More plant color in the winter, what vegetables to plant now and making the most of your mums were all topics covered by Dr. Jeff Wilson during a program last week on the Calhoun City Square.
Wilson, a horticulturist from Mississippi State University was speaking as part of the weekly Walkabout Wednesday program in Calhoun City. He began by encouraging all to make better use of their mums this fall.
“Everybody is planting mums right now because they want that color for Halloween,” Wilson said. “But 95% of people throw the mums away when they’re finished blooming.”
“It’s a perennial,” he said. “You can plant it in your yard and it will be there for the next 30 years with zero work. This year, when they’re through blooming, go outside, dig a hole and plant them where they can get full sun. All you have to do is next year on July 4, however big it is, go cut it in half and dome it off. That way it will be nice and full and bloom in the fall. Even if it’s blooming in July, cut it anyway if you want it to bloom in the fall.”
Wilson explained people are always in search for color in their yard in the winter. He recommended pansies, violas (also known as Johnny Jump Ups), ornamental cabbage and kale.
“Most people don’t plant pansies and violas early enough,” he said. “If you want your pansies to look really good this fall, they need to go in the ground right now.”
“Most people have petunias or impatiens growing right now and they don’t want to pull them up because they still look good. So they’ll wait until October to plant their pansies and they’ll sit there all winter and then in March when it starts to get warm they’ll take off. If you put them in the ground now, they’ll take off now and they’ll be big and full all winter.”
Wilson said Dianthus will also hold a little color through the winter, but not fully.
Good vegetables to grow this time of year include broccoli, cabbage, greens (collards, mustards, turnips), cauliflower, lettuce and carrots, he said.
“You can put cauliflower seeds in the ground right now and you’ll have cauliflower and broccoli before Thanksgiving,” Wilson said. “Most lettuces take between 40 and 45 days, some as little as 30 days.”
“If you ever wanted to try and grow carrots in Mississippi, right now is the time to try it. Most people want to plant them in April and let them grow throughout the summer. That’s not going to happen. If you want to grow a good size carrot, it needs to go in the ground right now.”