Yard & Garden

The worst place for firewood storage is right next to the house, and the next worst place is next to the dog pen. Spilled and leftover food, and the dog’s water dish provide rodents all they need - in addition to shelter.

With your main woodpile 30 feet away, store small amounts of firewood next to the house for easy access – about the amount of wood you would use in one or two days. Replenish this supply regularly from the large woodpile.

If insects are found in firewood, do not spray the wood with insecticides and then burn it in the house. If you just can't stand the insects, then take that piece of wood back outside. Any wood containing big black carpenter ants or termites should also be taken back outside and burned. Other insects, brought out of firewood by the warmth inside your home, are a nuisance rather than an emergency and can be collected with a vacuum cleaner.

Don't Create a Firewood Haven for Rodents and Insects

There are several things you can do to help your roses survive this winter, and the first is to make sure your roses are healthy and not under stress as they go into winter. Strong plants have a better chance of surviving well than weak plants. The most important thing you can do to reduce stress is continue to water roses until the ground freezes, even if they are dormant. Soak plants to a depth of 8-12 inches, every 2-3 weeks.

Winter Clean-up
Begin by removing fallen leaves and other debris from around each plant. Removing all of the old leaves is very important, especially if disease problems occurred during the summer. Leaves serve as a good source of overwintering fungal spores that can re-infect your plants next year.

Prune out any broken, damaged or diseased canes. If the plant is tall, loosely tie the remaining canes together with twine to prevent damage from strong winds.

Winter Mulch 
Next, plan to provide some extra winter protection for hybrid tea and climbing roses. Often gardeners put winter protection, such as extra mulch or rose cones, in place too early in fall. Subconsciously we may think that the goal is to keep the plants warm, but this can backfire on us. Extra mulch applied too early prevents the soil around rose roots from cooling down as it should, which in turn allows rose growth to continue, when they should be going dormant. The goal of winter mulch is to keep rose roots cold, so it's important to let the soil cool down before mulch is applied. Winter mulch also helps prevent soil temperature fluctuations during winter.

Winter hardy shrub roses, such as the Knock Out or Buck rose series, don't usually need extra protection. So if you prefer to create a low maintenance garden, plant some of these roses next year and you won't need to apply extra winter mulch or rose cones.

If you do need to apply winter mulch the time to apply is after 2-3 hard freezes, and after all the roses leaves have fallen. Research has shown that coarse materials such as wood shavings, chopped corn cobs, dry leaves and grass clippings, wood chips, loose compost, chopped hay or coarse sawdust provide small air spaces for insulating air, and insulate the crown of the bush best. Even better than styrofoam cones. Manure and topsoil don't perform as well, because of their fine texture. Fine materials restrict air penetration, and hold excessive moisture, from rain or melting snow, around the plant crown.

Hill or mound mulch around the base of plants to protect hybrid teas, floribunda, and grandiflora roses. Create the mound around the base of the plants about 8-10 inches tall. Place a light layer of top soil over the mound, if a coarse material is used, to prevent mulch loss due to strong winter winds.

If a styrofoam rose cone is used, prune the bushes as needed to allow the cones to be place over the plants, and at the same time remove any broken, damaged or disease canes. Mound 6-8 inches of soil up around the base of each plant since the cone alone won't provide adequate winter protection. Then place a cone over each rose, securing it with heavy objects. Make small holes or slits in the top of the cone to provide ventilation.

Climbing Roses 
Winter protection for climbing roses is imperative as most bloom on the previous year's growth. One method of protection is to attach a sturdy pole to a fence or trellis above the climbers crown. Untie the canes from the fence or trellis and retie them securely to the pole. Wrap the canes in burlap and stuff the whole thing full of straw. This will insulate the plant somewhat from temperature extremes and protect it from drying winter winds. Again, protect the base of the plant by creating a mound with wood chips, covered by a light layer of soil.

Another method is to remove the canes from the trellis and bury them in a shallow trench, followed by a covering of 3-4 inches of soil. After the soil freezes, clean mulch may be added. This will keep the sun from thawing the soil too early in the spring.

And remember that plants need watering during dry winters, especially in December, January and February, when the soil is not frozen. This is especially important for new plantings that were installed in fall, and haven't had much time for root development.

Balancing the need for garden disease control and pollinator habitat is another important consideration. With concerns about bees, other pollinators and beneficial insects at the forefront of many gardener's minds, it's important to understand what you can do now – during fall garden clean up – to maintain and create good insect habitat. Insects over winter in a variety of ways, but these can be broadly grouped as 1) protected in the soil, 2) within leaf litter or other vegetation and 3) above ground on vegetation or other surfaces.

Keep these guidelines in mind.

1. Don't be a neat Ffeak.
2. Cut stems down- part way - after 1 or 2 hard frosts.
3. Don't use too much mulch. 

For more details, check out Garden Residue Aids Pollinators and Wildlife. 

After harvesting your gourds, they must be dried properly so they don't rot.

Washing and disinfecting gourds is not required, but it often helps them keep longer. Wipe down or wash the exterior with a dilute bleach solution, about 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water. This removes surface bacteria and fungal spores.

To dry gourds, leave them in an area that has good ventilation and is warm and dry, such as a garage or attic. Gourds should not touch each other while drying. They will shrink as they dry. Different sized gourds require different amounts of time to dry, but expect to wait several months. One way to tell if a gourd is dry is by shaking it. If the seeds can be heard rattling inside, it likely has dried.

A layer of mold may develop on the gourd's skin during the drying process. Leave the mold until the gourd is completely dry; it usually will wash off then or can be rubbed off with a rough cloth or fine sandpaper. Dried gourds, if kept dry, will last indefinitely.

Failure to protect fruit trees and landscape ornamentals against gnawing rodents, rabbits and deer this fall can result in a nasty surprise next spring: girdled trunks or stems, and broken branches. Late fall is the time to get protection in place and safeguard the health of your plants. Prevention is the only way to protect trees and shrubs from injury since very little can be done to salvage plants once the damage is done.

Physical barriers, like a fence, or taste repellents sprayed on plants are the best methods of protection. Refer to the publications below for more details.  

For more information on physical barriers and fencing to protect larger areas, including how to construct a peanut butter fence, visit Managing Deer Damage in Nebraska.

Protecting Landscape Plants from Wildlife

Preventing Deer Damage in Your Landscape