The 23rd Annual Gloucester Master Gardeners’ Plant Extravaganza is scheduled to occur on Friday, September 5th from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, September 6th from 8 a.m. to 12 noon at the Gloucester Moose Lodge. Master Gardeners have been busy since last winter planting seeds, nurturing cuttings, and transplanting, weeding, watering, and mulching hundreds of plants to sell.
Fall is the ideal planting time for most trees, shrubs, and perennials. Soil temperatures remain warm until the first frost, so perennials planted now will have time to develop healthy root systems before the cold weather arrives. Most experts recommend planting up to six weeks before the ground freezes. The first frost occurs in Gloucester between November 1st and November 10th, but that doesn’t mean the ground will freeze. Tender annuals like basil will succumb to the cold air.
New plantings need water until the ground freezes, even on cool, cloudy days. Rainy days during the fall months provide water, but you ...