Publication Date: Friday, November 04, 2005
Garden tips for November
Garden tips for November
(November 04, 2005) Much to do to prepare for spring show
by Jack McKinnon
We think, as the season moves on toward winter, that our garden work is going to be less and less until all we do is sit indoors and look out on the bleak frost-bitten landscape and dream of spring. In actuality the opposite is true. November is just the start of the work needed for the spring show. There is much to do and harvest is the least of it. Here are the tips:
1. This year's debris will harbor next year's pests. Unless you have a totally pest-free plant (few actually are), then now is the time to clean up under it. The fungus spores, insect eggs and left-over pests are best in the compost pile or otherwise off the property.
2. Harvest all ripe fruit and vegetables. If it isn't ready by November it likely won't be getting any more palatable. The exception of course is the winter plantings you did last month and will do this month.
3. Get all the weeds (and their seeds) either in the compost and covered or off the property. Be careful when pulling or hoeing weeds that have full ripe seed heads. One shake can plant dozens of weeds you will have to deal with later.
4. It is a bit early to do full winter pruning but you can always prune out any Dead, Dying and Diseased (3D's) branches. Actually you can prune these out any time of the year. They not only hamper the health and vigor of the plant, they look ugly.
5. Plant rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and magnolia trees for spring show. They won't be in bloom in the nurseries but you can look them up in your garden book or on line to select the varieties that you like.
6. Cut back fuchsias to stimulate new growth. As they grow out pinch the tips off to fill out the branching. Stop pinching about six weeks before you want your flower show to start. Fertilize regularly with a complete fertilizer.
7. Plant perennials like delphinium, gaillardia, coreopsis, coral-bells, campanula, columbine, Oriental poppy, phlox, salvia, Artemisia and lamium. Look them up in your garden book on rainy days and purchase and plant them in-between storms.
8. The garden is traditionally a place of rest and rejuvenation. Be sure to take time and simply be quiet out there. We are on the go all week long, working, eating, commuting, shopping and attending countless meetings, classes, clubs or functions. Even though we have work to do in the garden, remember to stop, smell the soil and plants around you, listen to the sounds of nature and savor.
9. Thanksgiving this year is on Thursday the 24th. For many of us this means a four day weekend. I recommend taking half a day and visiting a public garden like Hakone in Saratoga, Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco or Filoli in Woodside. These gardens have a wide variety of plants (many of which are labeled), landscape designs and character. A visit to one of these gardens is not only inspirational, gratifying and stimulating it is memorable.
10. When all is planted, fertilized, watered and mulched take some pictures of your garden. Then come March, April and May take some more pictures of the same areas. Put these in your garden journal, you will relish them for years to come.
Good Gardening.
Jack McKinnon worked in the Sunset Magazine gardens for 12 years and is now a garden coach. He can be reached at (650) 879-3261, or by e-mail at jcmckinnon@earthlink.net.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
