November means garden cleanup and spring bulb planting

Bright days and chilly nights of November bring football games, Thanksgiving plans, piles of colorful leaves. At the beginning of the month, yellow, red and orange leaves still wave in cool breezes, but by mid-November, this scene will be changing.

A cold wind starts blowing down the last leaves, and rain is matting them to the ground. Get out the sweaters and corduroys. Light the first winter's fire and enjoy the coziness of home and hearth. Holidays are quickly approaching.

Outdoors, the hardy asters and chrysanthemums are still blooming in November, and the purple, cream and green ornamental kale is doing its job to brighten up the late fall garden. Some pansies and hardy perennials, such as coneflower and coreopsis, will bloom until the first frost.

The outdoor gardening chores are dwindling, but some remain: raking of leaves, overseeding and fertilizing of lawns, division of certain perennials and the planting of spring-blooming bulbs.

November is also the time to clean up and bring in lawn furniture. Don't forget the barbecue grill. Empty it out and haul it inside, or else cover it for the winter. Large furniture pieces that stay outdoors, along with fountains and statuary that needs protection also should be covered for the winter.

Finish tidying up flowerbeds by pulling up dead annuals and trimming old growth from perennials. Apply a new layer of mulch for winter protection on all flowerbeds and around trees and shrubs. Remember to put out the bird feeder and fill the birdbath before putting the hoses away for the winter.

Make sure roses are adequately protected against winter cold with mulch and protective layers of soft peat, straw or burlap wrappings.

Clean and put away garden tools and supplies. Storing them in November in an orderly fashion only makes next spring's work easier, quicker and more enjoyable. Invest in some standing shelves, wall shelves, pegboard or other items to help with organizing all gardening materials.

INDOORS

Indoor greenhouse

• If you have created an indoor greenhouse, use it for the annuals, such as geraniums and petunias, that you have brought in for the winter. The excellent conditions here will help them thrive over the winter months, so you can take cuttings or root divisions for transplanting in the garden in spring.

• For indoor winter color, start some coleus seeds and you'll soon have brightly colored plants to cheer the winter along. These sprout easily in the right conditions and are generally used as shade plants outdoors, so they can survive indoors without a lot of bright light. Coleus can also be propagated with stem cuttings placed in water and allowed to develop roots.

• If you have no indoor greenhouse, consider constructing one in November. (See Indoor Greenhouse on Home Page for details on setting this up.

Houseplants

• Start bulbs in containers for indoor forcing. These take several weeks to develop and need a period of dark and cold in order to mature. (See Forcing Bulbs section on Home Page for details on choosing bulbs and preparing them for indoor forcing.) For example, paperwhites (narcissus), if started at the beginning of November, should bloom by Christmas.

• During November and the following winter months, do not feed houseplants more often than every six weeks. Make sure they are near windows with adequate light, and away from cold drafts and heat registers. Check frequently for dryness, but don't over-water. Stick your finger in the soil. If it feels moist at about an inch deep, don't water. If it feels dry, water.

• If you brought in patio containers and the plants are starting to look stringy and leggy, cut them back to force new growth at the base of the plant. Do not feed and don't over-water. Make sure they have good light, since most of these plants have been accustomed to outdoor conditions. If they are faltering, place them under a grow light or put them in your indoor greenhouse for a couple of weeks.

• Plants that have been brought inside should be checked for insects, such as aphids and spider mites. Apply controls where needed.

• If you are caring for a poinsettia, remember to keep moving it into a dark closet each night, and then back to sunlight during the day. Poinsettias need at least 14 hours of nearly complete darkness each night in order to produce their colors in time for Christmas.

OUTDOORS

November Tips for Lawn Care

• Apply a winterizing lawn fertilizer, if you didn't do it last month.

• Apply soil amendments, such as lime and gypsum, this month. The lime will correct acidity, which commonly is too high under pin oak trees. It also helps counteract the winter application of salt or ice melt on driveways, sidewalks, front steps and streets, which harms grass. The gypsum helps loosen heavy clay soil, but it takes a while to do its work. A product such as EnviroMax works well to loosen heavy, compacted or clay soil.

• Remove deeply matted leaves. Consider keeping some mulched leaves in bags to use on spring gardens as mulch; or apply them in November as winter mulch.

Annuals

• Ornamental kale should be doing well in the cool, rainy weather of November. Remove leaves that collect around kale and feed the plants. Keep the soil mulched. Watch for pests, such as worms, that attack kale and other cool weather annuals.

• Kale actually is a vegetable, and can be used as food for the winter table. Look up some recipes and try it for a new taste. No need to dig up the plant. Just pull off the number of leaves needed for the recipe.

• If you are just planting kale at the beginning of November, place the heads in close bunches for a more dramatic color effect. Rows or groupings of purple kale interspersed with rows or designs of the more leafy green-and-cream colored kale present a lovely winter garden scene.

• In cleaned-up flowerbeds, till the soil and add organic matter, which will decay over the winter and add nutrients for next spring and summer's plantings.

November Tips for Bulbs

• Finish planting spring-flowering bulbs as soon as possible, before rain and cold make the work unpleasant or too difficult. November is a good month to plant tulips. Remember to add soil amendments and fertilizer, such as bone meal to the planting soil.

• You can still successfully plant daffodils, crocus, snowdrops, hyacinth, iris and other spring blooming bulbs.

• Dig and store tender bulbs, such as cannas, dahlias, gladiolus and others. Store these in a dark, cool, dry area in containers of sawdust or other moisture-absorbing material.

November Tips for Perennials

• It is too late for the planting of most perennials, except peonies, oriental poppies, balloon flower and hollyhock. Other perennials are more shallow-rooted and are better planted in spring.

• Mulch perennial borders and beds. This helps prevent heaving during the winter and also stops the soil from warming up too much during premature “heat waves” in February and March, which will cause too-early sprouting.

• Some hardy chrysanthemums and asters will still be blooming. Let them fade naturally and leave flowers and foliage on the plants over the winter. You can remove them in the spring. Light mulch, such as straw or hay, will provide protection; or you can dig a few clumps and store the roots over the winter. These perennials should be divided in the spring.

• Prepare hybrid roses for the onslaught of winter. Cut back tall canes to about 24 inches, but do not prune roses at this time. Mound loose earth –not heavy clay soil – around and over the bushes. Then apply mulch over the rose bed.

• Remove young climbing roses from trellises. Peg them to the ground and cover with soil. Older ones may be wrapped in straw and held in place with burlap. Older roses growing on fences and walls can be left to fend for themselves.

• Roses may be set out this month, provided they are strong and dormant plants. Few such are available at this time in the Midwest. Roses planted in November should be watered thoroughly and pruned to about 12 inches high, mounded with soil and mulched, as with established roses.

• Most of the following will bloom sporadically until frost and continuous cold temperatures:

Dividing, seeding and transplanting

• Some perennials can still be seeded or divided and transplanted in November. However, the weather is quickly changing, so sooner the better. With small seedlings or root cuttings, wait until spring. Here is a list of some of the plants that can be handled this month:

Pests and diseases

• November allows you to see bare stems and branches of trees and shrubs, so inspect them for dormant insects. Pull off and destroy bagworm cases from evergreens. Also look for white egg masses of the marked tussock moth, and the egg masses of the tent caterpillar. Examine lilacs for oyster shell scale. Cut off and discard damaged branches, but wait until spring to spray.

Pruning

• Do not prune spring-flowering trees or shrubs in November. They should be pruned in the spring after they have flowered, unless they have damaged or hazardous limbs.

• Prune dead limbs from non-flowering trees and shrubs. Look for weak or damaged limbs that may become hazardous to people or property or may split off and damage the plant in high winds or under heavy snow.

Tools and equipment

• Even if you are still using the hose periodically, it's a good idea to start storing it indoors between uses. The freezing and thawing of winter weather can cause cracks and ruin good hoses.

• Check out the gardening sections of hardware stores and see if there's anything that you need to repair or replace for spring. Some nurseries may still be open, as well.

• For indoor planting needs this winter, prepare potting soil and keep in a container in the garage or basement. Include perlite, vermiculite and sphagnum moss. This soil-less mixture is excellent for starting seeds indoors.

• If you have a snow blower or snow thrower, considering taking it in for a tune-up this month. Many lawn and garden equipment centers offer this service.

• Check the snow shovel. Repair or replace before you need it.

• If you have not done this already, clean the garden tools. Remove caked soil, cover metal parts with a thin film of oil or grease, and hang them out of the way or store elsewhere.

Trees and shrubs

• Fruit trees generally are not planted until spring, but good dormant root stock can be planted in November. Make sure they are watered well and mulched adequately. If several weeks pass without adequate moisture, water new plantings.

• Clean up the ground under fruit trees. Remove fallen fruit and don't allow it to stay and rot over the winter—even for the birds. Rotting fruit can draw insects and could cause disease.

• Apply dormant oil spray or antidessicant to broad-leaved evergreens. This will help them retain moisture and will deter damaging insects and larvae from finding homes in their branches over the winter.

• Apply three to six inches of mulch to broad-leaved shrubs and newly planted trees about mid- or late November, or when the ground freezes.

Watering

• Keep newly transplanted trees and shrubs watered as needed. If it doesn't rain for five to seven days after transplanting, water these. Don't allow their soil to dry out.

• Remember to turn off water supplies to the outdoor spigots! Winter will be arriving soon and it only takes a couple of sub-zero days in a row to quickly freeze—and possibly burst—those pipes.

• If it's a dry winter six weeks or more with no precipitation, you can turn the outdoor water back on for brief periods of watering. But remember to turn that water supply back off, and bring in hoses, which will be damaged by freezing temperatures.

Birds

• Start inviting the wintering pairs of cardinals, gold finches, pink-breasted finches, robins, chickadees and others to your yard by providing a birdfeeder.

• To keep large pest birds, such as blue jays, grackles, blackbirds and crows, from overtaking a birdfeeder, look for a type that has a closing mechanism when birds of heavier weights land on its bar in front of the seed tray. This also seems to work well against scavenging squirrels.

Miscellaneous

• Have soil tested this month by a county extension agent, a garden center specialist or do it yourself with a purchased kit. Add the needed soil amendments this month or next, weather permitting.

• Review your garden journal. Finish up notes on what you tried, what worked, what didn't work and what you'd like to remember for the next planting season.

• While this year's season is still fresh in your mind, update your overall garden plan. Make notes about what you didn't accomplish this year, what needs extensive work next year, and other changes, repairs or updates you'd like to make next season.

• If you have kept track of spending and followed—or tried to follow—a gardening budget, November is the time to balance the accounts. See where you overspent, underspent, had surprise expenses, and where you'd like to make fiscal changes next year.