The Garden Gate

Garden tips for every month of the year!

November

Now that November is here we know the "for sure" cooler weather is ahead. The average first freezing temperature is about December 3rd. Frost has occurred, however, as early as November 1st.

The cooler weather gives us a chance to be more active out of doors. Take advantage of it for the health of it!

Pull out all the spent summer flowers and replace them with Pansy, Petunia, Shasta Daisy, Snapdragon, and Flowering Kale/Cabbage to give fall color. Garden mums are also a nice touch. There are a number of bulbs, rhizome, corms and tuberous plants we can also set out at this time. Among them are the Agapanthus (which we can divide now if you have not already done so), Amaryllis, Aztec lily, Calla lily, Rhizomatous Iris, Clivia/Kafir lily, Walking Iris, Moraea, Narcissus, Spider lily, and Zephyr lily.

Cool season vegetables we can still plant include Beets, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Chinese cabbage, Collards, Kohlrabi, Mustard, Onions, Radish, and Spinach. Unless temperatures reach down into the low 20's most of these will produce right into the spring. To keep them growing, apply a vegetable fertilizer such as 10-10-10, or 15-0-15 at the rate of 2-5 pounds per 100 foot of row and thereafter every 6-8 weeks at 1-3 pounds per 100 ft of row.

Be attentive to the water needs of the vegetable garden by irrigating whenever the soil feels dry. Test by sticking a finger into it up to the second joint. To reduce disease, water at the roots of the vegetables, rather than overhead and don’t work the garden whenever plants are wet.

For those who use the winter as a time to take a break from the vegetable garden, be sure to keep that garden fallow (i.e. free of all plant growth) unless a winter cover crop is used to improve the soil. This reduces many soil pests. To keep it fallow, continually rototill through the winter, burying any weeds or seed that might try to get a foothold.

Avoid tilling a garden if the weeds present are of a type that will become worse if roots are broken into small pieces. Three of our worse weeds for this are Dollarweed, Nutsedge, and Florida Betony. All grow through the winter in the untended garden. Hand pulling is nearly impossible, unless the soil is really loose. Before tilling these, try to kill them with a weed killer that will not poison the soil for later planting. A good one to use is Glysophate (sold under names such as Roundup, Rattler, Kleenup, etc.). This label has a use in fallow gardens for most vegetables. It’s sprayed on the weeds that are actually growing and then left to do its job for 2-3 weeks. After that a second application may be necessary on some of the persistent weeds.

In the landscape, many plants have started to change colors. While it may not be as dramatic as seasonal color changes in the North, these changes still add to the attractiveness of our southern fall landscape. To increase that sort of impact in your landscape consider planting more of the following plants: Maples ( turn yellow and red), Crape Myrtles (reds and yellows), Tulip trees (yellow), Sweetgum trees (purple), River Burch (yellow), Dogwoods (reddish to gold) and Sycamores (yellow).

With cold weather around the corner, now’s the time to begin cleaning out that spot where the most tender of our plants will be moved/kept during freezes. Remember that plants such as Episcia, Lipstick Vine, Crossandra, Dieffenbachia, and Aglaonema can suffer injury when temperatures drop to the low 50's - it doesn’t have to freeze. Those sorts of lows are just a few weeks away! Buy plastic sheeting now, if it’s to be needed, while quantities are still available.

A cool season group of pests that are now becoming more active are snails and slugs. These mollusks feed in the evening hours on tender vegetable stems or leaves, cutting holes in them. They can be observed if the gardener inspects the garden early in the morning (before the sun becomes too bright).

When seen, scatter on the soil, late in the day (just at sunset), a snail and slug bait. This should feed the snails/slugs (for at least a night) a poison that will kill them. Should these baits become wet from dew or rain, they are no longer attractive to snails/slugs. Don’t apply baits if it’s going to rain. Since they really only work one night, additional applications may need to be made if snails/slugs continue to be a problem.

Citrus will be ripening in the next few months. We try to use types that can be harvested sometime around Christmas so that we can avoid any loss of fruit to freezing. Until you get to know your particular fruit, pick a few every couple weeks (once the fruit has reached full size) and taste to see if it is ripe. Remember that most citrus are fully ripe before they are fully colored. That bright orange or yellow color we see in grocery stores has been induced/enhanced by special treatment. If you wait for this color to appear in your own fruit, the fruit will probably be over mature and at that time might even have started to dry out and become less sweet. While you don’t have to pull all the fruit off all at once when it is fully ripe (you can store some of the fruit on the tree as you eat what you want), don’t leave it on too long or its quality will significantly degrade.

Avoid any Weed and Feed products on your lawn. If you have a weed problem, use a spray on weed killer labeled for the type grass you have and spot treat where the problem is - not the whole lawn. Remember that herbicides weaken grass to some degree, even when applied properly - not something you want to do at this time with cold weather around the corner!

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