A. Beets, particularly the cylindrical varieties, generally protrude effectively above soil degree and change into susceptible to wreck in freezing climate. Carrots will do the identical, however often to a lesser diploma.
To guard root crops from frost harm via the winter, and protect these useful meals in good useable situation, cowl over the tops with an insulating mulch layer (or layers).
My choice is so as to add a layer of backyard soil round and slightly over the foundation tops earlier than including a layer of small, fluffy (or chopped) leaves over the soil. A unfastened protecting of straw over the leaves will be useful in occasions of laborious freezing.
For ease of harvesting the foundation greens over the course of the winter, I mark the mulched plot with 4 nook stakes, shifting the stakes as rows of the roots are eliminated.
Q. My rose bushes are sometimes very sluggish to drop their leaves. How vital is it to take away leaves that cling stubbornly into late autumn, and when ought to de-leafing be completed? Do you prune on the similar time?
A. Most roses are vulnerable to varied ailments corresponding to black spot and likewise to a lot of insect pests. Eradicating the leaves in late autumn is a crucial sanitation measure that helps to curtail the incidence of those points.
After taking off the leaves, clear completely below and across the crops, scuffle the soil up frivolously with a hand cultivator and canopy the world with a compost mulch to assist bury illness spores.
Wait till late winter, as development buds start to swell, for pruning — aside from shortening any over-long shoots which can be susceptible to wreck in winter winds.
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