While I was cutting and stacking firewood all weekend, it occurred to me that I was making another valuable short-term mulch material: the coarse sawdust created from my cutting firewood. I keep my saw properly sharpened, so it throws off large chips of wood and this should make great mulch. Since sawdust is fresh organic matter, it should be removed from the plant beds before next growing season begins next spring. You can either then compost the sawdust a season before it is incorporated, or work it into the soil very well and add extra fertilizer to feed the soil organisms as they decompose the wood particles.
If you don’t need mulch, the coarse firewood sawdust can be saved and used to provide traction on icy sidewalks and driveways later in the season. The larger particles stay on the surface and don’t wash away to quickly. If you add a few handfuls of rock salt or urea fertilizer to each bushel of sawdust, the mixture will help melt the ice and snow and provide valuable traction.
This is also the time of year to plan for the balled and burlapped Christmas tree you may be planting later in December. I know this from personal experience. Open a hole in the ground well before the soil freezes. Make it at least 3 feet in diameter and about 18 inches deep. Put the excavated soil in containers and place it where it will not freeze solid. Spread unfrozen mulch material over the soil surface after you plant the tree. Before the soil freezes, drive three or four stakes into the ground so you can wire the tree in place until spring.
As Christmas approaches, you might want to do some late season pruning. Light thinning of evergreens in December will provide material for seasonal decorations.
Don’t do the entire pruning at one time. Take a few stems as needed for indoor or outdoor decorations. By spreading the pruning out, you will always have some fresh material available. Even under optimum storage conditions, evergreens stems don’t last too long once they are cut from the plant.
The longer branches of evergreens may bend or snap under the weight of snow, so shorten their stems a bit. Take steps to reinforce these plants if, even after pruning, it appears they will be damaged by snow weight.
Finally, we are getting into the bird-feeding season. Earlier in the year, fruit and seeds were abundant in the woods and fields. The abundant food supplies in some areas might have altered the natural patterns of certain birds. As the weather cools, more and more juncos, tufted titmice, nuthatches, chickadees and various winter sparrows appear in this area. A well-stocked feed station containing a variety of seeds will attract many different types of birds. Sunflower seeds and millet appeal to a number of bird species, as does suet suspended from a tree branch or fastened to a fence.
When purchasing bird food, choose quality seed. Try to avoid products that contain excessive amounts of filler material such as cracked corn, sorghum or similar grain seeds. It is fun to watch the different birds and also a challenge to keep the squirrels off the bird feeders. I found that metal around the access holes in my hanging tube feeders keeps the squirrels from chewing the plastic.
Bill Lamont is a professor and extension vegetable specialist in the department of plant science at Penn State. He can reached by email at wlamont@psu.edu.
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