November Gardening Essentials
Better late than never.
I have to admit I am writing this for myself. I wanted to write a monthly gardening post for a year, and this month, I just haven’t had the motivation or health to get around to it until now. I have had a cough that won’t quit for a month, and I had a trip to San Diego for my niece’s wedding, which I officiated, so I am a little burnt out and tired.
Before I left, I sowed in broad beans and peas and covered my beds with cardboard to suppress weeds. I have just been digging around, pulling up the last of the summer garden and basic prepping for next year, and for my Solstice Garlic and Onions.
As a reminder, I am in Lazio, Italy, near Rome. My region typically falls between gardening zones 8a and 11a in the northern hemisphere.
What’s in Season?
It is officially citrus season! It is such a joy to have so many different types of citrus available in central Italy. Lemons, mandarins, all sorts of oranges, citrons. Not much in the way of limes, but that’s ok. My favorite fall tree is the persimmon tree; the leaves are incredible, and if the leaves have fallen, most of the fruits are still attached and look like Christmas balls. For us bitter lovers, radicchio is in season. SO many colors of pinks and purples. They are so delicious, especially the vanilla. Chestnuts, mushrooms, small purple artichokes, all the brassicas, lettuces, cardoons, potatoes, celery root, pomegranates, and new growth cicoria. It’s a bounty for sure and a great time for foraging. It is truly a delicious time of year, and relatively easy to eat a rainbow.
What Work To Do and what to plant?
Now is the time to prep beds and protect them for winter. In most English gardening books, they will say to lay compost in your beds, but I think it’s a waste of compost; the cold will damage all the microorganisms. Leave it in the boxes over the winter. The worms will thank you.
Now is a good time to sow borage for spring. I personally make seed bombs with perennials and throw them around the edges of my garden. These will sprout earlier, giving bees and other pollinators something to forage in late February and early March.
If you grow tulips, now is the time to get them in beds or boxes. They like a cold snap.
It’s a little late for transplanting cabbage and broccoli, but if you have set up tunnels, you can still get them in the ground before it gets super cold. In my area, you can still sow in spinach, peas, lentils, cime di rape, and carrots, and if you haven’t already, sow in some broad beans. They are one of the best cover crops around and delicious!
Lunar cycle
Full Moon: November 5th
New Moon: November 20th
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Please consider making a donation to the Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library in the West Bank. The Palestine Heirloom Seed Library (PHSL), founded in 2014 in the West Bank village of Battir, began as an attempt to recover ancient Palestinian seeds — and their stories — in order to get them back into people’s hands and hearts. PHSL is an interactive art and agriculture project that also aims to start conversations, exchange knowledge, and share the stories of food and farming that have been buried away, waiting to sprout like seeds. It is also a living archive of stories of people and plants, and it aims to inspire a new world using the seed as a dissident traveling across borders and checkpoints to defy violence and oppression while reclaiming life and presence.
Please avoid genocide seeds bred in Israel.
In Italy I buy genocide free seeds from Cercatori di Semi and Sativa.
The seasonal bounty you describe sounds absolutly incredible. Im jealous of all those persimmons and citrus varieties! The tip about not laying compost in beds over winter to protect microorganisms is really smart, I never thought about cold damage that way. Do you find that cardboard supression works well through the Italian winter rains?