Frost on pepper plants
The hard freeze of Monday morning left a heavy dose of frost on pepper plants and other tender vegetables and annual flowers. The frost brought their season to an end.

Gardener’s Checklist: Week of September 24, 2020

The first frost brings things you have to do to clean up your garden. And, Ron warns, it’s also time to beware of house-invaders.

Now that we’ve experienced a hard freeze and a few “soft” frosts earlier this week, much attention is focused on fall cleaning and maintenance tasks:

* Begin pulling up tomato stakes now that the plants are no longer productive. After pulling up stakes brush off the soil and then apply the wood preservative copper napthenate (Cuprinol) before storing the stakes. Spores of the fungus that causes early blight can persist on the stakes through winter, but application of copper napthenate or a disinfectant such as Lysol can destroy the blight-causing fungus.

* Pull up frost-bitten vegetable plants and tender annuals. Recycle the plants by starting a compost pile.

* Empty atop the compost pile the soil from window boxes, patio pots, and other containers that held annual plants. Brush soil from the surfaces of the containers and then wash them with a solution of 1 part household bleach in 9 parts of water. Wooden containers should also be treated with a wood preservative such as copper naphthenate.

* Renew mulches around trees and shrubs. Rake the surface of the existing mulch and then add a thin layer of new mulch, preferably of the same type of material. The total depth of old and new mulch should not exceed three inches, nor should any of the mulch be placed in contact with the trunks of trees and shrubs.

* Add a handful of crushed clamshells or eggshells to the hole when planting tulip and crocus bulbs. The sharp shells will discourage voles and other critters from digging up the bulbs. Otherwise, apply either dried blood or a repellent containing castor oil.

*Order copies of the colorful and informative 2021 UMass Garden Calendar for yourself and as gifts for family and friends. The 2021 edition, which features information on the basics of growing vegetables in raised beds and containers, can be ordered from  www.umassgardencalendar.org.  Individual calendars cost $14, or $9 each for orders of 10 or more. Orders placed before November 1st get free shipping. Proceeds from calendar sales support the work of UMass Extension’s educational programs.

The cover of the 2021 calendar from the YMass Extension Service.
The cover of the 2021 calendar from the UMass Extensive Service, for sale now.

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Beware of the house-invaders! Though that sounds like the title of a Stephen King novel, it is definitely non-fiction. These house-invaders represent a collection of insects and mites who can’t afford the price of airline tickets to Florida, so they’ll try to spend the winter in our homes. Included on this list of un-invited guests are multicolored Asian lady beetles, boxelder bugs, Western conifer seed bug, cluster flies, and clover mites.

I usually handle these critters the same way as I do my in-laws. I try to keep them out.  That means sealing off all potential points of entry. In the case of the six and eight-legged creatures, I use caulk to seals cracks around windows, doors, foundation, utility lines and pipes. Other favored entryways are unscreened attic vents, openings around soffits, and holes in window screens. These will have to be repaired.

Often the house-invaders successfully evade my efforts to keep them out. Though they are harmless, they are annoying. So, they’ll have to be “Hooverized”, that is, sucked up with the vacuum, which is then emptied far down the street away from my house. Admittedly, this tactic doesn’t work with in-laws. Them I get rid of by reading aloud my old gardening columns. Once I start, they’re out of here in a flash.

The multicolored Asian lady beetle
The multicolored Asian lady beetle is just one of the insects which seek warmth and comfort in our homes as the weather turns colder. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture)