Gardening
Fall Landscape Care to Keep Plants and Pollinators Healthy
A seven-inch RazorTooth folding saw is perfect for removing small or medium sized dead or diseased branches from shrubs and small trees in the fall.
Photo credit: MelindaMyers.com
As the weather and gardens transition from summer to fall, it is time to adjust your maintenance practices to ensure the health, longevity, and beauty of your landscape. Proper fall care will increase winter survival, support pollinators, and reduce your future workload.
Continue watering as needed. This is especially important for new plantings and moisture-loving plants. Don't overlook established trees during extended dry periods. Drought conditions stress these key landscape plants, making them more susceptible to life threatening insects and disease.
Leave healthy perennials stand for winter. Many provide homes for pollinators and other beneficial insects and some seeds provide food for songbirds. You'll enjoy the added texture and motion in your winter garden and the songbirds that stop by to dine.
Do remove diseased plant debris and those infested with plant-damaging insects. Removing these from the garden reduces the source of future infestations which means healthier plants with less pest management required. Contact your local municipality for guidance on disposing of pest infested plant debris.
This is also a good time to remove any small to medium sized dead or diseased branches from shrubs and small trees. A saw, like Corona's 7-inch RazorTooth folding saw is perfect for this size job. The blade tucks into the handle for safe transport and the smaller size makes it easy to tuck into your tool belt or bucket. Disinfect the blade with rubbing alcohol or a disinfectant spray between cuts when pruning diseased plant material.
Don't rake leaves to the curb this fall. Put them to use in the garden as mulch on the soil surface to help suppress weeds, conserve moisture, and improve the soil as they decompose. Leaves also provide insulation and winter protection for a variety of beneficial insects and toads.
Continue weeding the garden. Cooler temperatures and a shorter to-do list make it easier to squeeze in more time for this task. Removing unwanted plants from the garden reduces competition with desirable plants for water and nutrients. Eliminating weeds before they set seed means fewer weeds for you to pull next year.
Continue cutting the lawn as long as it continues to grow. Leave clippings on the lawn to add nutrients, moisture, and organic matter to the soil. A season's worth of clippings is equal to one fertilizer application.
Don't rake fall leaves off the lawn. Just mow over them as you cut the grass and accomplish two tasks in one. As long as the leaf pieces are the size of a quarter or smaller, they'll break down, adding organic matter to the soil and not harm the grass. Make a second pass with the mower if needed to cut the leaves down in size.
After your last cut, clean and winterize your mower. Remove and sharpen the blades so you are ready for next season. Consider investing in an extra set of blades so you can change them throughout the mowing season. Sharp blades make a cleaner cut for a better-looking lawn that requires less water and a mower that uses less fuel.
Setting aside a bit of time this fall to prepare your garden for winter will result in less replacement and pruning of winter damaged plants.
Melinda Myers is the author of more than 20 gardening books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio segments. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Corona Tools for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Latest Antique News
According to the local dealers I spoke with, the September Brimfield show was a success. One told me that two large sales at the beginning of their show more than covered their expenses. Beyond this great local news, there has also been plenty of other antique related news from across the country.
National news begins with the sale of a 286-piece collection of rare antique portraits by some of the first Black photographers. According to NPR, in 1975, Larry West found a portrait of an African American person in a box of daguerreotypes in a New York antique store. NPR said that "his collection of 286 objects dating from the 1840s to about 1925, which includes daguerreotypes and other early types of photographic works" was sold to the Smithsonian after multiple museums competed for the collection. NPR reported that "daguerreotypes were widely popular in the 1840s and 1850s and it's estimated that 3 to 5 million were made in the United States. But only 30,000 to 40,000 still exist." Further, there are only a small percentage of daguerreotypes from African American photography studios. West's collection contained 40 of these rare daguerreotypes. The collection will be displayed at the Smithsonian through 2023.
Further West, Al Capone's favorite gun and other personal effects are headed to auction in California. Capone was referred to as "Public Enemy No. 1" after the "Valentine's Day Massacre" where seven rival bootleggers were killed. However, his granddaughters who are auctioning his belongings remember him differently. Diane Capone described him as "very loving, very devoted to family, very generous." One of the items to be auctioned is a letter Al Capone wrote to his son Albert "Sonny" Capone. Capone called Sonny the "son of my heart" in a letter he wrote while serving an 11-year term in Alcatraz for tax evasion. Other items being offered include "diamond-encrusted jewelry with [Capone's] initials, family photographs and his favorite handgun." According to the AP, the highlight of the sale is "the Colt .45-caliber pistol Capone always carried with him and used several times to protect himself." Diane Capone was unsure if the gun was involved in any crimes.
In other news, the Iowa Hawk Eye reported that Jim Sonneville started collecting Coke bottles after one of his sons found a bottle while working on a construction site. He gave the bottle to his dad who became more curious about its origins. He continued buying bottles and now has around 1,200 in his collection. Sonneville hopes to add a rare Hutchinson bottle to his collection. Charles Hutchinson of Chicago, IL patented the bottle that became popular in the 1880s. A Hutchinson Coca Cola bottle sold at auction for $7,000 in 2014. Much better than a 5-cent deposit.
Our online estate auction with 1950s and 1960s Corvettes, boat motors, tools and other estate items is now open for bidding. Our next multi-estate online auction will begin next month and end in early November. I'll be presenting on antiques and collectibles on Saturday, October 30th at FinnFunn Weekend in Troy, NH. My "Evaluating your antiques" night class will take place on November 10th at Bay Path Evening School in Charlton, MA and on Saturday, November 13th I'll also be appraising items virtually for the Townsend, MA Historical Society. Please visit our website for more details on upcoming events: www.centralmassauctions.com
Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com