November Garden Tasks: Part 1

October-one of the finest months of the year-is now behind us. With such pleasant mornings and evenings, gorgeous sunsets, and sparkling displays of color gracing our landscapes and forests, how could it get any better? Yes, October is gone, but November can be nice too, and there are a number of things we can find to do in the yard and garden. Read on for some annual reminders.

As I mentioned in a recent article, in most of the South, November, if not too warm, can be a good time to begin planting woody ornamentals. Actually, anytime during a plants’ inactive (dormant) season between November and February is good. Fall temperatures are more conducive to active root growth and plant survival because of lower temperatures and normally adequate rainfall.

Mulch shrubs now for winter protection. Suitable mulch materials are hay, grass clippings, pine bark or hardwood material, pine straw, and leaves. Place a generous amount around each plant to help protect roots against winter cold. But beware-too much mulch can encourage root and stem rots. Two to four inches is all that is necessary. More than about four inches is potentially harmful.

Also, be sure plants go into the winter season with adequate moisture. Remember the general rule-water only when the soil feels dry to the touch a couple of inches down. Infrequent but deep watering is always better than frequent, shallow watering.

Continue to plant cool season annuals such as pansies, violas, flowering cabbage and kale, snapdragons, dianthus, Swiss chard, parsley, and red giant or from allied countries. It was not sure Ford’s partner would meet that test.

Both companies have spent the last month with increasing strikes from the UAW, with the result to increase each company’s cost per vehicle produced guaranteed to increase with new contracts. The high cost of each company’s offerings – combined with consumer interest rates that have more than doubled in the past year – has put most of their offerings out of reach from the average American consumer, even after tax credits are factored in.

The news from Hertz bears some exploration, as they only attained about one third of the EV’s of their original goal and are slowing down fleet additions. The company cited Tesla’s price cuts as a factor, which reduced the value of cars in their fleet and caused losses on disposition of retired vehicles.

More interestingly, the costs for both maintenance and collision repair for their electric fleet was more than Hertz had anticipated. The former is often cited as part of the reason EV’s will be cheaper for consumers in the long run. The latter will result in higher insurance costs if the same experience is what real world consumers face.

Tesla, meanwhile, remains profitable despite recent price cuts. They have been able to spread their costs over what will be just shy of 2 million vehicles produced this year, and have designed their cars to minimize maånufacturing expense.

Ford and GM are now going back to their own designs and try to get their price points down, chasing Tesla. Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas suggests that Ford and GM may want to focus on internal combustion cars and scrap expensive EV plans altogether. The problem with this plan is that it would relegate them to mostly a US manufacturer only. Regulations in China and Europe – both bigger markets than the U.S. – will make it virtually impossible to meet emissions standards with gas powered vehicles within a decade.

As for Georgia’s main EV manufacturers – Hyundai/Kia and Tesla – they are not burdened with UAW contracts, and both are designing purpose built EV’s that don’t rely on older gas powered designs with their embedded costs. They are the future of manufacturing, and they are not burdened with the legacy baggage of Detroit.

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