to prevent over-wintering of any diseases in these non-producing berry plant canes that could infect the younger canes of your berry plants.
You can apply fertilize to the soil around your blackberry or raspberry plants in the fall so it will be readily available to your berry plants when the awaken from dormancy in the early spring.
Do not water your berry plants and do not cultivate the soil around the blackberry or raspberry plants, however. Side-dress on top of the soil with a fertilizer rich in potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and/or calcium and it will absorb into the soil over winter.

As fall is approaching and the gardening season is winding down with the last ‘Hoorah’ of vegetable and fruit production, be careful not to store those fall ripening vegetables and fruits together.
The apples, pears, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and other vegetables and fruits that are ripe for harvesting in the fall need to be stored separately. Fruits, like apples and pears, give off ethylene gas that will speed up the ripening process of vegetables and will cause an ‘off’ taste in the vegetables.
After harvesting your fall vegetables and fruits, store them separately in a cool, dry, dark location for maximum shelf life.