November bonanza
It is the last week in November and yet, in a sputtering sort of way, the gardening season continues on.
For me, winter has really arrived when the ground freezes solid and stays that way until next April.
So far this year we have had a couple of cold spells, where the temperatures dropped to about 20° F and the ground froze down a few inches, only to have this long run of ‘unseasonably warm’ weather into late November where everything has softened up again.
In all the time we have lived in Vermont (16 years) I do not remember the ground being still soft at the end of November. Last year it was fully frozen by mid-November and in prior years by the first week in November. Climate change is surely coming, and as gardeners we will need to adapt many of our long-term strategies.
However, looking to the short term, for the past six weeks I have continued to harvest the remainder of this year’s crops and been able to ready the garden for the year to come….my version of ‘making hay while the sun shines‘!
The garden is mulched, while some crops continue in the cold frames
In the vegetable garden…
…the kale and leeks are still growing directly in the ground, plus there are carrots and spinach in the cold frames, producing fresh vegetables for the kitchen.
The remaining beds are weeded and covered with newspaper and hay, in preparation for spring planting.
The ever-bearing raspberries are pruned, leave some of the thickest canes to make fruit next summer’s
The fall-bearing raspberry plants are pruned.
For fall bearing raspberries I remove the smaller canes all the way to the ground, but I prune just the top third from the stoutest canes. These will provide fruit during the summer next year, even as the plants put out new canes that will bear fruit later in the season.
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Spreading manure: a fall chore
Manure is spread under the fruit bushes
I was delighted to pick up some nicely-aged manure—a welcome gift from my neighbor Kinna Öhman and her menagerie of cows, sheep and lama—and spread around it under all the fruit bushes in the long perimeter bed.
This manure should help next year’s fruit production
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Indoors…
… leaves from the sage, rosemary and bay-laurel plants, now wintering in the greenhouse, brighten our everyday soups and stews. And, down in the basement, squash and garlic await their destiny in the kitchen.
And in the flower beds…
…I have been taking full advantage of the warm weather, cutting back perennials, weeding and generally re-arranging things in preparation for next spring.
Reflections
The weather have had in Vermont this November is actually the way I remember winters in England as a child.
There, despite the short, dark and oftentimes rainy days, the weather for gardeners was actually quite benign. And my father, like other proper English gardeners, would continue working outdoors for much of the winter, weeding his beds and nurturing his beloved roses, most especially pruning them and spreading manure around their roots. He would be so happy to see my fruit bushes!
But now my family back in England is fretting about the way their climate is changing before their eyes. They tell me that the weather in both summer and winter is becoming positively ‘Mediterranean’.
And certainly gardeners may enjoy the idea of extending the gardening season. But warmer winters are ushering other less benign changes into New England…such as the northerly spread of Lyme disease ticks and certain plant destroying insects….certainly not something that any of us would desire.