By U. C. Master Gardeners
The winter rains have started early this year, catching some of us off guard. Make sure you turn off those sprinkler systems. You probably won't need them again until April or May.
This time of year, cleanup is the main chore in the garden. Remember, tiny weeds are easier to pull than big ones, and small piles of leaves are easier to deal with than large ones. Save those leaves for your compost pile. Make sure your yard is free of litter, wood and pots—all perfect homes for earwigs, slugs and snails to raise their next generation.
November is also a good time to assess last year's garden. As you remove trellises or other supports, evaluate how well they did, and whether you want to make any changes next year. I got a great idea for tomato supports by walking through the gardens at a local restaurant this year. They attached chicken wire to several four-foot-high posts and ran it the entire length of a raised bed. Climbing vegetables were planted on either side. It looked great and the vegetables were easy to reach for harvesting.
Make note of what vegetable you planted in each bed this year so you can rotate your crops next year.
Prepare sites for bare-root plantings of trees and shrubs later this winter. Once the steady rains begin, the ground may not dry out sufficiently to be worked, so dig the holes now, add compost or other soil amendments and cover them with plastic.
It's time for trees and shrubs to go dormant for the winter, so don't feed them. They probably won't need any more water, either.
If you are planning to leave some of your vegetable garden fallow this winter, consider planting a cover crop instead. Cover crops control erosion and build soil tilth and fertility. Annual grasses, clovers, peas and fava beans do well in Napa County.
If you've built watering basins around trees and shrubs, knock them down so they will not keep the winter rains standing around trunks all winter. Most plants do not appreciate "wet feet."
Keep an eye on the moisture around newly planted evergreens and perennials. New plantings, even those that will be drought tolerant once established, need to be watered regularly in their first year. If we have several days without rain, they may need supplemental water.
You can plant bulbs any time from now through December. Remember to let the soil dry out before planting. Working wet soil damages its structure.
For your winter vegetable garden, you can plant seeds of carrots, fava beans, radishes, and spinach, and put in garlic, onion and shallot sets. Artichokes and asparagus crowns can be planted now. You may still be harvesting pumpkins, winter squash, potatoes, chard and other late-season crops. Pick persimmons and pomegranates after their leaves turn color and begin to drop.
You can also plant flower seeds now for early spring bloom. Consider wildflowers, cornflowers, alyssum, linaria, poppies, sweet peas, larkspur and love-in-a-mist. Nurseries have many flowering plants that will perk up winter gardens. Look for pansies, violas and primroses, or try some varieties you haven't planted before. Good nurseries will know what will grow here now, so don't be afraid to ask. It's also a good time to find bargains at nurseries. They want to sell out of their container-grown trees and shrubs, and now is prime planting season in Napa Valley.
After you've finished the garden cleanup, tend to your tools before you put them away for the winter. Sharpen pruners and shovels, wash tools and apply a thin coat of oil.
Now sit back and wait for all of those new seed catalogues to start arriving. With luck, we'll have many long evenings of listening to the rain and planning what will go in next year's garden.