Late November Gardening has its benefits

Chilly November mornings quickly turn into warm, late fall days, perfect for spending time in the garden. Even though it’s a quiet time, there’s still things to do in the landscape this time of year including cleaning up any left-over leaves and debris, adding mulch to roses and perennials, spreading soil amendments on the vegetable garden and wrapping up some chores that somehow linger from week to week. 

First of all, gather up any leaves that last week’s high winds blew in. Use them to mulch around herbs, such as Chamomile, mums and other perennials. Fallen leaves can also be used to improve the vegetable garden. Simply scatter them across the top of the beds, then cover with two or three inches of compost. The leaves will break down over the course of the winter, improving soil structure and protecting microbial life. Even if you don’t have any leaves, top dressing your garden beds with organic material this time of year will improve soil health and structure, protect those all-important micro-organisms living in your garden soil and make your spring preparation much easier. 

Bagged compost such as Sheep, Peat and Compost make it easy to add two or three inches of organic material to your beds. A one cubic foot bag of Sheep, Peat compost will cover ten square feet, two inches deep. 

This is a good time to add mulch to your perennials and roses. Four or five inches of mulch will help preserve moisture and keep the ground stable through the winter. Choose from Gorilla Hair Mulch, Western Cedar Mulch or Soil Pep.

While you’re at it, give your roses and perennials a good drink.  As to those lingering chores. There’s still time to wrap young trees to protect them from winter damage. There’s still time to plant some bulbs for spring color. There’s still time to send a soil sample to Colorado State University for testing. 

And there should always be time to spend walking through the garden, enjoy in the ornamental grasses and a colorful mum blooming late in the season.

You may even discover a lady bug enjoying the afternoon sun.  Even in late November, time spent outside is good for you and your garden.