Gardening in November

As I sit here and look at the calender i'm like what is there to do in the garden for Nov. I took my ? to the web and evidentially things are still to be done no vacation yet fellow gardeners lol.


Protect cauliflower curds by folding over the leaves. This will keep the cauliflowers a nice creamy white.

Brussels sprouts ready
for picking


Turnip


Clay forcing pots were
traditionally used for
forcing seakale and rhubarb


Make your own leafmold

Winter cover

Make sure that bare ground is covered. Autumn leaves make a good winter mulch spread over the soil protecting it from heavy rainfall.

You can use leaves collected last autumn, or, when they fall this year. Your local council may deliver leaves on request to allotments and other sites where lorry access is possible. Ask for parks and cemetery leaves, rather than street swept ones.

Vegetables that can still be planted this month

Garlic

Plant in November, or even later on light soils. The sooner the better for the best crop. It is preferable to plant named varieties of garlic, such as Thermidrome and Printantor, rather than using left-over cloves from garlic bought from the greengrocer. This will avoid the risk of introducing disease, and help ensure you are growing a variety suited to the UK. Some varieties of garlic, such as Printanor, can also be planted in early spring, but will give much better yields if it goes through a cold period over winter. There is a useful article on garlic growing in issue 169 of The Organic Way (pages 29-31). Members can download back copies of The Organic Way here.

Broad beans

Broad beans are traditionally sown in autumn (late October to early December) for an early summer crop. Autumn sown plants are also less attractive to blackfly. But their success can be variable; mice and wet conditions can cut plant numbers considerably. Sow in November in a well drained spot. Dress soil with a potash fertiliser if chocolate spot disease is a regular problem. Use extra hardy cultivars such as Super Aquadulce, Aquadulce Claudia, Imperial Green Longpod, or The Sutton (a bush variety good for small gardens under a cloche). If autumn sown crops tend to fail in your garden, don't despair; some of the spring sown cultivars can produce a crop that is almost as early.

Hardy peas

Round seeded, hardy peas can be sown now for a June crop. Suitable varieties include Douce Provence, Feltham First, Meteor and Pilot. They can also be sown in the spring. Pea seeds are a favourite with mice, so it is not worth sowing them now where mice are a problem.