November in the garden: Sharpen tools, service equipment

November is the time to get the garden buttoned up for the winter, and to put tools and equipment in order so they will be ready for spring gardening.

General garden careIt is a good idea to sharpen and clean garden tools when putting them away for the season. Well-maintained tools make gardening much easier. Use pegboard on your garage walls to hang and organize tools.I sharpen spades and shovels with an electric hand grinder, putting the bevel on the inside edge of the blade. It is important to wear ear and eye protection for this task as it is noisy and sparks will fly as the grinder works. Move the grinder steadily back and forth to create the sharp edge and avoid burning the metal.Have your snowblower serviced before the winter snows begins and repair shops are backed up with repair and maintenance work.If your garage is unheated, it is best to store liquids in the basement.Shredded leaves make good mulch for your garden beds. Ground-up leaves also will decompose more quickly in a compost pile. Serious gardeners can rent or purchase a shredder for the leaves and other small garden debris, but be aware that shredders are very noisy and slow. Your lawn mower also will shred leaves, though not as finely as a shredder. I typically do not mulch established perennial borders, but instead leave the dried perennials standing for the winter and let some fall leaves blow in. This has more of a natural, uncontrolled look, which I prefer. If you prefer a neat and tidy appearance, cut back your perennials and top-dress the bed with a light layer of mulch. To calculate the amount of mulch needed for a bed, first convert all measurements to feet. To figure the square feet of a bed, multiply the length times the width. To convert the depth of mulch to feet, divide the inches of mulch you intend to apply by 12, since one foot equals 12 inches. If your mulch is to be 1 inch deep, divide 1 inch by 12. This gives you .08 feet of mulch per square foot of bed area. As an example, here is the calculation for the amount of mulch needed for 1 inch of mulch depth over a bed that is 18 feet wide by 37 feet long: Multiply 18 feet by 37 feet to get a total area of 666 square feet. Multiply the area, 666, by .08 and you know you will need 53 cubic feet of mulch. If you order mulch in bulk, it will be sold by the cubic yard, so do a further calculation. Since 1 cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, divide 53 cubic feet by 27. Round up a little, and your order will be 2 cubic yards of mulch.Mulch sold in bags is more expensive but works well for small gardens. Bags are labeled with the cubic feet they contain, typically 2 or 3 cubic feet. For the bed above, you would divide the 53 cubic feet of mulch required by the amount of mulch in the bag. For example, 53 cubic feet divided by 3 cubic feet per bag equals 18 bags; 53 cubic feet divided by 2 cubic feet per bag equals 37 bags of mulch. So for this bed, it will be less expensive to buy the mulch in bulk.Trees and shrubsIn most cases tree wrap is not needed to protect the bark of newly planted trees. If it is used, it should be removed within six months to a year. Tree wrap is used in certain areas of the Chicago Botanic Garden to help prevent animal damage in winter. These trees are wrapped in October and November and the wrap is removed in April. Both paper and burlap tree wrap work well. When using paper tree wrap, place the printed side against the trunk so it cannot be seen when wrapping is completed. Start the wrap at the bottom of the trunk and finish at the top. If you have a large number of deer that might browse on the bark of your young trees, it is best to wrap the trunks of trees with wire hardware cloth, which is more likely to deter them than tree wrap.October was a warm month without much rain, so is especially important that evergreens planted any time in the last three years are watered in November. It is best that they do not go into winter under any drought stress, which increases the chance of winter burn of foliage more likely. When you water evergreens, apply water to the base of the plant so the root ball is thoroughly moistened. Densely branched evergreen trees can shed water from rain or a sprinkler away from the root ball. LawnContinue mowing your lawn as needed making your last cut of the season at 2 inches, lower than usual. Since the grass will be dormant in the winter, it does not need to be cut as high as you would for healthy growing grass.BulbsFor a unique bulb display in spring, plant bulbs in containers. It is possible to layer bulbs in the container to create a dramatic display.Keep the container in an unheated garage over winter. An attached garage will work best so that the containers with bulbs do not freeze solid on a consistent basis. Water in well at planting and provide some supplemental water as needed during remainder of fall and in winter. The bulbs will be forming roots during this time. Move the container outside as the weather warms in spring and the bulbs will grow and flower, but be prepared to move it back into the garage if a hard freeze is predicted. #376;Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden. 22511501Wrapping vulnerable trees for the winter may help prevent damage from animals, especially hungry deer.