Monthly Gardening Guide – November
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Welcome to your Monthly Gardening Guide for November! Below you will find information on what I will be doing, (or trying to do) for the month of November. These are goals, not standards and some months I am on top of it and other months I blow it. But somehow, and thankfully, the garden is forgiving. Your garden to-do list may look different than mine, and that is okay. Perhaps you will glean something from my list and please, if you have any suggestions, opinions or tips & tricks feel free to contact me! I would love to hear from you. Now, let’s get our hands dirty and get growing!
Main Goal
We have a few main goals in the month of November. First off, keep planting your cool weather crops. Check your inventory of frost cloth, plant onions and garlic and save those seeds!! There is still time in November (not much so hurry) for planting shrubs, vines, perennials and trees too.
Prepare
Prepare your beds by mulching, mulching and mulching. I like to use what I have on hand which is leaves. I also have some leftover bagged mulch that I will use (waste not want not) and then I love to top with straw. I get it by the bale. Before mulching my beds, I usually fork up the dirt, but not deep. About 3-4 inches. I then add amendments, then layer mulches on top.
Also prepare your frost cloth for areas that you have planted your cool weather crops. Have them ready to go at a moments notice. Keep you eyes and ears open for the weather reports and cover accordingly.
What can you use to protect your plants? Many things:
- Frost cloth
- Plastic Gal Milk Jugs
- Thin sheets or blankets
- 2 liter soda pop bottles
- In a pinch, leaves or straw
- What’s your go-to frost prevention??
Plant’em
Plant your winter flowers now:
- Pansies
- Violas
- Snapdragons
- Dianthus
- Ornamental Kale
- Ornamental Cabbage
Continue Planting Veggies:
- Radish
- Spinach
- Turnips
- Beets
- Mustard Greens
- Swiss Chard
- Collards
- Kale
- Cabbage & Broccoli (transplants)
Have you received and chilled (45 days @45degrees) your bulbs yet? Without chilling your bulbs in Texas they won’t bloom normally. Tulips should be ready to plant between Thanksgiving and the second half of December! Plant your Daffodils, as soon as you buy them. Choose daffodils that have the best chance of “naturalizing” (blooming in successive years). Best types include Carlton, Ice Follies, Geranium, Cheerfulness, Golden Cheerfulness. *wonderful info via Neil Sperry.
Plant your Garlic! I haven’t planted mine yet. I wait until the weekend prior to Thanksgiving or thereabouts. I will post an article when I do with pictures and steps for you.
But here is valuable information on growing garlic from 2 of my go-to vendors. I also purchase my garlic seed from both of them!
Mary’s Heirloom Seeds has a great post on planting your garlic, and she is local in Texas.
Filaree Garlic has a great growing guide for garlic and they are located in Washington State.
Organic Seed Garlic Growing Guide
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- Planting Seed Garlic
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- Garlic Babies
Prune’em
Prune trees, shrubs, and perennials as needed to keep things shapely. You can trim back old flower stalks and unsightly foliage on perennials, but I suggest you leave them until spring. They are still beneficial to wildlife. Wait for major/heavy pruning until late winter/early spring and call an arborist. They know what they are doing and will save your trees and save you tons of money! Do NOT prune your roses until early Spring.
Feed’em
The only plants to feed during November are your annual color and also your cool weather crops. Feed both with an all purpose general fertilizer every 2 weeks and water in well.
The Look Out For’s & To-do’s
- Be on the lookout for fire ants!! These critters can mound up in cold, wet weather. Control them with an organic bait. Please pay attention to this one. I know from personal experience that it is not fun to step into a mound of ants (not seeing them) and have 5-10 bites on each foot. Yes, I was wearing flip-flops. It has not been fun, but a lesson learned for sure! Going out to the garden today – 5 days later there is now 6 new ant mounds. Get the bait!!
- Watering now is a matter of knowing if you have had rain or not. Water weekly if not. Better yet, get a moisture meter and test before you water. Water by hand now, no sense wasting water.
- Now is the time to transplant those plants that just didn’t grow in their spot, or aren’t happy or you just don’t like. Move them, give them a nice dose of B1 along with plenty of water. They should be fine.
- We haven’t quite had our first freeze yet. It’s coming, between now and the 2md or 3rd week in November. Here is a great list of to-do’s before it freezes from Neil Sperry: Before the First Freeze Settles In
- Now there is time to save your seeds! Save the seeds that you had great success with, that you loved and want to grow again. Our cover image this month is showing a bouquet of drying okra. These I will be saving. I have also saved seeds of my Rattlesnake beans and my pepper plants. And always, always my zinnias.
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- Rattlesnake Beans
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- Okra
Here are a couple of articles on saving seeds:
Monthly Garden Check-list for March
- Continue to plant cool weather crops
- Plant out winter annuals
- Feed both every 2 weeks
- Water wisely – every week if needed
- Be on the lookout for those fire ants
- Plant onions and garlic this month
- Plant bulbs this month
- Mulch, mulch, mulch
- Watch for freezes – make sure you are prepared
- Save your seeds for next year!
I would like to wish all of my readers and their families a very Happy Thanksgiving. No matter what is going on in the world, we can all find something or someone to be thankful for. I am truly thankful for YOU, my treasured readers.
Please enjoy these cards as a small gift from me to you. Print them out and use as greeting cards (perhaps someone needs a little bit of love and cheering) or even as place settings with a lovely personal thought inside. You could even frame them!
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- We’re Thankful
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- Grateful for You
May you find joy & wonder in your garden and may your hands always be dirty,
Dig in with more Gardening Articles:
I'm married to an amazing man, we have 4 crazy kids, and 4 crazy cats.Pull up a seat, grab a glass of sweet tea and stay awhile!
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- Monthly Gardening Guide – November - November 4, 2022
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