Happy Thanksgiving! If you are like me, this article has found you taking a break from the hubbub of holiday preparations or conversations. I will try to keep it brief while you anticipate your holiday meal or digest it.
We will get to a few things “gardening” related, but why not spend some time pondering what is part of the Thanksgiving holiday table?
I have a delicious squash-and-apple casserole that benefits from a newcomer to the squash world: Waltham butternut squash. This “heirloom” is a selected strain of a gooseneck squash and others to create a smaller, denser squash. The strain was developed and perfected only 80 years ago, a pretty recent selection for a staple of the native people of our Western Hemisphere.
As an heirloom squash, it has the added benefit of seeds that will resemble the parent! I used a locally grown butternut in squash soup and have saved the seeds to grow a few vines of my own next year.
Are sweet potatoes the “must-have” on your Thanksgiving table? As a kid, I preferred mashed potatoes in their buttery, creamy form. The sweet potatoes were too strong. Turns out, sweet potatoes are the enlarged stems of morning glory relatives and not related to potatoes at all!
Don’t forget to take a nice walk on Thanksgiving to work off your heavy meal. With leaves mostly fallen, trees and shrubs show off their bones. You will notice interesting fungi, lichen, and moss. Shelf fungi coming off the sides or centers of trees, indicate that the tree is slowly rotting inside. Trees can continue to “grow” the fungi for many years. I have no mushroom detection skills and a healthy distrust of most, but I like looking at their unique patterns and colors. Distinctive turkey tail fungi grow on fallen or completely dead trunks and logs. Turkey tail has a ringed pattern of oranges and browns like the fan of a turkey’s tail. Experts use it in specific homeopathic remedies.
While you are out, examine deciduous trees and shrubs for damaged limbs or structural problems. Make a point to follow the growth patterns from trunk to outer limb or soil level through outer stem tips. You have a few months to prune out the rubbing or crossed branches. You can lazily digest your dinner and still take a moment to study what needs to be done. Now is a good time to call a certified arborist and set a date to remove high branches beyond your reach.
It is shopping season now! For holiday decor and gifts, consider flowering houseplants. If you did not get to starting your own paperwhite or amaryllis bulbs, local garden centers have them started for you, and they make lovely gifts. Cyclamen and Thanksgiving cactus bloom now and for weeks. Both these plants tolerate the cooler temperatures found indoors in November through January. Don’t treat the Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus like a cactus, though. They need well-draining but consistently moist soil. Mine have done better after potting them in terra cotta and watering them more often. The terra cotta lets the soil breathe.
Additional tender houseplants that tolerate dry air indoors would be cacti in general and Mother fern. These would make nice gifts for someone who will not water plants regularly.
That said, it is fairly simple to add humidity to the atmosphere around houseplants with a humidity tray. Essentially a tray of pebbles flooded with water, the humidity tray provides a humid atmosphere as the water evaporates. Place a humid-loving potted plant on the tray to increase the ambient humidity.
Another way to adapt the indoor environment to better suit your plants: Spread reflective foil under flowering houseplants to enhance the amount of light they receive. I use old plastic coffee bags. You do not need to purchase something special or use up your kitchen’s aluminum foil.
Another easy-care gift would be Sansevieria, or mother-in-law tongue, aka snake root. Different species of this genus have different color variations and leaf shapes making for more variety in an easy-care foliage houseplant. Plus, foliage houseplants do not need as much light. They can sit on a table or in a corner away from the window.
My next steps toward winter preparation include installing those birdfeeder poles (while soil is still soft) and marking the lawn edges to keep plows and snowblowers inside the lines this winter.
Wood stoves and fireplaces add a cozy extra heat source to our New England homes. When you empty the stoves or fireplace of ash, be sure that the ash is thoroughly cool and keep far away from combustible materials. Once cool, store wood ashes in a dry area like a covered metal bin or under cover. Water leaches out the nutrients.
Although most of my garden gear has been tucked out of the way, I keep my pruners and hand saw within reach all winter. As weeds and perennials die back through the fall, I discover burly weeds or broken stems that should be pruned immediately. Pruners are best for stems a half inch or smaller in diameter. There is no need to sprain my hand attempting to use a tool that is not right for the job. My hand saw takes care of hard, thicker stems easily.
The insect of the week is the winter moth, Operophtera brumata! This invasive moth emerges in November to early December. The males flit about, and the females essentially have no wings and stay in the grooves of tree bark like that of oak trees. The female lays eggs that hatch in spring as our familiar green inch worm. Infestations can defoliate deciduous trees. To combat this pest, use dormant oil sprays over the winter to destroy the potential larvae before they hatch.
I call myself the Lazy Berkshire Gardener because I don’t want to work too hard in my gardens. I want to enjoy them. I find it easier to observe my landscape and let the compost happen, the water pool up, or daisies to self-sow. I look for ways to do the minimum task for the biggest impact. For example, mulching is better than spraying and much better than weeding all season. I look for beautiful, low-maintenance plants that thrive in or at least tolerate my garden conditions. Plus, I am willing to live with the consequences if I miss something.
