November growing guide
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Although November is technically late spring, it always seems to have a very summery feel to it. With the first round of summer edibles in the ground, the young seedlings are oozing with the promise of banquets to come – you can almost taste it now!
Veggies
Plant ginger and turmeric from trusted shop-bought roots that are plump, firm and haven’t been refrigerated. Work plenty of manure or compost into your soil, then plant roots 6cm deep in a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade.
Zucchini are fast-growing, warm weather-loving plants, ideal to grow from seeds or seedlings in a rich, sunny site. Try ‘Black Beauty’ for a large dark green fruit or mix it up with a yellow variety like ‘Golden’. Want to take them from veggie patch to plate? The flowers are delicious stuffed with cheese and herbs.
Similar to zucchini, eggplant are hungry plants so prepare the soil with plenty of aged manures, compost and pelletised fertiliser. They’ll do even better if you prepare their bed a month prior to planting. Keep them from drying out with plenty of water and a straw mulch to help contain any moisture.
Apply liquid fertiliser to veggie gardens weekly to promote healthy growth. Vegetables that are planted out in spring will especially benefit. We alternate each week using seaweed, worm juice, weed tea and a complete fertiliser such as ‘Powerfeed’. Alternating your products adds microbial diversity to the soil (meaning plump, delicious veggies!).
Fertilise all wet season root crops such as yukon, sweet potato, yam bean, cassava and water chestnuts with a quarter-strength dose once a month.
What to plant in the veggie patch.
Amaranth, artichoke (globe), asparagus, asparagus pea, beans, beetroot, broccoli, burdock, cabbage, capsicum, carrots, celeriac, celery, chicory, chillies, chives, coriander, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, okra, oregano, parsley, parsnip, potatoes, pumpkin, radish, rosellas, salsify, silverbeet, squash, sunflower, sweet corn, tomatoes, turnips and zucchini.
Fruit
Stone fruit is ripening and susceptible to fruit fly attack. See ‘Pest watch’ for control measures.
Apply potash to all fruit trees, especially feijoa, citrus, avocado and mango, to strengthen them against a wide range of warm-season fungi. Also apply to passionfruit vines as they start flowering to promote strong fruit set.
Remove the runners from strawberries to increase productivity. Tuck mulch beneath the plants to keep the berries sitting high off the soil.
It’s time also to think ahead and plant pawpaw, passionfruit and tamarillo now for crops next year. All grow best in frost-free areas. Plant in mounds, about 15cm high, to reduce the risk of root rot in wet conditions.
Now is also a great time to plant pineapple and pomegranate.
Natives
Cut back your callistemon, prosanthera and hakea by a third to promote healthy, compact growth.
Prune banksia and grevillea back lightly to shape after flowering. Remove all dead, weak and rubbing branches and encourage healthy new growth by applying native plant food and then water in with iron chelates. Mulch, keeping it away from the trunks.
Summer flowering shrubs such as the NSW Christmas Bush need to be kept well-watered and mulched to give you the best possible flowering for Christmas. Do not fertilise until after they have flowered to avoid encouraging new vegetative growth that hides the flowers. This plant also makes a tremendous cut flower throughout its flowering season.
Pot up a Wollemi pine into a large container to create an indoor Christmas tree for next month. For the rest of the year it can make a fabulous pot plant for your deck or courtyard, where it can become a talking point.
Flowers
Plant sun and heat- loving annuals such as torenia, celosia, vince, zinnia and african marigold to add summer colour. In shady areas, go for Coleus and Impatiens.
Plant tough perennials such as salvia, cistus, lavender, rosemary, thyme and daisies.
Fertilise water plants such as waterlilies with fertiliser tablets for aquatics. Wrap each pellet in a muslin bag and bury it deep inside the soil in the plant’s pot.
Spring bulbs should be kept watered and given fertiliser until the foliage dies off. Cut off the dead -heads, especially of those that are liable to self-seed. If the garden bed where you grew them is liable to be watered fairly well in summer, you can dig up the bulbs once the foliage is gone and store them in net bags in a cool, airy place until autumn.
Soil
Top up your mulches. This reduces moisture loss and moderates soil temperatures during summer, and also helps to suppress weeds. Apply a 5cm-8cm layer of organic mulch (sugarcane or lucerne) to your vegie patch, fruit trees and all your garden beds. Before doing this, make sure you water the ground thoroughly or wait for some good, soaking rain.
Composting worms slow down in hot weather so keep them cool by providing shade and regularly wetting them down. If they go off their food, don’t overfeed.
Pest watch
Watch for fungal diseases on roses and vegetables. Warm, humid weather allows these diseases to thrive so keep plants healthy by feeding regularly, removing disease-affected leaves and spraying with an organic fungicide.
Apply organic fertilisers and liquid seaweed to keep plants well fed. Many pests and diseases that affect plants in summer can be prevented, or at least reduced, by having plants in good health.
Aphids love the new growth of many plants but try to avoid spraying, even the organic stuff, as it can knock the beneficial insects as well as the baddies. Ladybugs are the natural predator of the aphid,. So so let’s try leaving a few aphids and seeing if whether the ladybugs come.
Effective control of fruit fly requires a combination of good hygiene by removal of affected fruit, baiting to trap pests to reduce numbers, and protecting fruit with fine exclusion fabric.
Control bronze-orange bug, which harms young citrus’ growth as it feeds. Young bugs are camouflage green and turn dark brown at maturity. Spray with a horticultural spray oil or vacuum them off trees, emptying the bag into a bucket of scalding water. Make sure to pProtect your eyes from any acid fluid - they squirt when approached.
Garden care
This is your last chance to move anything around before the heat hits. Prune, lift, soak and replant into a well-prepared spot, and water.
Keep a close eye on any new plantings. At the nursery, plants have been watered constantly, so will need the water kept up to them for at least a month until their root systems have had a chance to establish.
Now is the best time to take tip-cuttings from soft-wooded plants. Use the top 10cm-20cm of an active growing shoot tip.
Check irrigation systems to ensure they are working properly, with all spray heads and drippers running freely. As the weather warms up adjust irrigation systems in response to the plants’ increased water needs.