Gardening in November

November is probably my favorite month of the year. As much as I LOVE Christmas and Spring time, there is just something about the quietness of November that makes me feel peaceful. All the craziness of autumn harvesting and Halloween is over and the insanity of the holidays hasn't kicked in yet. When it comes to gardening, however, November is pretty laid back. Since we moved this summer, I don't have a lot of harvesting and preserving to do. Here are a few of my small projects I've been working on.

1. Raking up leaves and putting them on the garden beds. My one year old has been helping me by carting leaves in her little garden cart. So adorable! Because our only tree is a Sargent Cherry with small leaves, I haven't worried about shredding them with the lawn mower. Don't waste your leaves by throwing them away, flower beds and vegetable beds can use a warm blanket of leaves during the winter. I've been piling them up over my garlic bed, herb bed, and the berry beds.

2. Plotting out my garden beds for spring and smothering the grass underneath. Fall is the best time to make plans for next year. Also, keeping grass out of your garden can be a pain. It's a lot easier to cover the ground with a tarp, cardboard, and/or grass and leaf clippings in the fall and kill the grass underneath.

3. Foraging for walnuts. Our local township park has two large walnut trees that sit unappreciated. My daughter helped me look around and collect a couple buckets full of walnuts. My mom has been growing and harvesting them for decades.

4. Planting spring bulbs. At first, I planned on planting tons of spring bulbs but finances are tight so instead I planted one bag of crocus bulbs and plan on buying one bag of bulbs per year. It'll be fun to see how they thrive in the years to come.

What about you? What have you been doing in your garden this November? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below.