My soil is holding the moisture pretty well. I was waaaay too wet for a long time. The only exception is a raspberry bed I put on the south side of my garage that gets almost no moisture even when there is plenty of rain. I have been watering that.

By the way, it's nice to see someone else is checking the MN forum. It seems most of our gardening pals have already hibernated for the winter. Carmellia

Helen,

Funny you mention this. I've been dreading the fact I have already put my hoses away for the winter. Things are so dry here I am worried that they will go into winter stressed. We are getting those dreaded swings of temperatures...errr it's so frustrating.

I have not watered since mid October. I'm beginning to think I may have to at least drag one hose out and carry water to some of my precious babies. he he....

Tj

Carmellia...It was weird here, dry dry dry then wet wet wet, now dry again. I prefer that to the horrible dousing that they got in south/southeast, by the way I refuse to hibernate, I may go dormant in February though.

Tj...Ya, hoses are a pain, I left mine out, usually do (just in case) and then it snows, I buy alot of new hoses.

Helen.

I've been hoping for rain, but it doesn't look to promising so I guess I'll be hauling out the hose and giving most things a drink.The areas that are well mulched seem to have adequate moisture yet but some areas are really dry. Guess I better get at it! I don't hibernate either!

I haven't but probably should. I watered when there was snow on the ground in Dec a couple of years ago. Obviously the ground wasn't frozen at the time. Plants survive the winter much better when hydrated especially the new ones.

Thanks for the reminder been busy around the house and hadn't even thought about it.

I watered the front yard last week after mulching the new bed with shredded leaves.

Today after cleaning up what I hope to be the last of the leaves in our yard I watered the side yard. Tomorrow will water the back yard and flower beds then the front again. Expect that will be the last watering and will drain and store hoses in garage.

Bobbie

I've watered a couple times in the last couple weeks. Most of my plants are new this past spring/summer and I don't want them going into winter stressed. I planted some of the more hardy boxwood. I know they will suffer if they are not properly hydrated. I watered my beds right through the straw I've put down for winter mulch.

Agree with all said, except where marginally hardy herbaceous perennials are concerned. For these, and it seems more often than not, that going into the winter relatively dry is a good thing. It helps them shut down for winter when they might not otherwise because they are only so-so hardy. Less free water in the soil means less heaving, and less water crystals forming in or around plant tissue too.

There is a fine line between just dry and too dry. But for marginally hardy herbaceous perennials that have no above ground matter, I'd rather give them a mulching after the ground freezes than a watering before.

Rick, what about mayapple and bloodroot (specifically). I just planted some of each today. The earth has just the tiniest bit of moisture yet, not much at all. Would watering be a good thing or a bad thing at this point? The roots are beautiful, nice and fleshy.