November Garden Calendar

By John Chapman

Weather: November is sort of a fickle month. The first half can be fairly mild with warm days and cool nights, while the second half may turn quirky with chilly days and cold nights. Break out the blankets and sheets in case any frosts are forecast which can happen anytime during November. Prepare for cold weather now.

Weed Prevention: If you don't like to pull or hoe weeds in the spring put down a pre-emergent when you plant your flower plants that will kill the weed seed. Caution: The pre-emergent will kill any seed so do not put it in your vegetable garden or any place that you will plant seed. However, the pre-emergent containing Surflan will not harm or effect transplants and makes maintenance a lot less work. Weed Preventer is one brand name, there are others so ask your nurseryman.
Remember: You must water in the pre-emergent herbicide to activate the barrier.

Vegetable: Now is the time to plant beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, endive, lettuce, mustard, parsley, peas, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, and turnips.

You can mix and plant several different varieties of carrot together, every time you dig some fresh carrots it will be a surprise but prepare the soil to 12 inches as the Imperator grows at lest that deep. Forked and hairy carrots are caused by to hard or compacted soil so add plenty of organic matter to your soil.

When you plant any of the many varieties of leaf lettuce you can harvest and the plant will keep growing new leaves, besides you don't have to harvest a whole head at a time, you can pick only as many leaves as you want. When you harvest head lettuce you kill the plant. Plant leaf lettuce types.

Swiss chard is the easiest of all the greens to grow, and it just keeps coming back. If you don't like greens try it my way. After you have steamed or cooked them limp, scoop out some frozen lemonade concentrate and put it between the leaves. It's a little sweet and tart.

Strawberries planted now will yield berries next spring. The more you plant, the more for your short cake in April and May.

For those who planted vegetables in October, thin out seedlings about three to four weeks after germination. Use scissors to snip them off. If you pull them up, you may disturb the roots of their neighbors. If they are allowed to compete with one another, they will be weak, spindly and subject to disease. Give young plants plenty of room to grow. Don't throw away those thinnings, throw them in the salad bowl and eat them.

To increase warmth or create a mini-greenhouse, use a hoop of construction mesh or wire fence as a framework to support a covering of clear plastic, in order to create a tunnel. Close up at the ends at night and during cold days. Open up the ends on warm days so the temperature will not climb too high. Hang a thermometer in your tunnel and adjust the ends to keep the temperature as near to the 60 to 80 degree range as possible. You can use solar heating with several plastic five-gallon buckets of water in his tunnel. The water warms from the sun during the day and releases the heat at night. You can grow tomatoes in there as well. It would be more practical to use determinate (bush) varieties such as patio tomatoes rather than indeterminate(vine) varieties. However, vine varieties such as Early Girl will do fine if trained up a pole or caged. If you have Dig up Tomato plants that are still growing from the summer or fall, put them in a container and move them to a protected area from frost. About the first of March transplant them back in the garden. You will have tomatoes in May instead of June for those starting new plants.

Another way to water and feed at the same time is to put half a cupful of ammonium nitrate 34-0-0 in a gallon of water and use a fertilizer siphon attached between your faucet and hose to suck it out as you water your garden. Siphon X is a brand name and there are others like it at the nurseries or use a hose end proportioner. Miracle Grow, Scotts and other brand names are available.

Flowers: In full sun my favorites are petunias, calendulas, dianthus and snapdragons because they come in a rainbow of color and they are ever blooming. In partial or full shade I love dianthus, geraniums, impatients, and primrose for the same reasons. During the cool season, dianthus, geraniums and pansies grow well in either sun or shade. For borders my favorites are alyssum (white, or Easter bonnet) and bright blue Lobelia. Dianthus and geraniums particularly need to have their spent flowers removed to keep them blooming and looking nice.

For you bulb lovers, select well-drained soil that is also high in compost or organic matter. Your bulbs should be planted with about two inches of sand beneath them. Cover with a coarse material such as peat moss or crushed wood products, such as bark. Try Amaryllis, Anemone, Calla and Easter Llily, Dutch Crocus, Daffodil, Freesia, Gladiolus, Iris, and Ranunculus. Remember that Tulips and Hyacinths need about six weeks of chill in your refrigerator in a brown paper bag before planting or they will not bloom. Freesia, Paper white Narcissus, Tuberose and Amaryllis, can be grown year after year without taking up the bulbs and they just keep growing new bulbs. Planting in clusters rather than in rows makes for a nice arrangement. Bulbs should be given a good soaking immediately after planting. As soon as the bulbs begin to show growth, water every seven to ten days.

Chrysanthemums are now available. These may be set out, and staking is recommended. Stems heavy with blooms will sprawl and not make a pretty plant. Keeping those spent blooms picked will encourage more blooming. As blooming ends, the stems should be pruned to within eight inches of the soil.

Cool weather will induce your roses to set new blooms. Keep spent blooms picked off. Also prune off suckers that grow up from below the bud union. If suckers are permitted to grow, they will take over the plant because they are very vigorous. Remember: prune to bloom.

Trees and shrubs: Watering of all trees and shrubs, including newly planted ones, may now be cut back by one-third, but the watering should be deep. Over watering is easy to do through the winter months when plants do not require as much moisture. The cooling temperatures and slowing plant growth allow the soil to remain wetter longer. Over watering will also contribute to fungus growth in the soil, so water between 9am and 6pm.

When choosing shrubs and trees to plant, think smaller for faster growth. By smaller I mean 3-5 gallon shrubs and 10-15 gallon trees. Field test have shown that that 10-15 gallon trees established sooner and within 4-5 years were larger than 24-36 gallon box trees planted at the same time. The same principle held true for shrubs. The difference in a one-gallon shrub and a five-gallon shrub is about one year's growth, and about a third the price. The difference is always time versus money. If you can afford to be patient buy small. If you want a larger impact now, that is a landscape that looks mature and wasn't planted yesterday, buy larger.

This is a good time to clean out those trees and shrubs of dead branches. The interior of your citrus trees should be kept free of unwanted water sprouts. These will never produce much fruit, and keeping the inside clean will assist you in harvesting your fruit. If you have bearing branches, go ahead and allow the fruit to mature, then remove the growth before bloom time next March. While pruning your citrus, keep the skirt trimmed up to about two or three feet from the ground. This permits a better air flow and minimizes chances of fungal problems. Citrus may start splitting which was caused by the summer heat drying out the rind and preventing expansion of the rind to accommodate the enlarging fruit.

Mesophyll collapse is a sudden wilt or drops of citrus leaves that is thought to be provoked by abrupt weather changes. Twig dieback and gumming may be other signs of this condition. It is a temporary condition, so don't panic, break out the saw and loppers and start hacking away,

Do not fertilize frost-tender plants such as bottlebrush, bougainvillea, oleander and citrus; this will encourage new growth, the very part to suffer the most from freezes. For oleanders that are blooming, their blooms will freeze and turn black, even in a slight frost.

Lawns: Most of the over seeding should have been done by now. Lawns should be kept neat and growing by mowing to about one and one-half inches high. Dethatching will go a long way in preventing fungus diseases. Bermuda should be watered with two to three inches of water each week for a healthy root system.

Tifgreen and other hybrid Bermuda lawns will hold their color as long as temperatures are mild. The common Bermuda will become dormant as temperatures drop to below 50 degrees.

For over seeding with winter ryegrass, apply at the rate of about 10 to 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Once established, fertilize with two pounds of ammonium nitrate per l,000 square feet. Ryegrass should be mowed to 11/2 to 2 inches. Keep watered until established, and then water only about once a week. Yellowing of your new winter lawn may occur when the cold weather sets in. An application of ammonium nitrate will bring back the dark green color.

Insects: It's aphid season once again. Take your choice of green, brown, black, and, if you don't like those colors, try gray. Gray aphids are especially found on cabbage family plants.

At first, they are a small ash like cluster at the growing point or on the underside of a young leaf. Within a week, the plant is thoroughly infested. Once aphids get into broccoli or cauliflower, the plant is lost. Pinch them out where they are just beginning. Soapy water in a spray bottle is an effective control.

Snails are active in the cooler fall weather so you may get snail baits from any garden center or nursery.

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If you have a specific question for John please leave them on his voice mail 480-898-5636 or email him at john@johnchapman.com . Please leave your question, name, city, and phone number. For more of John Chapman’s gardening tips listen to news radio 620am KTAR Saturday morning 7:40-8AM. On Television watch John’s garden segments on Jan D’Atri’s Heart and Home on Sunday 12:30pm and replays Monday evenings 8 pm AZTV broadcast 27, Cable America 4, or Cox 13