There are steps that should be taken to get garden ready for winter

Horticulture

“Gardeners ain’t dumb where I come from. They've had a lot of learnin’. And they’re happy as can be as they garden naturally . . .”

And naturally as the season draws to a close, there are a few more garden tasks that have to be done. I will cut my lawn one more time with the blades of the mower raised to leave the grass about two inches long. This final trimming will also chop up the few remaining leaves that can just be left to break down over the winter and help build up the lawn soil.

Now Kate, who lives in Bolton upon a hillside steep, says if you want great tulips then plant ‘em one foot deep. They’ll grow naturally.

My spring bulbs are nearly all planted, but there is still time to put more in. Although they are supposed to be in the ground by mid- October, I well remember a few years ago, planting daffodils along the edge of the ravine behind my home here in Tecumseth Pines late in a mild November, and they bloomed that spring and are still making splashes of yellow in April. Kate recommends these bulbs too should be planted one foot deep.

A patch of yarrow in my garden had overgrown a group of double grape hyacinths (muscari, from the Greek “moschos,” meaning musk scented), so I cleaned out the intrusive yarrow without disturbing the muscari too much and replanted it at the edge of the nearby wild fence row. The muscari have always pushed their way through the tangle of tough yarrow roots and bloomed happily, so now my worry is, did this thick mass of roots actually protect them from foraging squirrels and mice, and have I now put these grape hyacinths in harm’s way?

Blair in old King City, a hosta man for sure, says cut those frosted soggy leaves and dig in composted manure, That’s doin’ it naturally.

Be sure to cut and clean away dead hosta leaves, for if they are left until spring, they can harbour slugs that will attack the plants as soon as the hostas start to grow again. Likewise, peony (paeonia) leaves and those of daylilies (hemerocallis) should be cut and cleaned away, as they too can harbour disease and pests if left. After I’ve done this and composted only the healthy leaves, I top dress each of these plants with a light covering of chopped up tree leaves and composted cattle manure. By the by, hostas and peonies are slow to show in the spring, so I've marked mine so I won’t accidentally slice into them when digging.

Although dividing and replanting these perennials should ideally have been done earlier in the fall, there is still time to do it now, if necessary. But once it turns really cold leave them until spring.

Nobleton’s own dear Nancy warns don’t trim those lilacs yet, but they’ll love a treat of horticultural lime, so make sure you don’t forget. This is helpin’ them naturally.

It’s best to trim lilacs as soon as they’ve finished blooming, but if there are broken or dead branches, they can safely be removed now and that goes for any shrub. Branches of my Prestonia lilac have grown through the railings of my deck, but taking Nancy’s advice and I’ll leave pruning until June. While now is good time to spray lilacs with a lime sulphur and dormant oil. I don’t need to do this, but I will dig in two to three cups of lime around this large shrub’s base. One cup is best for young lilacs.

And Mary on the mountain says when fall weeding, take great care not to intrude on shallow roots, but leave the grass right there. That’s thinkin’ naturally.

As I’ve been weeding during this great late Indian Summer weather I’ve found some grass growing through my irises but I don’t want to loosen them up to pull it out because they’re so shallow rooted that they won’t manage to root firmly enough again before the ground freezes and they’ll be damaged or killed when heaved out with the freezing and thawing that naturally occurs during the winter. I’ll wait now until spring to grass remove.

“We don’t have to water when the raindrops fall, it’s done naturally. We don’t have to make composted cattle manure, it comes naturally. We don’t have to lullaby our gardens to sleep, they go naturally. So high tech gear is not a goal for gardeners in our community. We just winter ready our gardens naturally.” (Apologies to Irving Berlin, Herbert and Dorothy Fields and Annie Get Your Gun — Ethel Merman Betty Hutton — Oakley).

“I prune a tree and scrape my knee, my jeans have got a tear, I work my way through weeds and grass and take plant pots from the stair. And underneath my fingernails the garden soil’s still there. Oh how do you solve a problem like fall garden clean-up versus spring clean-up . . .”

The Nobleton — King City Horticultural Society members are divided on this issue. Some say follow Mother Nature’s example and leave clean-up until spring, allowing leaves and other plant material to act as an insulating cover for the garden and gradually break down over the winter and early spring, adding necessary nutrients to the soil. They also say that the standing plant stalks act as “snow catchers,” which will allow the “caught snow” to cover the flower bed, becoming an additional insulating blanket for the garden. As well, they say the uncut plants will selfseed, giving gardeners new plants, thus saving money by not having to buy as many plants come spring. The uncut plants also provide food for winter birds and can give the garden an interesting look all winter long. However, others maintain that fall clean-up gets rid of diseased plant material that harbours bacteria and fungi that will harm newly sprouting plants come spring. They say spreading a layer of compost and/or composted cattle manure over cleaned-up flower beds in fall will protect the underlying plants and as this layer breaks down it adds much needed nutrients to the soil which will be readily available to the newly sprouting plants come spring. Chopped up leaves can be mixed into to this mulch.

I was a firm believer in spring garden clean-up, but for the past couple of years I’ve been doing it in the fall when I seem to have more time and better weather. I can cut, dig and rake in the flower beds without really doing the dormant plants much harm, if I go about it carefully. I found when raking debris off these beds in spring I would damage the blooms of early spring flowering bulbs and the tender new growth of other perennials. I do leave a few dead stalks here and there to act as snow catchers, but the wild plants and bushes that border my property do a much better job of this.

When I’m cutting dead stalks, I leave uncut the stalks of thistles, goldenrod and other weeds standing so I can come back with my shovel or digging fork and dig them out. Otherwise, if I had cut them down and then came back, I wouldn’t be able to tell where they were growing. I’m also learning to recognize plants no longer flowering by leaves, stems and roots, so I’m much less likely to dig up and pitch a flowerless garden plant I’ve mistaken for a weed.

Recently, when I was cleaning out a bed where I have phlox growing, I found that young goldenrod had invaded it. Since the goldenrod hadn’t bloomed and its leaves are similar to phlox, I couldn’t tell which was which, so I went to the wild border, dug up a piece of goldenrod with its dead flowerhead in tact and checked out its roots. Now if I dig up a plant which has white underground runners with purplish-red tips shooting out in every direction, I know it’s goldenrod, not phlox. replanted the goldenrod (solidago from the Latin to heal or make whole referring to its long known medicinal uses) back in its wild border.

Some perennials, such as Shasta daisies, (leucanthemum), golden marguerites (anthemis), hollyhocks (althea) and coral bells (heuchera) have a ground level rosette of new leaves at this time of year, so I’m careful not to cut or otherwise damage this foliage while cleaning up.

“How do you solve a problem like fall clean-up versus spring clean-up? How do you keep a wave upon the sand?”

Should roses be pruned in spring or in fall? Well the society members are split on this question too, but all agree that hybrid tea roses, floribundas (Latin for abundance of flowers), grandiflora (Latin for large flowers) and English (David Austin) roses in our area need to be “hilled” before the onslaught of winter. The hilling material, a mix of sand, soil, peat moss and compost, can be organized now, but is best put aside until the ground freezes to apply it. In the fall, any diseased leaves and dead branches on rose bushes should be cut off (never put diseased plant material in the compost), and burned or put it in the regular garbage.

Canadian rose expert Lois Hole says when fall pruning any of the above mentioned roses, cut the bushes back to about one foot tall. This will do, so that after hilling mulch is in place, only the tips of the branches will show.

By the by, mulch comes from the old English words “mulsh,” meaning soft and “melsh,” meaning mild.

In her popular book Rose Favourites, Hole writes that two good reasons to prune in the fall are that after the roses are pruned, less mulch/hilling is needed for each rose and no long branches are left to sway in the strong winter winds pulling the hilling apart and allowing these winds to dry out the above ground branches and ice to build up around the graft. But she adds fall pruned roses may require a further light pruning in the spring to remove winter killed tips, and if the winter is mild, roses, especially tender ones such as the Austins, may not die back as much as they would in harsh weather, so waiting until spring and not having to prune as much will result in taller roses.

“How do you solve a problem like fall garden clean-up versus doing it in the spring? How do you hold a moon beam in your hand?” (Apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein, the von Trapp Family and of course Julie Andrews). Book fair and Communion

this weekend

Come to St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Nobleton this Saturday (Nov. 28) between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to shop for Christmas with a spiritual purpose.

Get in from the cold and enjoy a hot cup of coffee or tea (and goodies) as you meet in fellowship and get some Christmas shopping done. Gifts, books, cards, DVDs, CDs and much, much more with be available for you to choose from.

Mark your calendar for our Christmas Musical, It’s a Wonder-Full Life, which will be performed Dec. 6, starting at 7 p.m. Come enjoy the very clear message — there is no Christmas without Jesus! and our KidzKonnection program takes place at the same time.

For more information about any of our activities or events, contact the church office at (905) 859-0843 or visit our Web site at www.stpaulsnobleton.ca

Nobleton United Church

Please join us for Breakfast with Santa Dec. 5, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Delicious pancakes and sausages will be served. Santa will be there to listen to each child’s secret wish for Christmas and they will receive a special gift. Admission is $5 per person, and children 10 and under are free. No reservations are required. The church is at 6075 King Rd. W., on the north side. See you there.

St. Mary building

committee to meet

There will be a meeting of the Church Building Committee at the Nobleton Lion’s Hall on Old King Road Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. to discuss the update of the progress of the construction of the church and new fundraising ideas.

If you have any fund-raising ideas or for further information, kindly contact the church office at (905) 939- 2256.

St. Andrew’s Day

Nov. 30, people of Scottish heritage in our community and around the world will celebrate St Andrew’s Day.

Of all the patron saints and other saints of the British Isles, Andrew is the only one who knew Jesus personally. He was keenly interested in the teaching of John the Baptist and is sometimes thought of as the first Christian missionary. After Jesus invited him to become a follower, he ran and brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus who renamed him Peter when he too became a disciple. Andrew believed right from the beginning that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Andrew and Simon Peter were born near the town of Bethsaida (whose exact location is today a matter of dispute) on the Sea of Galilee. After Christ’s crucifixion, Andrew traveled to Asia Minor (Turkey) and Scythia (ancient Ukraine), reaching the Volga River, near the present day city of Kiev. On his return journey, he settled in Patras (now Patrae in Greece). Here he was martyred in the first century A.D. on an X-shaped cross which we call the St. Andrew’s cross. Many years later, his bones were taken from Patras to Constantinople (today’s Istanbul).

According to tradition, these bones eventually arrived in Caledonia (now Scotland) some hundreds of years later, brought there by a monk named Regulus who presented them to the Pictish King Oengus with the request that he be given a plot of land on which to build a small chapel where the bones could find a last resting place. Oengus granted the monk a piece of land near the North Sea and here, in a tiny crudely-built stone chapel, the saint was finally buried. Later, a monastery was established on the site and gradually a town now the city we call St. Andrew’s grew up around it, becoming in mediaeval times Scotland’s ecclesiastical capital and better known today as the birthplace of golf.

During the Battle of Athelstaneford, King Oengus or his successor Oengus II sighted a formation of white clouds making the St Andrew’s cross against the blue sky. He was convinced the saint was there guiding him, and when he won the battle, he declared Andrew would be Caledonia’s patron saint. When the Scots eventually defeated and absorbed their Pictish cousins, they kept Andrew as their patron as well.

Today’s Scottish flag, which forms part of the British Union Jack, is that historical white St. Andrew’s cross against a deep blue background.

Nobleton Skating Club

The Nobleton Skating Club will be holding registration for Canskate sessions beginning in January. Registration will take place in the club office Dec. 4 from 4:30 to 6 p.m, and Dec. from 9 to 11:30 a.m. This session will begin in January and run through until the end of March, finishing with the ice show, Adventures in Toyland March 27. Participation in the ice show is included in the registration. See the Web site at www.nobletonskatingclub.co m for details and pricing.

Why not give the gift of skating this Christmas? All it takes is a pair of skates.

The club will also be holding a skate sale Dec. 4, 5 and 7. If you’re looking for “gently” used skates or skating attire, visit us in the lobby during our Canskate sessions. It’s a great way to purchase some almost new equipment for your up-andcoming skaters.

Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to call us at (905) 859-4943.

Nobleton Seniors

The afternoon euchre tournament winners were Lou Curtis, Vivian Hannah, Paula Latanville and Mary Bullock.

The evening bid euchre winners were Iva Hilliard, Bernice Tasca, Mary Steed and Joe Tasca.

We have planned a bus trip for Dec. 12 to the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts for a “sensational Big Band Christmas performance” at 2 p.m. The bus will leave Wilsen Avenue at 12:15 p.m. and the Nobleton Arena at 12:30 p.m. Following the show, we will travel back to Nobleton's Senior Room in the Nobleton Arena for a catered roast beef dinner at 6 p.m.

The cost is $75 per person. Please contact Paula at (905) 859-2631 for reservations.