November Is Not the End of the Gardening Season

November usually brings a major seasonal change, including the first anticipated frost for many of you. This is the month that most people tuck their gardens in for a long winter's nap, but it doesn't have to be this way. Especially not if you have raised beds, which keep the soil warmer for longer. Even when I lived in Chicago (which might as well have been the North Pole as far as I was concerned), I was still planting and harvesting through Thanksgiving.

Here's the main thing I want you all to know: The arrival of frost is not the automatic end of your growing season. It's just the beginning of your cool season. That means a new round of plants—and they're some of my favorites! Many of you will enjoy nice, cool weather for long enough to grow some carrots, spinach, and Napa cabbage, and some of you can even garden all winter long.

With that in mind, here are the tasks to complete in your garden in the month of November. Get them all done and then go enjoy some turkey time with your family!

Harvest Before Frost Arrives

If you haven't experienced your first frost of the fall yet, you should be harvesting as much as you can from your warm season fruiting plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Many of these warm season plants slow their growth once the temps cool down and they receive fewer hours of sunlight. So take what you can get from them, knowing their time in your garden is coming to an end.

In addition to harvesting fruits, cut heavily from your herbs. Many herbs (basil excluded) will survive some frost, but they'll soon slow down their production or die back for the winter.

For those of you in areas that have already experienced your first frost of fall, you can still be harvesting from plants like spinach, kale, lettuce (if protected under some type of cover), carrots, and radishes.

Thin Root Crops Planted in October

October is a great month to plant root crops like carrots, radishes, and beets. Now that these little roots have sprouted, November is the ideal time to thin them to ensure each little plant you keep has enough room to grow to its fullest potential.

Here's your tasty reminder that the leafy green tops of carrots, radishes, and beets are all edible. Take the little plants you've thinned and toss them on salads, soups, sandwiches, and wraps.

If you're having a dry fall, make sure to water your roots regularly so that the soil stays moist for best flavor.

Collect Seeds from Flowers and Bolting Herbs

If you haven't already collected seeds from your favorite annual flowers and herbs, the time to do so is typically before your first frost. Heavy frosts can damage the seeds and make them useless for next year. Take seeds from seed heads that have dried fully on the plants and bring them indoors to dry out a bit more before storage.

Here's how to save seeds from dill, cilantro, basil, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, and calendula.

Remove Frost-Sensitive Annual Plants

Make sure to remove plants that can't tolerate frost once your first freeze is in the forecast. Those zinnias sure were beautiful all summer long, but they won't stay that way once the temps dip below 32°F. The easiest way to remove plants is to cut them at their base with a pair of pruners. Leave the roots and all those beneficial microbes in the soil. The plants you pull can be tossed into a compost pile as long as they're not suffering major pest or disease issues. (If they are, make sure to put them in the trash instead.)

Here are the plants to remove before your first frost and what you can keep through November and perhaps even into December, depending on your climate.

Many gardeners use this time to cut down perennials like coneflowers and black-eyed Susans. I prefer to leave these plants be through winter. They can still serve as sources of food and shelter for overwintering insects and small animals.

Protect Plants from Frost

By the time your neighbors start busting out their Christmas lights (which seems to be happening earlier and earlier each year), you should be ready to cover your plants to protect them from frost when needed. Plants that are frost-resistant don't need to be covered for light or moderate freezes, but you'll definitely want to cover plants that are frost-tolerant and anything that was newly planted.

There are many different types of covers you can use to protect your plants from frost, including row covers, hoop houses, garden cloches, and cold frames (AKA mini greenhouses). Whichever cover you choose can help you grow longer into November and then start planting earlier in the spring. Learn more about using covers to protect plants from frost.

In addition to covering your garden, make sure to water the evening before a freeze is expected. Wet soil releases heat more slowly than dry soil.

Order Seeds and Gather Seed Starting Supplies

Don't wait until January to order all your seeds for spring. That's when everyone else is trying to order seeds too, and you'll likely have trouble trying to buy favorites like French Breakfast radishes or Danvers carrots.

Think about your favorite plants to grow in the cool season, whether that's broccoli, kale, Swiss chard, spinach, carrots, or radishes. Go ahead and buy seeds for those plants now.

Now is also a great time to gather supplies for starting these large cool season plants like broccoli and kale indoors. Here are the supplies you'll need to start your favorite seeds indoors, from LED lights to our favorite seed starting trays.

Perform a Fall Garden Clean Up

While I typically leave all those fallen leaves in my yard through the winter, I do spend some time raking up leaves in my garden beds in November. It's not a good idea to allow fallen leaves to hang out in your garden for too long. They can spread disease to your soil and give pests a nice little hiding place.

Speaking of pests, cleaning the soil surface can uncover pests that were intending to overwinter in your garden. Clean your garden before Thanksgiving for a much healthier garden space come Valentine's Day (or whenever you start planting for the spring).

Don't forget: any leaves and garden debris that show signs of disease should be bagged up and put in your trash.

Plant More Vegetables for Your Fall Garden

Just because it's November doesn't mean it's time to throw in the trowel for winter. There are many plants that love growing in the chilly November weather and can handle some frost. And those plants just happen to be some of my favorites.

If you have a short time before daily frost and/or snow, focus on these fast-growing plants that can be ready to harvest in just 50 days or less:

• Napa cabbage
• chives
• kale
• radishes
• spinach
• arugula
• purple mustard

Many of these plants actually taste sweeter after a bit of frost. Other frost-tolerant vegetables for November planting include root crops like beets and carrots, brassicas like broccoli, plus lettuce plants and even some herbs like dill and parsley. Again, make sure to have frost cloth, cold frames, or even just some old sheets at the ready to protect your plants on freezing nights.

November is also a good time for many gardeners to transplant strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries—again, as long as you're ready to protect them from frost.

If you'd like to add some fall color, plant frost-tolerant flowers like pansies, dianthus, coneflowers, snapdragons, mums, and asters.

Plant Garlic Cloves

Garlic is typically planted in the fall by cloves. Check your local weather forecast to make sure you get your cloves in the soil before it freezes over for the winter.

Garlic cloves won't actually grow and multiply into bulbs during the coldest months. Instead, they'll establish their roots before the ground hardens with frost and settle in for a long winter's rest. Once the soils warms up in the spring, they'll begin to produce greens and form their bulbs underground.

Here are the three steps to plant garlic in the fall.

Pot Up Your Favorite Plants to Bring Indoors

If you’re in a warmer climate, some plants like peppers and herbs can spend the entire winter in your garden just fine. For those of you in colder climates with long periods of frost and snow, you might want to pot up some of your favorite herbs and pepper plants to bring indoors.

To pot up plants, first prune the top of the plant to let it know you’re not expecting new production over the next few months. Then, carefully dig around the base of the plant and pull up both the plant and a lot of the soil it’s currently growing in. 

Choose a pot that’s a little bit larger than the rootball and add a little extra sand and compost to the bottom of the pot before sliding your plant into its new digs. 

Move your pot to a south-facing window and check the water level about once or twice a week, especially in the first few weeks.

Learn more about overwintering herbs indoors.

Buy Holiday Gifts for Your Gardener Friends

You can check one thing off your holiday to-do list in November, and that is to grab gifts for all your best gardening besties. We've rounded up gifts for gardeners under $30 and our favorite holiday gift ideas.

Don't Close Up Your Gardening Shop in November

As you can see from this checklist, there is still so much you can do in your garden in November. Even if you don't plant anything new this month, you can still keep your garden clean so that it's ready to grow again next year (or just plant the entire bed with garlic!).

Here's to extending your gardening seasons this fall!