November in the Kitchen Garden
A Busy time in the garden! Guide to growing for November from the Crop Rotation Poster.
November has raced up out of the blur that has been 2025 and now here it is. The roses will be out this month, the bearded irises are bursting forth, the perennials are preparing to go off – and the weeds are clamoring to make their presence known as well. This time last year I was talking about how to avoid overwhelm in the garden. I have to remind myself every year as, like many of you, I am busy at work and don’t always get out into the garden and the weeds can get away on me.
November is the time though when I am reminded why I garden. I love seeing everything bursting forth and as the days lengthen and the weather warms up, its much more pleasant to be outside.
It is reallystill late spring in my part of the world. We had snow here last week and been beset by terrible winds. My garden is pretty sheltered fortunately and there are some things you can do to protect your seedlings. I plant courgettes (zucchini) into soil that has been mulched with lawn clippings, then build up the warm clippings to the same height as the plants. Not touching them but encircling them. Plastic 2 litre soda bottles with the bottoms cut out to cover other baby plants to protect them. The netting cloches are also good to protect from wind with the added bonus of protecting from the chooks as well.
I’d just like to remind you that for those of you who have already got a copy of the Crop Rotation Poster, it would have come with a Cover Sheet that tells you how to use it, and also how to tweak it for your particular climate by noting down what month matches your season. If you can’t find your copy let me know and I’ll email you one. It will look something like this. Once you figure out when you months fall, then you can go to your Poster and see what to do this month/season in your garden.
For most of you down in the southern hemisphere, you will be late spring early summer. So you can plant everything now. The soil should be warm enough for beans and all the warmth-loving plants such as tomatoes, capsicums, courgettes and so on. You should also be harvesting some of the fruits of your previous labour. Asparagus is at its delicious early stage, you might have some young broad beans ready, salad vegetables can be picked and the Rhubarb is ready.
Group 1. Legumes
Just about everything can go in now that it has warmed up. Sow beans directly into warm soil. I have beans sown last month that are up – germination will increase this month with the warmth. I will plant some more corn plants this month in that bed and push a climbing bean beside it as a support. Otherwise use bamboo or wood stakes to form support. I am trying out organic Borlotti beans as well as the regular French butter and green beans. Get the kids out planting beans and peas. Dwarf beans are a good option as you won’t need to stake them. A row of green and a row of butter beans looks good on the plate.
Group 2. Green Leafy and Brassicas.
Keep sowing and planting lettuces and other green leafy vegetable. If you like the sowing thing start sowing brassicas to be ready for summer planting and winter eating. I have put some plants in and will watch and see how they do with the pesky white butterfly and it’s equally pesky green offspring around. Some people wait to plant out until the threat is over. All gardens are different so get to know your garden. Observe what goes on and when and make notes in your diary. This is the way to learn what works and what doesn’t. Think about how some plants grow to maturity earlier than others – in this bed you can have quick growing lettuces interspersed or in a row next to your slower growing brassicas. Plant your other green leafy crops such as silver beet, asian greens etc as well. Keep sowing for regular planting.
Group 3. Warmth loving plants.
If it was too cool or windy at Labour weekend then get your tomatoes in the first few weeks of November. Make sure they go into a warm spot – either protected by wall or in a hot house of some sort. They are gross feeders so should be loving all the manure you put in over winter and now well rotted. Keep moisture up until fruit set next month. Also plant capsicums and chillies and auburgine. Plant out your earlier grown courgettes, pumpkins, cucumbers or sow direct into the ground. Sow basil in any gaps – this herb is more like a green leafy vegie in cultivation needs – it prefers warm rich soil rather than the dry bony soil of the more Mediterranean types.
Group 4. Root Crops.
How are your early potatoes doing? Mounding up is something you might have heard granddad talk about if you are a young gardener. As the leaves emerge, you can dig down the rows and mound up the soil on top of your row. If you have plenty of compost use that and top off with straw or mulch of some kind. The reason you mound up potatoes is to provide extra growing area and increase your crop. The plants will grow further and therefore have more tuber growing capacity. It also stops those spuds near the surface to not turn green which will make them inedible. I can’t wait to dig those delicious early planted potatoes in time for Christmas dinner.
Get your kumara in if you are in the warmer northern parts of the country. Jealous. As with potatoes you might like to have a separate bed somewhere else if you have the room but if you can slip a row in – go for it. Traditionally you plant Kumara when the shining cukoo starts to call in spring. They will take up to 5 months to mature though so if you still haven’t heard the bird – plant anyway!
Meanwhile in the other parts of your root crops bed dig over any areas you haven’t already sown seed and get another row of carrots, beetroot or parsnip in. It is important that this is well cultivated as these root crops don’t like lumpy bumpy soil. They want their strong root to go down directly into the soil. Sow direct into the ground. Once your bed is nicely dug over, firm up the bed (seeds like firm soil to anchor into) then make a furrow. Carefully sow the fine seeds down the row. Some people mix with sand to make it easier but otherwise use your forefinger and thumb to space out as much as you can. Later on you will thin them out.
Once you have sown this seed cover the row with a wide board, hessian sack or similar to protect while germination takes place. Keep watching though and remove the covering as soon as the seeds start to emerge.
November at a Glance.
Sow: All leafy green salad vegies, brassicas, such as cabbage, cauli, broccoli etc. Beans can be sown direct 15 cm apart and 5 cm deep. Sow beetroot seed about 1 cm deep. Carrots. Sweet corn 15cm apart groups to aid wind pollination. Main crop potatoes. Parsnip.
Plant: Plant out seedlings you have been growing indoors in pots as weather warms and days get longer. Onions, pumpkins, tomatoes, capsicums, courgettes, celery.
Cultivate: Keep weeds at bay by hoeing or hand weeding. Mulch. If your early potatoes are up you can mound up now and mulch with straw.
Harvest: Broad beans, asparagus, lettuces, silverbeet and lots more.
Fertilise: Keep the liquid fertilizer up to your garlic bulbs as they will be putting on some size underground now.
If you haven’t got a copy of the Crop Rotation Poster, just go to the Store and purchase either a hard copy or a pdf.