I freely admit to being a bit of a fair weather gardener, but there are some important jobs to do in November before your kitchen garden or allotment goes to sleep for the Winter, particularly getting everything ready for next year and generally tidying up. There are also a few seeds that you can sow this month, although most of them will need to be protected with cloches or grown in a greenhouse.

November tends to get colder and rainier as the days go by, so I’ll be getting out there for a couple of hours of speed gardening this weekend then quickly coming back indoors again to warm up.

Seeds to sow in November

• Broad beans (winter-hardy Aquadulce types)
• Chard (under cover)
• Garlic
• Herbs (parsley and coriander, under cover)
• Japanese onions (under cover)
• Leaf beet (under cover)
• Lettuce (winter types or baby leaf, under cover)
• Oriental greens like pak choi (under cover)
• Peas (winter-hardy round-seeded types)
• Rhubarb crowns
• Rocket (under cover)
• Spinach (short day types, under cover)

You should be able to sow most soft herbs and baby leaf lettuce on a windowsill indoors too, as long as it’s a relatively bright and moderately cool windowsill.

Planting out

• Clumps of biennial herbs
• Fruit trees, bushes and canes
• Garlic
• Japanese onions (protect from frost)
• Rhubarb crowns

Care of vegetables

• Cut and store autumn cabbages
• Lift and store root vegetables (shed or sand clamp)
• Mulch around parsnips & swede if you aren’t digging them up soon

Care of fruit

• Pick and store remaining apples and pears
• Protect fruit buds on apple, pear & plum trees from birds
• Prune vines and fruit bushes after fruiting ends

General garden jobs

• General tidying up and composting
• Collect fallen leaves to make leaf mould
• Move remaining tender plants to under cover
• Move other pots to sheltered areas, protect from frost
• Dispose of plants with late blight or clubroot
• Dig in some manure or add compost

If you sow a few seeds now you’ll have greens and salad by March next year, all going well. I’ve already started off several winter salads and greens, and I’m going to sow some broad beans too his month to get an earlier crop next spring.

Will you be doing some grow-your-own gardening this month?