November is a great relief to us as gardeners; cooling temperatures are as welcome to our plants as they are to us. Once again we will find our happy thought in tending our plots bathed in friendly sunshine.

But November often means frost by the end of the month, which means work for the gardener. Prepare early for frost by covering your faucets and clocks to prevent freezing water and breakage. Insulate the faucet upright with pipe foam then an old blanket or large towel wrapped around the whole thing and tied or taped in place. Cover the entire unit with a bucket, bin, or something waterproof; because if it gets wet it is no longer effective. The tubes leading to the plants will not retain water so they will not break with a freeze. If you think that sounds like a lot of work, think about how you will repair a split metal upright spewing water! That means turning off the water supply to the whole garden while you scramble to fix the leak. Believe me, it happens!

The window for planting is rapidly closing. Seed germination declines as night temperatures drop and flowering for broccoli and cauliflower is triggered as nights get longer. Broccoli and cauliflower need a lot of vegetative growth before flowering to be able to produce big heads, so if they are put out small and late, the heads will be small because they will still flower at the same time. 

 

Stores often stock a mix of warm and cool season seeds and plants at the same time, so it's up to you to know what to buy. Look for the following: Seeds of radishes, turnips, lettuce, peas, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, kale, spinach, fennel, and parsley can still be put in, the sooner the better. Try covering the seed bed with a light cloth that allows light and water through until the seedlings push it up, then remove it.

Plants of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cilantro, Swiss chard, spinach, parsley, and kale can be put in, the sooner the better. Garlic cloves can still be put in for harvest next May or June.

Onion plants go in this month through January. I prefer to plant them in November to allow plenty of time for foliage growth before they "bulb" in the spring. Onion plants of short day varieties are the only ones that will yield large bulbs. Allow about six inches between plants for bulbs to expand. Plant one plant in each hole, no deeper than one inch, and keep green tops above soil line. Harvest will come next May, though they may be pulled and eaten at any stage. The ideal onion has 13 leaves, but it only grows one at a time; the more leaves the bigger the onion. Prepare the soil with organic amendments and 10-20-10 granular fertilizer (for bulbs) and make sure each plant will receive adequate water supply. Visit www.dixondalefarms.com for complete information on onion growth and cultivation as well as choosing onion plants.

Keep your plants happy by feeding them veggie scrap smoothies. Grind up peelings of bananas, oranges, eggplant, squash, apple cores, onions trimmings, melon seeds and rinds, coffee grounds, and the like (only clean healthy plant material). I put it all in my blender with water and whir it until liquefied then take it to the garden and shovel it into the soil. But be sure not to disturb the roots of any growing plants. It's amazing the impact this has had on the soil texture and the earthworms love it. Why do I want happy earthworms? They are excellent little underground farmers. They tunnel which aerates the soil by allowing oxygen to penetrate; then eating organic materials as they go they produce "castings" which contain nitrogen and phosphates in forms that plants use directly. We have not brought in any outside worms, just fed and encouraged the ones in the ground because where the earthworms are happy the plants are happy.

Those are my plot thoughts for now, Happy Thanksgiving

Lorna Mitchell