When shopping for the holidays, consider gifts of gardening tools. (Photo: Alabama Extension)

Tasks

• Monitor ground moisture, especially in beds and under eaves and patios
• Store unused fertilizers and pesticides in a dry place
• Dig and divide overcrowded dahlia tubers and store in a cool, dry place. Replant in late February

Pruning

• Remove dead foliage and stems from dormant perennials
• Prune junipers during cool weather to prevent sunburn
• Prune and trellis caneberries

Fertilizing

• Feed cool weather plants and vegetables

Planting

• The time for fall planting is coming to an end
• Order bare-root roses and perennials from gardening websites or catalogs
• Fruits and vegetables: Lettuce, peas, edible pod peas - plant from seed or six-packs
• Trees, shrubs, vines: fig, walnut (Juglans), crabapple (Malus)
• Annuals: larkspur (Consolida), flowering kale

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: cyclamen, dianthus
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: paperwhite (Narcissus)
• Trees, shrubs, vines: barberry (Berberis)
• Fruits and vegetables: cauliflower, comice pears

Things to ponder

• Enjoy the quiet of the winter garden
• At the end of the month, apply dormant oil spray to deciduous fruit with copper fungicides, to control shot hole disease on twigs
• Avoid overhead irrigation if frost is expected

Historic frost dates

• Zone 8: November 15 through March 15
• Zone 9: December 15 through February 15