November In The Garden

Okay, once again thanks to Dustin and all the smart folks at Sloat Nursery in Danville (and other places), here is your to-do list for November.  Have fun, and don't forget to shop at Sloat!  

November: What to do in your garden this month

• Look to plant cyclamen in early November. It’s also a great time to plant ground covers and sweet peas.
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• Think fall & winter color: Violas and pansies are perfect for creating mass color in containers or flowerbeds. Available in a variety of hues, they are a terrific ground cover to plant over bulbs in pots or in the ground.
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• For a hardy alternative, consider planting ornamental cabbage and kale.
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• Prepare planting beds for winter. Clear weeds and rocks. Till soil and add soil amendments.
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• Fall is for planting! Get shrubs, perennials and trees into the ground this month. Winter rains will help develop a strong root system.
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• Select bulbs for spring bloom and winter forcing such as hyacinth, paperwhite & tulips.  Refrigerate hyacinth, crocus and tulips 4 to 6 weeks prior to planting.
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• Apply a lawn fertilizer and pre–emergent to control and prohibit annual bluegrass, crabgrass, and other weeds in your lawn and flower beds. Also, aerate and fertilize the lawn with E.B. Stone Nature’s Green.
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• De-thatch lawn if necessary
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• Top-dress perennial beds, azaleas, camellias, and rhododendrons with Sloat Forest Mulch Plus and feed with 0-10-10 fertilizer monthly until bloom (E.B. Stone Organics).
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• Divide the roots and rhizomes of perennials such as agapanthus, yarrow and iris.
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• Store away and clean any unused pots and containers that can be used as hiding places by overwintering insects, slugs and spiders.
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• Lightly prune Japanese maples while still in leaf. Select and plant maples for fall color.
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• It’s time to fill your bird feeders for winter. You can also try a suet feeder!
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• Clean up dead leaves, deadhead flowering plants- diseased leaves should go in the garbage, the rest can go in the compost pile
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• Mulch with compost or Forest Mulch to amend the soil and keep down weeds
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• Pull weeds before they have a chance to drop seeds.  Apply a pre-emergent after fall rains to stop germinating weeds.  Concern Weed Prevention Plus is a safe product derived from corn gluten.
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• Move perennials and shrubs between now and January-prune back lightly first
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• Continue to bait for snails with Sluggo
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• Strip roses Dec-Jan, prune in Jan-Feb
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• Fertilize cymbidiums with 6-25-25 food
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• Fertilize blue hydrangeas with E.B. Stone True Blue now for bluer blooms
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• Fertilize winter color with a blooming plant food (primrose, cyclamen) such as Maxsea 3-20-20.
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• Continue to fertilize citrus with E.B. Stone Organics Citrus Food or Greenall Citrus and Avocado food.
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• Clean and store tools- rub down with alcohol after each use. Grease with white lithium grease to prevent rust. Store shovels and saws in a bucket of sand with a little oil (5 parts sand-1 part oil)
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• If frost is imminent, be sure to water your garden (if it hasn’t rained recently).
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• Use Bonide All Seasons Oil when roses and fruit trees have lost their leaves

PLANT IT NOW! October & November are truly the most advantageous months of the year to get perennials, trees, vines, shrubs and cool season vegetables into the ground. 

Planting now will allow roots to become well established for much stronger, more vigorous plants come springtime. Fall and winter rains mean nature does the weekly watering for you, plus most gardeners see fewer pest and disease problems in the fall.

Happy Gardening!