It’s poinsettia time of year! These plants typically have a lot of top growth as opposed to the size pot they are usually sold in, meaning not much space for water. Watering can be a daily issue and make sure the pot is free draining. If you forgot to water and find your plant totally drooped out, set it in a dish of water for an hour or so to recover. Plants like bright light but not too warm and remove dead leaves as they appear.
Typically, any plant moved from one location to another, even from one room to another, can lose 10% or more of its leaves due to the change in light, humidity and heat levels. From the store to your house is a move — so expect some leaves may fall.
Poinsettias are perennials in warmer climates. If your plant survives until spring, you can prune back to about a 2-inch stem and plant directly outside in a garden bed or re-pot into a larger container. They can come back inside in the fall, but getting them to color up again is challenging.
Landscape décor
Looking in your landscape for some fall décor? Red, coral and yellow twig dogwoods are colored up this time of year and not buried in snow yet. If you are wondering if you could cut some to decorate with, the answer is yes! Dogwoods respond very well to hard pruning, nearly to the ground. The entire plant can be cut back each year to keep the size more manageable and create single unbranched stems for the next year. If you are just taking a few stems, you can just prune out the tips if you want.
After cutting they hold their color for months. Red twig stems cut between 3-6 inches and a hot glue gun make great stars for the Christmas tree, or make huge stars for the walls.
If you brought in some of your garden annuals, and potted them up, they may be looking pretty sad by now. Try cutting them back to stimulate fresh, new growth. Most plants commonly grown outside prefer those conditions and will do best there.
The amount of available light, primarily lack of, is the single biggest factor of decline in the house. Place plants in your sunniest window, and turn them every week. Water only when needed and not to the saturation point. In the winter months, cut back on the fertilizer for all the plants in the house, your normal indoor ones and the outdoor visitors.
When sunlight levels are low in the winter, so is your plant’s ability to photosynthesize. Fertilizing plants encourages them to grow and the winter conditions are not conducive to a productive growth period but rather a survival period.
Playing catch up
During the winter, my goal is always to catch up on all the things I didn’t have time to do or make during the summer. I have decided that I should make flashcards or note cards may be helpful to me in the garage. If you don’t need glasses yet to read font size four, good for you!
If I need to run into the house to get my glasses to read a measurement or instructions on a jug, that is sometimes just enough of an excuse not to do it — whatever it was. For instance, the water calculation per tree, would be helpful. Fertilizer ratio to watering can. A watering schedule would also be helpful, listing any rainfall.
Taping notes on the inside of my garage cabinets can somewhat mirror my recipes taped inside the kitchen cabinets.
An easy way to see how much water is needed for each tree per week is to first measure the diameter. The diameter is measured at 4½ feet above ground level around the tree known as DBH or diameter breast height. For each inch in diameter, 10 gallons of water per week is recommended. For example, your tree at DBH measures 13 inches around the trunk. Then 13 inches x 10 gallons of water is 130 gallons. So how do we measure that? Simple. Turn on your garden house at the rate you wish to run it. Time yourself filling a gallon jug or bucket and do another math equation. This last paragraph can be your first garage/garden note card to self.
The outdoor Mankato Farmer’s Market days are done for the season! Winter markets are in full swing at Bomgaars on the first and third Saturday of each month, from 9 a.m. — noon, November — March. Shop your locals!