Had our first FREEZE last night; 31 degrees when I got up this morning. Brrrr! I am in growing Zone 4/5, so my following list of chores may or may not apply to your Zone quite yet - or ever, but here goes!
My chores for November, in no particular order:
*Deal with Pumpkin Processing - move winter squash from greenhouse where it's curing - to the basement.
*Clean up grow light rack - it accumulates so much JUNK during the season, it's ridiculous! Check light banks and replace bulbs as needed. Put fresh, unwrinkled aluminum foil across back for more light reflection.
*Sort and organize seeds; start thinking about what to grow next season and hit some end of season seed sales on-line. (I'm pretty well stocked, but I've decided on more flowers for next season.) Pro-Tip: Got a little bit of various seeds left from lettuces, spinach, arugula and kale? Mix them up and put the mixed seeds in a jar and plant them as a 'patchwork' of baby greens for next spring. It always turns out so pretty, and I'm going to use them all together in a mixed salad, anyway, so why not grow them all together? They have the same growing needs.
*Work on my Garden Journal. Yep. I've decided to pick mine up again and carry on! It is cathartic fun for the coming Winter Gloom. I have TONS of seed catalogs stashed, with more to come of course, and lots of clipped articles and pretty photos to add to it. My glue stick is at the ready! Some is useful, some is whimsical.
*On a sunny, windless day, do some spray painting of garden decor that needs it. Wooden bird feeders could use a cleaning and face-lift, too! Look around for some new garden flags for next season, or sew my own this Winter. The ones I have now are pretty much faded rags. Not pretty! Not cheerful in the least!
*Clean up and then ask Beau to sharpen some of my hand tools, pruners and hoes. Come to think of it - kitchen knives could use some sharpening too in preparation for the Thanksgiving Feast!
*Dig the last row of potatoes; German Butterball. I've kind of been saving them just for us and left them in the ground so my Mother didn't abscond with them all, LOL! I am hosting Thanksgiving this year and I want mashed taters from my own tater patch. Yeah, I'm kind of a show-off that way. ;)
*Start stockpiling bird seed. I do NOT want to have to run to the store for that, once the snow hits and they really need it. We have two containers we keep on the porch in Winter with screw-on lids, about the size of old metal milk cans, that hold a lot of seed and keep it safe from rodents or foraging squirrels and raccoons. Also, make bird suet and get that in the freezer for later use.
*Check my stash of gardening books and keep what's best suited for me and my garden and donate the others to the Library. Same goes for cookbooks. This stuff accumulates, but I never use EVERY BOOK, so releasing books into The Wild, where they can do some good for another, is always A Good Thing, Martha!
