Temperatures are significantly down, the clocks have gone back and the days are drawing to a close early. But there are still loads of things to plant, harvest, and do in the food garden in November, including our most important job of the year – feeding the soil!
Here is a list of things to do in the food garden in November:
- The most important of the things to do in the garden in November is feeding your soil with lots of well-rotted organic matter spread over the surface of the soil. In heavy soils, consider digging in grit to improve drainage.
- Rake up fallen leaves and keep them in a pile to make your own leafmould soil conditioner.
- Clear away spent crops and add to the compost heap (make sure not to add any diseased plants). Remove any yellowed leaves from brassicas.
- Feed your compost heap with all appropriate waste materials. Aim for an equal mix of nitrogen-rich green materials and carbon-rich brown materials. Turn every one or two weeks.
- Install water butts to collect autumn and winter rain.
- Build any raised beds, compost bins, cold frames, fences, etc, that you need for next year.
- Prepare asparagus beds for spring planting.
- Clear, clean and insulate greenhouses.
- Protect tender plants from wind and frost by moving them into a greenhouse or polytunnel.
- Bring any potted herbs indoors so that you can continue cropping through the winter.
- Insulate containers by wrapping them in fleece, hessian, bubble wrap, etc.
- Raise containers up to prevent plants getting waterlogged.
- Put out extra food for your birds and other beneficial garden wildlife.
- Stake any top heavy plants such as Brussels Sprouts and make sure no roots are not exposed to the winds.
- Mulch celeriac.
- If you have any plants you wish to move to other areas of the garden, now is the time to do it, when they are dormant.
- Check any produce that you have in storage (onions, garlic, potatoes, etc). if you find anything rotting, remove it immediately along with anything in close proximity.
- Sow outside: broad beans, peas, garlic, onion sets, shallots, kale, perpetual spinach, spinach, chard. Best to start the kale, perpetual spinach, spinach, and chard off in a greenhouse or polytunnel and plant them out when they have developed into small plants.
- Sow under cover: pak choi, mizuna, mibuna, winter purslane, lambs lettuce, land cress, water cress, mustard, rocket, winter lettuce, winter radish. These crops can be grown outside also, but will benefit from protection, especially if it is a harsh winter.
- Sow green manures to be dug in next spring.
- Prune apple and pear trees anytime from now until the end of winter.
- Prune autumn-fruiting raspberries to the ground after harvesting
- Prune blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, and gooseberries now that they are dormant.
- Mulch blueberry roots with chipped bark, pine needles or leaf mould which are good for acid-loving plants
- Take and pot up cuttings of currant and berry bushes and dig up and pot up raspberry suckers and strawberry runners for more new free plants
- Plant new fruit and nut trees and currant (blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants) and berry bushes (blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc) anytime from now throughout the winter.
- Grow your own free sweet chestnut, walnut and hazel trees from nuts.
- Plant new rhubarb crowns. Divide established crowns to create new plants.
- Plant out Spring Cabbages.
- Harvest parsnips, beetroot, kale, spinach, Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, turnips, potatoes, celeriac, swede, Brussels sprouts, endives, cabbage, kohl rabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, mibuna, mizuna, cauliflower, land cress, rocket, broccoli, celery, chard, chicory, radishes.