The Hort Report: Time to plan your garden and get Christmas cactus ready to flower this winter

Many of you have had a frost or freeze in the past few weeks, but it didn’t do much damage. All of your root-type vegetables, even some above-ground vegetables, survived. To keep them growing, water them so the roots aren’t exposed to the cold air. 

Draw on paper your garden plan where all your vegetables were in your garden this year. Do this before you pull up your vegetables. This will help you know where to plant vegetables next year. You should rotate your vegetables each year, even in raised beds. 

Having your garden plan will help you know what seed you should get for the vegetables you plan to grow next year. You may want to increase the size of the garden area of some vegetables and plant fewer other vegetables. 

Once the vegetables and flowers are dead, clean your garden and flowerbeds. Burn all diseased and insect-infected plants. The rest you can put in a compost pile. Leave the roots of vegetables in the garden and till them into the soil to help build the soil profile in your garden.

When Laura and I are cleaning our perennial flowerbeds, we start to collect flower seeds from many of the perennial flowers. Collecting the seed and either sowing it back on the perennial flowerbed or sow it in other flowerbeds. With annual flowers, we will collect the seed and sow it back on the flowerbed or save it to sow in other flowerbeds.  

When collecting, make sure the flowers are finished blooming, then collect the seed heads. We put the seed heads in brown paper bags. Plastic bags can cause humidity to build up, creating mold. We write the name of the flower on the bags. We store the seed in a cool, dry place so they will be ready to use next spring.  Store them at a temperature between 32 and 41 degrees. 

Saved flower seeds should be used within one year. After one year, the germination of the seed will decline every year. 

Here are some things to help your Christmas cactus produce flowers between November and January. 

Light and temperature levels will affect when a Christmas cactus blooms. By doing a few simple things, you can help your Christmas Cactus bloom.  

Start by creating long, dark night hours (at least 12) and short daylight hours. Don’t allow any artificial light during the night. Do this first.

Make sure the temperature is between 55 and 60 degrees. We plan on putting our Christmas cactus on the back porch with the other potted plants we plan on holding over the winter. The temperature stays about 50 to 60 degrees. 

Next, only water Christmas cactus when you touch the soil and it feels dry. Water only the top inch of the soil. Doing all three of these suggestions will keep your Christmas cactus in a dormant state, then it will start to flower again. 

Once a Christmas cactus blooms, don’t over-water them. Just keep the soil moist to the touch. Once it finishes blooming, you can repot it and add organic matter. 

You still have time to plant spring flowering bulbs. Get them planted before the ground freezes. Plant them in a well-drained sunny location, put organic matter in the hole, cover it with mulch and water.

I appreciate all your questions in the past and look forward to them in the future. Thanks, and please keep them coming. I learn a lot from people asking me questions. Call me at 573-588-2040, visit me at Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Mo., email me at sci63468@hotmail.com or find me on Facebook at Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group. I enjoy visiting with people anytime. Enjoy the great fall weather.