November Message

Greeting Garden Friends,

As I sit writing this letter, most of the leaves I see outside my window are still green. We've had many beautiful, sunny, warm fall days this year. As our climate changes, and our temperatures warm, our growing season seems to extend. Hopefully, most of you have put your gardens to bed for the winter, but this year we may find ourselves cleaning into November with many leaves still clinging to the trees. But remember that leaving fallen leaves to decompose does return valuable nutrients to the soil, provides habitat for a lot of important and valuable insect species over the winter, and acts as a natural mulch. Use a mulching mower or leaf shredder to return leaves to your lawn, do not leave them whole. In your beds, leave your leaves in wooded areas, on mulched areas, under shrubs and around perennials - 3-4” at most, not piled up against stems and trunks. 

As the days turn colder, and we’re spending more time inside, we can curl up with a warm drink and pour over catalogs and gardening websites and plan for next year. What changes will we make? What can we divide for the plant sale? What will we move and add to our gardens? How can we work toward being more Pollinator friendly- possibly working toward a Pollinator certification for our yard, and what invasive can we consider removing?

Be sure to take a look at the upcoming sales and events across our District IX community and support our sister clubs. I look forward to our December meeting and luncheon at Shannopin Country Club. It will be nice to resume that club tradition. 

Enjoy these crisp fall days before winter grips up with its cold weather. See you all next November 3rd indoors at Northmont Presbyterian Church. 

Kate Colville - Down to Earth and Diggin’ It”