November: To Do

If you really think that I actually do all of these things, you are terribly confused. Sometimes I even (gasp) do things that aren't on this list. I don't actually grow everything that is listed here, but someday, I might want to.

This list is based on my experience gardening in Pleasanton and Livermore, CA, Sunset Zone 14, specifically, and I think it is good for all of USDA Zone 9. In addition, it is probably pretty accurate for USDA Zones 10-11.

Announcements

Livermore-Amador Garden Club meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7 pm at Harvest Park School Auditorium on Valley Avenue in Pleasanton. Call 462-1461 for more information.
Mt Diablo Rose Society meets the second Wednesday (November 11) at 8 pm in the Pleasanton community Garden, Community Room. Call 846-7451 for more information.
Interested in herbs. Janet Massaro (443-5066) is putting together an herb club.
Pruning seminars will be held December 12 & 13 at 10 am at Alden Lane Nursery, Alden Lane, Livermore.

General (or it never ends)

Snail bait.
Recently, my mother's rather stupid dog had an encounter with powder snail bait. My dogs have never had the desire to eat the powdery stuff. Her dog, however, did. Snail bait is not non-toxic. It can cause liver damage. (1997)
Now is an excellent time to head out to the garden with notebook in hand to take stock of how this year's garden turned out. I try to do this every month, but I succede in doing it maybe twice a year. I try to write down what's in bloom, what looks particularly excellent or what looks terrible, where there are empty looking spots, and what I might like to do about changing the garden.
If you keep a consistent notebook you can track what plants do well, when, and why. It isn't that I have made mistakes in my garden. Well, I have, but I prefer to think of it as a learning experience. For example, did some new plant do better than expected or, perhaps, not as well as you'd hoped? I have a terrible time remembering what I might have planted and it died because I pull the dead plant up, toss it, and promptly forget about it. Then I go to the nursery and buy another one. I never remember if I don't write it down.
Rake up those leaves.
If in danger of an early killing frost, make sure garden is well watered.
Cloud Cover is an option for protecting frost sensitive plants.

Trees and Shrubs

Plant deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs. Not all trees change color the same way even within a species. If you are choosing a tree for fall color, this is the best time of year to buy it. You can go to the nursery and see the tree with its fall color or lack thereof. The tree that reliably gives me the best color is my crepe myrtle. It turns a glorious, brilliant red every year.

Water new plants deeply.

Stake new trees.

Fertilize established trees and shrubs when dormant.

Feed camellias every month from the time buds appear until they are finished flowering.

Take hardwood cuttings when leaves have fallen.

Watch for pests and signs of disease.
Azalea leafroller can be controlled with sevin.

Pink and white camellia blossoms are subject to sclerotinia, a blossom blight that overwinters in rotting petals left under camellia bushes. This disfiguring disease can be prevented by keeping the fallen camellia leaves raked up.

Remove beetle-infested pines. You can tell your tree is infested by its billian rust coloring. These trees present a falling tree hazard, and they will continue to spread the infestation to healthy trees.

Protect your coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and valley oaks (Q. lobata) by removing thirsty shrubs and ground covers to a 10 foot radius.

Prune to shape evergreens like juniper, magnolias, pines, pittosporums, and spruces.

Prune out excess brances of shrubs and trees to prevent storm damage.

Roses

Feed repeat bloomers for as long as they keep setting buds. My roses bloom well into December, and some bloom all year round. In my area, the soil is perpetually low on nitrogen and phosphorous, so I do not feed with fertilizers that are low in those ingredients, ever.

Don't let your roses get thirsty. My repeat bloomers are still producing new buds.

Pick up dropped leaves. This will go a long ways to preventing reinfestations of blackspot, rust, and mildew now and next year. Do not compost.

You can continue deadheading if your roses continue to bloom into December (mine do), or you can let the hips develop. This may help your rose go into dormancy, but mine never do, not completely. And you may be pleasantly surprised by some of the hips that you get. I purchased a Rosa rugosa 'Hansa' a few years ago to get hips, but, alas, it is not suited to my garden. At least, I think that is the problem. I never get hips. However, I get wonderful hips on my climbing Joseph's Coat, an unkown yellow rose, and some of my mini roses.

Lawns and Ground Covers

Plant ground covers and ornamental grasses.

Overseed summer lawns with ryegrass; sow cool-weather lawns, reseed thin or bare spots.

Water new plantings regularly if dry (and it often is here in November).

Mow lawn weekly unless the grass is very dry.

Aeroate the lawn.

Divide crowded clumps of ornamental grasses.

Perennials

Plant new perennials like canterbury bells, candytuft, columbine, coral bells, cyclamens, delphiniums, foxglove, penstemon and sweet williams.

Divide and transplant crowded clumps of spring bloomers.

Water new plantings regularly.

Cut back chrysanthemums, as soon as the flowers die, to 6 inches.

Cut back perennials to 2 to 3 inches when topgrowth starts to die back.

Weed and clean up debris from beds and borders.

Apply bacillus thuringensis (BT) to geraniums to prevent budworm damage.
I don't like to use BT because it kills all catapillars, including monarch butterfly larvae. I don't know that the monarch larvae is here, but they are endangered.

Bulbs

Plant pre-cooled bulbs.
I plant mine in January. I had an excellent display last in 1996 (the last time I refridgerated bulbs) of tulips and hyacinths, so I recommend waiting. However, I do refridgerate tulip and hyacinth bulbs for at least 6 weeks.

Plant daffodils, dutch iris, ixia, sparaxis, grape hyacinth, freesia, anemones, ranuculus.

Dig summer bulbs.
I never do this. My cannas, dahlias, and gladiolas overwinter just fine.

Annuals

Plant hardy annuals, like calendula, ornamental cabbage & kale, pansies, Iceland poppies, stock, snap dragons, and violas.

Fertilize and pinch back annuals already planted for winter bloom.

Water as necessary.

Pull up spent plants.

Continue to clean beds and borders.

Container Gardens

Plant hardy annuals.

Harvest vegetables, herbs, and cut flowers from container gardens.

When annual plants finish blooming or producing, clean out containers and put contents on the compost pile. Be careful not include seadheads.

Watch for pests and signs of disease.

Kitchen Garden: Vegetables and Herbs

Harvest fall crops: bay leaves, chervil leaves, landcress, parsley, rosemary, sage, winter purslane, winter savory.

Pinch the tips off tomato plants. The idea is to focus the life force of the tomato into the green fruits already on the plant.

Sow cool-season crops in garden or cold-frame. Angelica, beets, carrots, chard, fava beans, garlic, herb bennet, onions, radishes and shallots are good choices.

Plant broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, parsley, sprouts, chard, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, and Asian greens.

Feed, thin, and water crops as needed.

Take echinacea (purple cone flower) root cuttings.

Divide ginger. Divide and cutback yarrow and comfrey. Add their leaves to the compost pile.

Cut back old elder and bennet stems.

Pull and compost spent crops and weeds not gone to seed.

Dig organic matter into soil or plant cover crops in empty parts of garden.

Dust veggies with Sevin to prevent insect damage.

Diazinon granules can line trenches when setting out onions and garlic to prevent maggot damage.

If you live in an area with cold, dessicating winter winds (like the rural hills around Livermore), provide a windbreak for young evergreens and hedges. In the suburban valley where I live, this is not necessary.

Do not cut back young evergreens and hedges like bay or myrtle.
Apply a layer of compost to warm their roots and insert canes in the ground around the plant.
Fix a windbreak of netting or hessian around the canes.

Last chance to bring tender plants indoors. It is possible to grow things like basil all winter indoors if you have a sunny spot for them. I leave my pelargoniums and verbena outdoors unless we are in for a hard freeze.

Mulch tender herbaceous perennials and tender herbs in pots.

Cut back tender herbaceous herbs by half (to no less than 3 inches) and mound a mulch of fallen leaves or compost around their base.
If the mulch is light, you can keep it in place with a layer of netting pegged down with bricks or large stones.
The mulch needs to be at least 3 inches deep to protect the roots from freeze.

To cloche or not to cloche, that is the question.
If your herb/kitchen garden is like mine, your herbs and veggies are part of the landscape and are not planted in rows. This makes it difficult to use cloche (plastic or glass tents) protection. However, you can use woven fleece. Fleece can be put into place quickely and removed when weather is nice. This makes it more applicable to USDA zone 9, Sunset zone 14 because our winters are quite mild.

Fruit

Plant fruit trees, berries, and grapes.

Water new plants deeply.

Stake new trees.

Pick up dropped fruit and fallen leaves; compost if healthy. Fallen leaves become a source of disease in the spring and harbor bad insects if left on the ground over winter. Composting generates sufficient heat to kill insects, their eggs, and some diseases. I recommend against putting diseased material in the compost pile unless you have a very large pils.

As soon as all the leaves have dropped, you can start dormant spray applications. It is best to spray before heavy frosts or severe winter weather sets in. Spray a mix of a sulfur based spray and a dormant oil on all fruit trees except apricots; use a spray formulated for apricots on that particular fruit. Do not spray if rain is expected, and if it does rain right after you spray, you should reapply the spray as soon as possible. To ensure coverage, spray a second time a week after the first application.

Thin and cut back brambles.

Feed citrus.

Protect citrus from frost with Cloud Cover.

House, greenhouse, or conservatory plants

If you still have house plants outdoors, you need to bring them inside. In this area, USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 14, it gets cold enough to kill tender houseplants.
Out of bloom orchids need regular feeding and watering. Keep the bark moist and feed every 2 weeks.

Other: Structural and Special

Check stakes on trees and shrubs.
Spraying diazinon around house can prevent ant invasion.
Change sprinkler times to reflect fall rains.
Tree limbs hanging over your wood shake roofs or within 10 feet of a chimney are potential fire hazards. Trim the away from teh foof ans sweep off any needles or leaves.

References

To Do Index

Jennifer

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This page was last modified Thursday, 25-Sep-2003 16:39:53 PDT