Allotment Growing	Sunday 06 July 2008 Allotment Diary

Allotment & Vegetable Gardening in November

Allotment & Vegetable Gardening in November

There is no such thing as an absolute set date for a job in gardening, for a start temperatures vary according to where you are in the country.

Winter comes earlier to Scotland than Devon. Next, each year is different; some warmer and some colder although the trend is toward warmer the exception proves the rule.

So, adjust for where you are and the weather

Harvest

Usually November means the hard frosts have started and it's time to harvest winter cabbages and cauliflowers. Sticking with the brassicas, the Brussels sprouts should be starting. You are allowed to eat them on other days as well as Christmas day!

Leeks should be about ready, just take what you need and leave the rest to stand until required. You could still be harvesting celery and celeriac, kale and kohl rabi as well as turnips, swedes and spinach.

The carrots should come up for storage now, either in peat or sand or even a traditional clamp.

Parsnips will stay in the ground but if the weather turns really cold, you need to cover them or you will not be able to take them from frozen ground.

Jerusalem artichokes will be available and you can start on Salsify and Scorzonera. Salsify is often called the 'vegetable oyster' and properly cooked is a wonderful vegetable.

It's worth checking any vegetables you have in store and removing anything that has started to rot before it spreads. Potatoes especially need to be checked and watch out for slugs that have emerged from a potato to go and damage another one.

General Jobs in the Garden

Digging can continue, when weather allows. Particularly with clay soils, digging when the soil is wet and sticky can do more harm than good. It's also more hard work.

As with October, as ground becomes vacant, you can dig it over and spread manure over the surface. Leave the soil roughly dug in large clumps and the worms will break these up as they get the manure. The freezing and thawing of water in the soil will cause the soil to break up finely so becoming easier to handle in the spring.

October and November are good months to undertake double digging, incorporating manure into the bottom of the trench and deepening your topsoil.

Ensure compost bins are covered to prevent excess rain leaching the nutrients and to keep some of the heat of decomposition in.

Leaf fall should be well underway and to recap on October's advice:

The leaves will start to fall very shortly and these are a valuable resource. Prepare for them by building a leaf mould cage. Very simple to do, you just drive four stakes into the ground and staple chicken netting around to make the cage. Pile in the leaves and leave them alone for a year. You will find the pile reduces by two thirds at least, so keep filling the bin as more leaves fall. If you have one those marvellous garden vacuum mulchers that suck up leaves and chop them, you will find the leaves rot down much more quickly. Watch out for council sweepers, they may just drop you a load of leaves when they call to collect a few veggies off you.

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

Time to plant your garlic cloves now. They actually benefit from a period of cold, which prompts growth later. They don't like to sit in water, so if your soil is heavy and holds water, try dibbing a hole with an old spade handle or suchlike. Put about an inch of sand into the base and plant the clove on top, filling above with fine compost. This ensures good drainage and stops rotting.

Broad beans can be sowed now to gain an early crop next year, although more northerly areas can find germination so poor as to make the practice of autumn sowing counter-productive.

You can also sow some hardy pea varieties such as Meteor.

It's too late for most green manure crops except for grazing rye to hold nutrients in the soil for the spring, when it will be dug in.

Remember the pigeons will be on the look out for food, so net your brassicas to keep them away. It's worth removing any yellow leaves from your winter brassicas. They are doing no good and encourage diseases such as botrytis.

Fruit

Apples and pears can still be available as are autumn fruiting raspberries. As with October, November is a good month to attend to the raspberries, blackberries etc. It's also a good time to plant new canes, adding some compost and 8oz per square yard or 250 grams per square metre of bonemeal to keep them well fed.

Check any young trees are well supported with stakes and ties. Stakes can tend to work loose, which means they won't be doing their job of preventing wind rock loosening the roots.

You can prune your apple and pear trees now.

In the greenhouse

As per October, give the greenhouse a good wash down and clean up prior to insulating if you intend to use it through the winter. Decrease ventilation but do give the greenhouse a good airing on fine days to stop disease developing and especially downy mildew.

Successional sowings of winter salads can continue.