Garden To-Do List For November

November. It’s the month we start looking forward to the holidays. It is also the month when garden chores seriously start to slow down. But even though, there are still some tasks the gardener must attend to before finally hanging the spade. Here’s our suggested to-do list for this month…

TIPS IN GENERAL

Mulch. Mulching is beneficial to organic gardening because it helps keep soil warm during the winter, helps retain moisture during the summer, kills weeds, encourages microbial activity in the soil, improves soil structure, deters some soil pests and protects the roots of plants from extreme temperatures. Mulching before winter sets in also keeps plants from heaving out of the ground. The best time to mulch is after the ground starts to freeze but before the first snow falls.

Read our post on Mulching for general guidelines and mulch materials for vegetable gardens.

Weed now and lessen your chores next spring.

Compost. Start a compost pile with the materials you have pulled out of the beds (but make sure these are not diseased) and all the leaves you have raked. Homemade compost is the secret to a successful organic garden so start composting now if you haven’t done so yet.

Read our compost related posts:

Why Should I Compost?

Easy Composting Tips For Your Organic Garden

Materials You Can And Should Not Compost

Hot Composting Vs Cold Composting

Have your soil tested. If there are areas in your garden where plants refused to thrive this year, take a sample of soil from there and send it for testing to your local Cooperative Extension service. Some amendments can be spread or incorporated into the soil before the ground freezes. Adding necessary amendments early will also allow slow-acting amendments like lime to become available to plants next spring.

Cover crops. November is also a good time to plant cover crops, also known as green manure. These crops are specifically grown to turn back into the soil which improves the soil’s structure. Nitrogen fixing plants like Austrian field peas and fava beans convert nitrogen from the air and release it to the soil as plant nutrient.

Read this post to know other crops to sow: Winter Cover Crops: What Green Manure to Sow for Overwintering

Related posts:

Cover Crops: How Green Manure Help Your Garden

Sowing and Tilling Cover Crops

VEGETABLES, HERBS, FRUITS

To get a head start on such early crops like peas and spinach, prepare a seedbed for them now. You can even sow spinach this month – though not peas – and ensure an early spring harvest.

Mulch your strawberries with straw.

Pot up your parsley and chives and bring them indoors. If you have garlic, pot up a few cloves too. These will yield chive-like garlic greens all winter that you can use for garnish. If you have a really sunny windowsill even during the cold months, you can sow seeds of herbs like basil and peppermint in a pot.

Related Post: 12 Herbs to Grow Indoors in the Winter

Till and prepare your soil now if you plan to grow strawberries or asparagus next spring. By doing this, you can plant the bare-root plants you will order over the winter extra early come spring.

Harvest broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, collards, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, peas, potatoes and radishes.

Once raspberries are finished producing fruit, prune the fruiting top sections and leave the lower section of branch for next year’s early crop.

Freeze or can your bounty. Hang your herbs in a cool dry place.

PEST/DISEASE CONTROL

Control harmful insects by keeping insect eating birds around. Put out a feeder to bring the birds closer and keep them active in your garden. Birds can help lessen the number of overwintering insects in your garden, minimizing your pest problems next year.

Remove any infected plant material from your garden to keep any disease from spreading and reinfecting your crops next year.

EQUIPMENT

Drain the gas from gas powered equipment like lawnmowers before storing them.

Open sprinkler valves and drain water from sprinkler systems to keep them from freezing.

Drain and store hoses.

Empty terra cotta and ceramic pots. Sterilize them with a mixture of 1:9 parts bleach and water. Store them bottom up in a protected area to keep them from cracking.

Start cleaning your garden tools and put them away until next spring.

Related Post: Tips for Cleaning Your Garden Tools Organically

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/garden-to-do-list-for-november/

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5 How-To’s in Preparing Your Garden For Winter

When the leaves starts to fall in your garden and the breeze of the air starts to sting the skin because of its coldness, then, this is nature’s way of saying that winter is just around the corner. This also means that taking care of your garden is now a priority that should not be taken for granted. So, before winter finally sets in, it is wise to manage your garden and prepare it for the winter so that when the cold weather arrives, you can just relax in your homes without worrying about your gardens condition.

5 How-To’s in Preparing Your Garden for winter

source: devisserlandscape

1. How to Prepare Perennials for winter

How do you prepare your perennials for the winter? Here’s how to do it.

After frost, cut your perennial stems to soil level. This will remove the eggs and spores of the garden pests that still linger in your plants.

All dead plant debris must be cut and made into compost to be used as organic matter that will add nutrients to the soil.

Put winter mulch into your soil once the ground freezes. This will prevent rodents and other garden pests from nesting into your garden.

To keep the soil warm and moist even during winter, and to protect the plants that are still growing in your garden, put mulch around them. Pine needles, chopped leaves, and shrubs are the best mulch to be used.

source: truevalueprojects

2. How to Prepare Bulbs for winter

The most important thing to remember on how to prepare your bulbs for the winter is to make sure that your garden soil does not crack and shift due to the freezing temperature. To avoid shifting and cracking of soil, put mulch around your bulb beds. This will keep the soil warm and moist which is very important for your bulbs.

source: lowes

3. How to Prepare Trees for winter

Trees in the garden should also be protected during winter. Wrapping the trunks and stems of your trees with tree-guard products will do the job. You can also shade or use burlap screens to your trees to control the damage that is brought about by the cold wind of winter.

source: ourhabitatgarden

4. How to Make Leaf Mold

Creating a leaf mold will encourage the growth of helpful bacteria that is beneficial to the soil. It will also enrich the soil and in turn makes the crops that will be grown in the soil have a better quality and more yield during harvest. Making leaf mold is easy. If you have an empty composting bin, you can use this to pile up leaves and to keep them contained so that the breakdown process can start. You can also assemble your very own leaf mold container by building a very simple structure using chicken wires and used boards.  Also, keep your leaf mold wet at all times. This will help in the growth of fungi which is essential in the success of your leaf mold.

source: rhs.org

5. How to Control Weeds

You can use your leaf mold to control the growth of weeds in your garden during winter. To do this, just spread your leaf mold in your garden. The leaf mold will block the sun making it impossible for weed seeds to germinate.

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/5-how-tos-in-preparing-your-garden-for-winter/5/

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