Self-Sufficient Veg: November calendar

Autumn magic

Summer has long waned now, days that were twelve hours little more than a month ago seem so much shorter.

It’s true! Hours of daylight change fastest at the equinoxes (about 21st of March and September) and slowest at the solstices (about 21st of June and December), it’s a sine wave if you want to get technical. Then daylight saving changes kick in, the Pagan year ends and it feels winter is almost here.

Upshot is: this is as good as it gets in the northern hemisphere until early March at least. Let that be the guide to your gardening now, make the most of the good days and conditions you find, beacuse it is likely to be the best for at least four months.

If you have a new patch of ground to cultivate then it’s well worth starting to clear and prepare it now, there is much more to do in spring and you may not have enough time then. Besides, this can be a lovely time to spend gardening when the weather smiles, there is something magical about autumn bonfires on a crisp day or the eerie soundlessness of still, misty days; gardening in the early spring just feels grimmer and more pressured by the need to get things done in time.

Any patches with perennial weeds are probably best dug out now. The soil will likely be drier, easier to work, less likely to damage (yes, you can damage your soil, more on that another day) than in spring. Previously dug patches with just annual weeds can be happily left over winter, OK the weeds will steal some nutrients but they reduce waterlogging, reduce possible soil erosion and compaction. An important thing to be aware of: in most places the soil is wetter and colder in early spring than it is in late autumn.

It’s definitely time for a thorough clean up outside if you haven’t already. A final weed of winter crops like brassicas and leeks, you’ll not need to weed again till spring takes off, but if they are competing with your winter crops meanwhile then your yields will suffer. Clear spent crops, otherwise they may harbour disease and pests to plague you in future. Nothing is waste, all the green stuff and annual weeds can go on your compost heap, many perennial weeds will also die successfully in there, but you can burn them along with woody stuff you can’t find a better use for. The ash is useful, too, to protect plants against slugs for a while and to add potash and carbon back to the soil.

There is not much to sow now. If you’re very quick and not likely to get much frost in the next month you can sow broad bean aquadulce varieties (double or triple offset rows about 9″, 23cm apart between and within rows, at least 2′, 60cm between groups of rows, plant seeds 2″, 5cm deep). Last chance for planting garlic before spring (12″, 30cm between rows, 6″, 15cm within row spacing, plant 2″, 5cm deep to top of clove, up to 1″ deeper if you get hard frosts), garlic likes a period of cold – it helps convince it to form a good bulb when it grows. Some varieties of shallots can be planted now but most prefer spring planting otherwise they tend to bolt, be sure yours like autumn planting before you do it now. I would normally aim to do all these plantings by the end of October but if your early winters are mild you should be OK doing by mid November.

Summer crops are over: beans, peas, courgettes (zuccini) and the like. Any remaining pods on peas and beans are probably not worth eating but if they have matured and dried enough you could save them for next year’s seed. Plenty of autumn crops to eat: beetroot, carrot, parsnip, turnip, cauliflower, cabbages, swede, broccoli …

You’ll need to decide whether to lift root crops like parsnips, carrots and others, or whether you can leave them in ground to dig as needed. If your ground freezes over winter then you’ll probably need to lift and store (in sand, peat, purchased or home made compost – slightly moist but not wet). Or you can mulch root crops left in ground to protect them from frost with something like straw, bracken or compost – but beware, mulching can make life cosy for any pests like slugs and grubs of cabbage and carrot root flies, experiment and don’t put all your eggs in one basket is my suggestion. If you have a persistent snow cover through the worst of winter it is surprising how well many crops survive in the ground, but you’ll probably need to mark the rows with a tall stick so you can find them and mulch them till the snow gets established.

Some salad crops should keep growing for a while yet: winter lettuce, mizuna, spring onions, radish. These are worth protecting with cloches if you can, that way they will last longer and grow more. Perennial herbs can be potted up and brought into a greenhouse or cool, light indoor window ledge for winter use. In UK crops like winter brassica greens (kales, brussels sprouts, savoy cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli, spring cabbage) and leeks are more likely to be damaged by hungry pigeons than the weather provided you choose hardy varieties. Many survive down to 10°F, -12°C, so zone 8 should be fine, zone 7 is getting risky, zone 6 and below you will almost certainly need some protection like horticultural fleece – seek local knowledge.

Squashes, marrows and pumpkins need to be harvested and stored, they should easily last 3 or 4 months if you keep them cool and frost free. If you have a root store or cool (about 40°F, 5°C), fairly humid, space drumhead cabbages will store for months, too. Whenever you store vegetables for several months it is really important that the are in good condition and not damaged. Now is the time to check through your previously stored potatoes, onions, shallots and garlic to weed out any that are going bad, you should do this again every month or so over the winter.

Winter crops like leeks and brussels sprouts are beginning to crop if you have grown early varieties. Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) are ready to dig when their foliage dies but will keep in the ground for harvesting as needed through till March provided it doesn’t freeze too deep, mulch if necessary, they store better in ground, chop their tops off near the ground and save for bean poles – they often grow 10′, 3 m tall and the poles will last a season.

Next up I’ll talk about what you can realistically achieve with your plot, whatever its size.