organic gardening for november

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Southeast - November Gardening

by Don Boekelheide

 

http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-26-27-1214-12-1X2X3X4X5X6X7X8X9X10X11X12-13,00.html

 

Moon Phases

New Moon: November 2

First Quarter: November 9

Full Moon: November 16

Last Quarter: November 23

 

Here comes old cold winter, no doubt about it, even here in the mild

Carolina Piedmont. The changes bring some benefits—Greens taste

sweeter after the first frost, and the bugs and the kudzu are finally

in full-scale retreat. And the catalogs start to arrive, tempting us

with visions of what can be, even as the leaves drop to reveal all

the various holes, spaces and openings in our gardens. As the month

ends, we celebrate the bounty from our gardens, and give thanks for

the living soil that sustains us.

 

Cantankerous Cankerworms. Apply sticky bands to control cankerworms

in mid-November, focusing on your large trees, especially oaks. After

leaf drop, apply a Tanglefoot barrier about chest high around the

trunk, using techniques suggested by your extension agent. Don't

apply Tanglefoot directly to the bark, and remember to make a note to

remove traps in February.

 

Prepare Veggie Beds. If you have time, with all the planting, clean

up and composting going on, try to get some vegetable beds prepared

for spring planting. Till or double dig each bed and add organic

matter. Wait on high nitrogen fertilizer, such as dried manure or

commercial organic blends like Espoma 'Plant-tone' (5-3-3) until

planting time in the spring.

 

Clean Up the Garden. Remove dead vegetable plants from the garden to

prevent insects and diseases from overwintering. Remember to keep

diseased plants and weed seeds strictly out of your home compost.

 

Test Your Soil. This is still a prime time to send in a soil test,

since labs are less busy in the fall. Soil test kits are available at

Cooperative Extension offices and Soil and Water Conservation

Districts, or you can use a 'do-it-yourself' version.

 

Keep Up Your Garden Care. Be sure to keep on top of weeding,

thinning, harvesting and watering with your cool season vegetables.

Crops (and pansies) benefit from a soluble organic fertilizer or

'tea' as the weather gets colder and soil microbes begin snoozing.

 

Plant Asparagus Crowns This Month. If you already have asparagus (if

you have space, you should), cut back ferny tops after frost as they

turn yellow and brown.

 

Fruit Tree Tip. When buying fruit trees, including plums, peaches and

apples, be sure to check the chill hours in your area (a measure of

low temperatures over time). Match the varieties you select to local

conditions to avoid plants that flower too soon and get blasted by

our zone's unpredictable late frosts.

 

Mucho Mulch. Mulch well around figs, pomegranates and other

southern-inclined warmth loving fruits.

 

Perennial Power. Keep picking up, moving, swapping and giving away

perennials, from daylilies to black-eyed Susans. Fill in holes, move

things around, like Monet did constantly at Giverny. Now's the time.

 

Botanical Gifts. This is a good time to 'force' bulbs or put

amaryllis in pots for winter holiday gifts, though you want to get

this done very early in the month for bloom around New Year.

 

 

 

I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is.

-Alan Watts