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Temperatures really start falling this month, and while many outdoor gardening activities are winding down, this is the time to plant some cool-season flowers and vegetables.
It's also an excellent time to clean up and compost yard and garden litter.
● Fall and winter flowers
You'll find a good selection of annual flowers to choose from at your local garden center to brighten your yard and patio through the fall and winter.
Just be sure to select varieties that will tolerate our periodic cold snaps.
Pansies, petunias and stock are the most cold-hardy, tolerating temperatures down to 20 degrees. Next come lobelia, alyssum and snapdragons — hardy to the mid-20s.
Geraniums, impatiens and begonias are the most cold-sensitive and should be protected if temperatures drop to freezing.
The best way to grow winter annuals is in containers filled with soil that is light and loose.
Because most potting soils are too heavy, lighten them up by mixing in one part of perlite to three parts of ordinary potting soil.
(Perlite is a type of ground volcanic rock. It can be bought in small or large bags at most garden centers and nurseries.)
When you plant your flowers, add a small amount of timed-release flowering plant fertilizer to the pot. Follow the label directions on how much to use.
Timed-release fertilizer beads give off their nutrients slowly, providing just the right amount of nutrients to promote continuous flowering.
● Vegetables for fall and winter
Southern Arizona garden centers also have a good selection of seeds and plants for your fall vegetable garden now. Among the best for this region are spinach, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower.
Whether you're buying flowers or vegetable plants, choose ones growing in individual 3-, 4- or 6-inch containers.
They have larger root systems and will be more vigorous than those in the smaller multicell trays called "cell packs."
Also, look for plants that are in proportion to their container size.
It's tempting to buy a large plant in a small pot, but such plants usually are "pot-bound." That is, they have lost their vigor and may be permanently stunted.
● Composting
November is a great time to compost fallen leaves and other plant debris from the garden and landscape.
Composting barrels and bins can be bought at local garden stores or through mail order and online catalogs.
Just make sure your composting unit is at least 3 feet in diameter and 3 feet high — an ideal size for composting.
You also can make your own composting unit using a section of wire fencing or stacked concrete blocks.
Form the fencing into a circle 3 feet or larger in diameter.
If you're using concrete blocks, make a 3-foot square with 3-foot-high walls on three sides. The front is left open to allow access for turning the pile.
The floor of the wire or concrete-block bin should be bare dirt to allow composting microbes to move up freely from the soil.
Besides green and brown leafy material, fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen also can be added to the compost pile. Try to have a mixture of green and brown plant waste in the pile.
If you lack enough nitrogen-rich green material, add a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen to speed the composting process.
Cut or spread the material to be composted as finely as possible. The more surface area for the composting microbes to work on, the better.
Keep the pile moist, and turn the compost material from time to time. Over time, you'll create a rich organic matter that's great to mix with the soil for growing flowers and vegetables.
Gardening
Advice by John P. Begeman
● John P. Begeman is the urban-horticulture agent for the University of Arizona-Pima County Cooperative Extension. If you have questions, call 626-5161 to reach a master gardener.
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