November 2002 Table of Contents

GARDENING
Jack Hardy

November is a wonderful month for gardening. The weather is cool and crops sown during September and October give evidence of your industry.

Now is a good time to plant the true cool weather crops like garden peas and cauliflower. Surprisingly, snow peas grow very well and produce heavy crops. Edible podded peas make shucking a thing of the past as long as they are picked early. Cauliflowers should have their leaves tied as soon as heads begin to form, even if the package claims them to be self blanching.
Lettuces, particularly loose leaf varieties, grow well when sown in November. It’s a good time spinach as well.

If you have not sprayed your citrus and fruit trees for autumn then you should not let much more time go by. Fertilize around the base of the tree and along the drip line, then spray the foliage with a micro nutrient mixture.

The cool weather brings back impatiens with their marvellous array of colours. Another winter bloomer is the perennial kalanchoe which is particularly attractive in reds and yellows. Hummingbirds love red kalanchoe. Kalanchoe only flowers in autumn and winter and stays in leaf all summer. Plant caladiums beside kalanchoe to provide colour during the summer season. Pentas blooms all year round and comes in a wide range of colours which attract hummingbirds.

November 2002 Table of Contents