Many of you have had some frost or frost in recent weeks, but it hasn’t done much damage. All your root vegetables, even some above-ground vegetables, survived. To keep them growing, water them so that the roots are not exposed to cold air.

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

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

Once the vegetables and flowers have died, clean up your garden and flower beds. Burn all diseased and insect-infected plants. The rest you can put in a compost pile. Leave vegetable roots in the garden and grow them into the soil to help create your garden’s soil profile.

When Laura and I clean out our perennial flower beds, we begin harvesting seeds from many perennial flowers. Collect the seeds and sow them either in the perennial flower bed or sow them in other flower beds. With annual flowers, we will collect the seeds and sow them on the flower bed or save them to sow in other flower beds.

When collecting, make sure the flowers have finished blooming, then collect the seed heads. We put the seed heads in brown paper bags. Plastic bags can cause moisture buildup and create mold. We write the name of the flower on the bags. We store the seeds in a cool, dry place so they are 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 a year, seed germination will decrease each year.

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

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

Start by creating long, dark nighttime hours (at least 12) and short daylight hours. Do not leave any artificial light overnight. Do this first.

Make sure the temperature is between 55 and 60 degrees. We plan to place our Christmas cactus on the back porch with the other potted plants we plan to keep over the winter. The temperature remains around 50 to 60 degrees.

Then, water the Christmas cactus only when it hits the ground and it is dry. Water only the top inch of soil. By following these three suggestions, your Christmas cactus will stay dormant and then start blooming again.

Once a Christmas cactus blooms, don’t overwater it. Just keep the soil moist to the touch. Once it has finished flowering, you can repot it and add organic matter.

You still have time to plant spring-flowering bulbs. Plant them 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 past questions and look forward to answering them in the future. Thank you, and please keep them coming. I learn a lot from people who ask me questions. Call me at 573-588-2040, visit me at Shelby County Implement in Shelbina, Missouri, email me at [email protected] or find me on Facebook at Greenwell’s Greenhouse Group. I like to visit people anytime. Enjoy the beautiful fall weather.