Welcome Services Design Styles Design Ideas Global United States Shopping More Info
November Garden Calendar Here Comes The Rain, Again
November garden calendar is the start of the
California
rainy season, and has more rainfall than October. It's also traditionally got the largest percentage of overcast days of any month of the year, so factor that into your landscape design efforts, and the number of days you can be out doing work for your November garden calendar. It's in November, particularly late in the month, that you need to be aware of the risk of freezes and frost damage. In terms of tasks and chores, this is the time to start your trimming and pruning. It's also the time to enjoy the fall colors in their full glory – yes, even California has fall colors.
Watering Needs And Pest Control
For most of your plants, watering can be handled by mother nature; however, whenever you aren't watering, you should be paying attention to molds, mildews, and fungal blights. Spot checking tasks for the November garden calendar should include regular checks for red thread in lawns, a pest that needs to be watched for (and treated with spot doses of a high nitrogen fertilizer) throughout the winter, at least through February.
Do put time in your November garden calendar to check on your flowers and vegetable gardens – particularly if you go a week or so without rain. Double check any new plantings for their water needs. If you have watering basins around plants in clay soil, this is the time of the year to open them, to make sure they don't flood out the root systems.
This goes double for fallen fruit or veggies left to rot on the vine, so be careful to get everything and put it down into your compost heap for next spring's organic addendum.
Your November garden calendar is also the time to remedy leaf curl in your pitted fruits. Spray it with lime sulfur or fixed copper sprays at 50% or so. Weaker sprays aren't as effective; you'll want to spray after a rainfall to ensure maximum absorption.
Pruning And Trimming Tasks
This is the beginning of the pruning and sculpting season, an important focus of
landscape design.
We suggested you start trimming and thinning your evergreens last month; the November garden calendar is the prime time to either catch up or finish them off – you want to get your evergreens trimmed and thinned before the winter storms kick up with high winds.
It's also the time to look over your fruit trees, look at what branches produced well, and what ones didn't, thinning selectively.
Most of your deciduous trees can also be trimmed and pruned at this time of year to good effect, the November garden calendar is very tree-focused. Shrubs tend to remain active longer, so put them off until December.
Lawn Care and Fertilizing
If you didn't use a complete nitrogen-phosphorous-potassium fertilizer around the end of October, put Lawn fertilization into November's garden calendar early; your window for this is between November 1 and November 10th – they'll keep your lawn green and healthy throughout the winter, by giving it the nutrients it needs to make up for the reduced light of the winter months. November is also a good month to put re-seeding or re-sodding thin patches of the lawn on the garden calendar, and if you've got a heavy patch of crabgrass, to put in a turf-and-feed preventative herbicide in.
November Planting
November's garden calendar is when you should be planting those tulip and hyacinth bulbs you put in the refrigerator back in
September;
be sure to put some super phosphate down beneath the bulb to give them a good start. These can keep your landscape design attractive and lovely throughout the month.
If you're looking to add trees to your landscape design, November's garden calendar is a good time to do it, as they'll all be showing fall colors. There are a handful of trees that provide colorful flowers this time of month, most notably sasanqua camellias.
For a more naturalistic garden, plant wildflower seeds towards the middle of the November garden calendar – rake and aerate the soil, press them in, and put the soil over the top, and they'll do fine. It's also not a bad idea to plant native shrubs, like manzaninta, toyon, ceanothus and coffeeberry.
November's garden calendar is the prime time to harvest cabbages and Brussels sprouts that you planted in late August and September; these should be harvested just before the first chill to retain peak flavor.
If you've got a fig tree, this is the time to harvest the fruit; figs are a natural for California's climate, and they make a nice jam. Black Mission and Brown Turkey figs do well all across the state, while Genoa and Kadota give a white flesh fig that's delicious. Use Genoa on coastal regions, and Kadota inland.
We have enjoyed writing this November Garden Calendar and hope it helps you in your garden.
By subscribing to our free newsletter you will be notified about the coming monthly calendar along with tons of advice on landscape design. When you subscribe you'll also receive our bonus e-book '10 Tips for Creating a Beautiful Landscape Design'.
Joining is very simple, just fill out the form by
clicking this link
to get started on your 'free issues' of The Landscape Design Flash.
Landscape Architect and Contractor Referrals for California including the San Francisco County, Contra Costa County, Diablo, Alamo, Moraga, Lafayette, Blackhawk, Orinda, Fremont, Marin County, Kentfield, Mill Valley, Belvedere, Larkspur, Tiburon, Greenbrae, Oakland, Berkeley, Piedmont, San Mateo County, Hillsborough, San Martin, Atherton, Woodside, Portola Valley, East Foothills, Milpitas, San Jose, Los Angeles, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Palos Verdes Estates, Manhattan Beach, Rolling Hills, Montecito, Rancho Palos Verdes, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, San Marino, Claremont, La Canada Flintridge, Holmby Hills, Thousand Oaks, Bel Air, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Orange County, Newport, Coto de Caza, Dana Point, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Orange, Mission Viejo, Irvine, Tustin, Yorba Linda, San Diego, Carlsbad, Coronado, Rancho Bernardo, La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch, Poway, Encinitas and Del Mar... to name a few
Translate this site to the language of your choice
Do put time in your November garden calendar to check on your flowers and vegetable gardens – particularly if you go a week or so without rain. Double check any new plantings for their water needs. If you have watering basins around plants in clay soil, this is the time of the year to open them, to make sure they don't flood out the root systems.
