What to plant in the edible November garden

Portable row cover 
Sunday, November 2, 2025

You can still plant for the edible garden in November.  Plant seeds of cold loving crops.  Many cold season crops have much better germination success when it is cooler.  Even if they don't grow rapidly during fall and winter, they will start growing quickly at the end of January.  For those seeds that don't germinate now, they will come late winter, early spring when conditions are right.  Cover can be used for all the harvestable edibles to extend the harvest all the way through to spring.  

What is a four season garden?
You can garden year round in small space
Planning for a four season garden

This month you can sow more greens, carrots, beets and herbs in the portable greenhouse or under cover.  You can also transplant perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs.  Don't forget garlic if you haven't already planted yours, you still have time!   Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Here are the crops you can start in the November Midwest edible garden:

November seeds outdoors
Austrian winter peas

Fava beans

Garlic

Rutabaga

Lettuce-winter hardy varieties

Snow peas

Spring bulbs

November seeds under cover

Arugula

Broccoli and Sprouting Broccoli

Celery
Corn salad

Endive
Escarole

Frisee

Lettuce, Winter Hardy types

Mustard and Mustard Greens

Parsley and Parsley Root

Radicchio

Rutabaga

Scallions

Sorrel
Spinach

Swiss Chard

November transplants
Asparagus

Cabbage, Oxheart

Winter and Perennial Onions

Trees and bushes

Transplants for winter and overwintering

Portable greenhouse

Look for cold hardy varieties when planting for winter harvests.  You will be surprised to harvest all through the winter months things like greens, onions, Austrian peas, carrots, sprouting broccoli, and cabbage.  You can also extend the harvest by looking for the same crop with different days to harvest timing so that they mature at different times and those that are advertised as winter hardy.  

 Fall planted crops take longer to come to harvest size than they do in the spring.  Rule of thumb is to add 2 weeks.  It's because the days are getting shorter rather than longer and the temperatures are falling.  Sowing in November, some crops may not sprout until spring.

The south side gets much more sun during the winter than does the north side.  More sunshine also gives the ground more warmth so planting or moving pots to the south side will help the plants grow faster and produce longer.  You can create an even warmer microclimate by placing pots against the house.  

Covering plants when there is a cold snap in the fall will keep them warmer and growing quicker, too.  I cover my edibles with the portable greenhouse or row coverings once daily highs are no longer getting into the 50's and night time temperatures are dipping down into the 20's.  If your portable greenhouse or row cover has vents, you can cover crops now with the vents open.  You can use cover to help your crops grow faster and to extend the harvest all the way to next spring.  Extend the season with protection for plants  Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter 

November 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Late November edible garden
Saturday, November 1, 2025

November is the time of year we, and Mother Nature, burrow in for the cold months ahead.  It is also a beautiful time of year with the kaleidoscope of fall foliage colors and crisp, clear days.  Late fall chores should include cleaning up your garden beds, reflecting on the gardening season completed, and preparing your fall and winter edibles for the frosty days ahead.

Garden bed clean up

To prepare your garden for its winter nap, remove gardening debris from your beds.  For any diseased vegetation, be sure to throw these away and not compost.  You don't want to propagate and spread any diseases to other parts of the garden.  A really hot compost pile will kill them but it isn't worth the risk going into winter.  I leave most seed heads on the flowers in the garden for food for the birds over the winter and for reseeding of annuals that the birds miss.

Remove stakes, trellises, and tomato cages and store for the winter.  Clean and oil all garden tools.  Clay pots will crack if allowed to hold water when they freeze.  Either empty, cover or bring under cover for the winter to protect from breaking.  Make sure your hoses are drained, your watering cans are emptied, your water barrels are emptied and disconnected from gathering water for the winter and your outdoor faucets are insulated for the winter. 

This is a good time to make sure your compost and composter are ready for cold weather.  Compost provides nutrients, beneficial microbes, fertilizer and overall improves your soil’s condition.  Outdoor compost piles go slowly in the fall and winter, but speed up as temps rise in the spring.  I use an insulated stainless steel tumbler type composter with 2 bins.  This time of year, I fill up one side with garden waste goodies from tidying the garden and empty the other side of its finished compost so it is ready for the winter adds.  I also cover my tumbler composter with a grill cover when it rains or snows to keep the compost from getting soaked.  If doing compost piles, it is a good idea to cover them for the winter.  Super wet compost will not decompose; compost needs to just be damp.

It is critical to keep the greens and browns in the right ratio to keep the compost cooking in the winter.  You want to add 1 part "browns" to 3 parts "greens" to keep the microbes in balance.  I find that I need to add shredded newspaper to mine in the winter because there aren't many "browns" coming from the garden or kitchen.  We have chickens so I'll use their used bedding for my browns.   Here are some tips if your composter/compost pile starts having issues  Troubleshooting your compost pile

After your garden clean up, look to give your garden a nutritional boost for the winter months.  Doing a nice layer of compost and organic fertilizer, topped with mulch, will allow the nutrients to seep into the garden soil, ready to give your spring plants a boost.  The mulch will keep the soil more temperate during the winter months for your winter edibles and keep weed seeds from sprouting.  Organic fertilizers take a long time to release their nutrients.  Using in the fall will give the spring garden a running start.  It is best to get a soil test done to make sure you are keeping the nutrients in the right balance.  You may need only nitrogen.  If a soil test shows you need to make major changes, fall is the best time to do this to give the soil the winter to equilibrate.  Local Extension Offices will analyze your soil for a nominal fee or for free.  The next step in garden production and your nutrition-soil minerals

Reflection on the past garden season

While the past gardening season is still fresh in your mind, now is a great time to jot down some notes on what went well, what didn’t, and what you would like to research over the winter.  Make a list of the varieties that did great that you want to replant, which plants you want to be sure to have more, or less, of next year.  Also make note of how many plants make sense to plant for next year.  Here are my reflections last fall for the edible garden.  Reflections on the 2024 edible garden and the 2025 plan

Keep track of what you eat over the winter to give you a good idea of what and how much to plant come spring.  This year, I am writing down what I have in the pantry and freezer so I can see come spring how much is left to adjust what I plant.  How much to plant?  Use this winter to figure out what to grow in the spring!

Even if you have a small area, you can grow most of what you eat.  How to decide what to plant for small spaces?

Fall is a fabulous time to make new garden beds.  It is super easy, too.  Just use a hose to outline your new bed, fertilize, put down a layer of cardboard (earthworms love cardboard!), a layer of compost, and cover with mulch.  By spring, the new garden bed will be ready for planting.  We have added one on the south side so far this fall and I am going to add another small one in the back for berry bushes.  Easy ways to make a new vegetable garden bed

Gardening after the first frost

For western Kentucky, the average first frost date is end of October.  We haven't had a frost yet but it looks to be coming soon.  When the lows start getting 28 degrees F or below, this is a killing frost for the summer veggies.  Be sure to harvest the remaining tomatoes, peppers, okra, basil, eggplant, cucumbers and squash before your first hard freeze.

Green tomatoes and peppers can be brought indoors to ripen on the counter.  Green peppers are great as they are.  You can let tomatoes turn red or eat as green tomatoes.  I remember my grandmother making fried green tomatoes every fall.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  Many make them into relish, too.

One vegetable that surprises me with how long it stays good just sitting on the counter are cucumbers.  I have kept cucumbers through February.  I just found a hidden one in the garden yesterday.  I'll likely make it into dill relish.  Quick tip-make homemade pickle relish

There are many edible crops that can still be planted in November.  You really can eat fresh out of the garden year round, even if you live in Zone 3.  Greens, asparagus, herbs, winter onions, broccoli, rutabaga, fruit bushes and trees and perennial flowers are a few of the crops that can be planted this month.  It is not too late to plant your garlic.  Growth does slow down from end of November to mid January as daylight hours dip below 10 hours.  For more on planting in November,  What to plant in the November edible garden 2023

I cover my greens with a portable green house to keep salads coming all winter when it calls for the temperatures to dip down around 20.  When I grow other cold season crops like broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, I use a floating row cover to keep them warmer and improving growth.  For cold climates, using cover is the key.  You can garden year round in small space

I have lettuce starts that are getting to a good size to plant into their winter pots.  When I move my outdoor pots into their sunny spot for the season, I will finish transplanting the lettuce seedlings into them.  It is likely too late to start seed for plants that you can harvest this winter, but it will give a boost for spring harvests.  I use gallon jugs of water inside the portable greenhouse to keep the temperature more moderate, too.

If you have a cold frame or greenhouse, you can sow spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets, cold hardy herbs, kale and mustard this month.

If you are using uncovered pots, putting the pots on the south side, in a sunny local and close to the house will keep them from getting frost bit into November or even December for cold season crops.  It seems to extend the season for 2-4 weeks.  Prepare for hard freeze

Late November potted lettuce

For the herbs you cut back earlier in the season to dry, November is a great time to now strip the stems of the harvested leaves and put into jars for winter cooking.  You can make your own “Herbes De Provence”.  Thyme, oregano, rosemary, savory, basil, tarragon and lavender are common herbs used in this famous French seasoning, but any combination is tasty.  I mix them up in about equal amounts and store in a sealed Mason jar.  It is great to add to just about anything-sauces, chicken, fish, potatoes, garlic bread.  Makes wonderful Christmas presents, too.  Make your own "Herbes de Provence".

For those that keep on going into the winter like thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, chives and tarragon, I would prune back the plants by about two thirds and strip the leaves from the cut stems.  Do so when there are warm temps forecasted for a few days to allow the plants cut ends to heal.  Otherwise a cold snap can kill the plant.

Use your herbs for your Thanksgiving meal Use your own herbs for your Thanksgiving dinner   More than likely you will have some edibles still growing in the garden.  Take a look and plan your meal around them.  Some winter hardy edibles include kale, broccoli, cabbage, chives, sage, thyme, corn salad, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, plantain greens, celery, mustards, even some hardy lettuces. 

Fall is the time I can

Tomato sauce in Weck's glass canning jars

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

Canning is a great way to preserve your own harvest.  You can also buy organic produce that is on sale from your local grocer or from your local farmers market.  When the produce is in peak season, it is the most healthful and the least expensive of the year.  I freeze all my extra tomatoes, then come fall, I can all the frozen tomatoes from last year. 

When you can, you have to follow the recipe exactly to make sure it is safe to eat.  When canning acidic foods like fruit or tomatoes or anything using vinegar or sugar, you can likely use only a water bath.  All other canning requires a pressure canner to get to high enough temperatures to kill off the bacteria that cause botulism.

Here are some web pages and resources to use:

Mother Earth News canning tips

Mother Earth News “How to Can” app

National center for home food preservation  http://nchfp.uga.edu

USDA’s Complete Guide to Home Canning http://goo.gl/pwrxd

“Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving” book

“The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving” book

This week I canned all the extra frozen tomatoes from last year and canned deer stew meat.  Tomatoes can be preserved with a water bath while any type of meat requires pressure canning for food safety.  All you really need when canning high acid foods like tomatoes is a tall stock pot with lid, tongs, a stainless steel spoon, a towel to put the hot jars on, a cutting board to stage the hot jars, and your canning jars.

Here is the recipe from Ball’s “Complete Book of Home Preserving” for tomato paste:

9 cups of pureed tomatoes, 1½ cups of chopped sweet bell peppers, 2 bay leaves, 1 teas salt, 1 clove of garlic.  I'll also toss in some of my dried mixed herbs for flavor.  About a tablespoon or two per batch.

 

I put it all into a large pot and let simmer until it is the consistency and taste I like, about 2.5 hours.  Remove the bay leaves and garlic.  Boil the jars, lids, and seals as the sauce is close to done.

 

Add 3 teas of lemon juice to each hot pint jar, fill with the hot tomato sauce to within ½ inch of the top, and seal the lid, following the instructions for the type of jar you are using.  Place all the filled jars in a large pot, insuring they are fully covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 45 minutes.  Remove from canner.  Let cool.  Test the seal after the jar is completely cool.  It should not lift off.  That’s it!

I also use water bath canning for pickled garlic, pickles and pickle relish.

Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

Make your own pickles without a store bought seasoning mix

Make pickle relish

A concern many of us have nowadays are all the chemicals in our food.  Read on for my quest and answers to non toxic canning.

Many of the lids in today's canning jars contain BPA or other chemicals.  BPA is a chemical that studies show act like estrogen in the body and babies and young children are especially susceptible to its effects.  In 2012, BPA was been removed from baby bottles banned by the FDA, but is still found in many products including conventionally canned foods.  Even those that advertise BPA free can contain other substances that are just as harmful.

My Granny canned during the summers I spent with her when I was little.  We were growing tomatoes in our little flower/veggie garden and my husband loves those big slice pickles on his burgers.  I wanted to learn how to put away our extras like she did. 

My handy Ball canning book revealed that tomatoes, fruits, and pickles are high acid so they do not require a Pressure Canner; only a water bath was needed.  Makes it an inexpensive experiment.

I read that many canning lids also contain BPA.  So, what other options were there?  I found these beautiful glass lids in an antique store.  I also bought the jars with the wire closure.  All I needed now were the rubber seals and some directions!

Old fashioned canning jars, 1946 canning pamphlet, Weck's glass canning jar

I searched the web to see if I could find any instructions on how to use old fashioned canning jars.  No luck.  Then I went to Amazon to see if there were any books on it.  I found a 1946 pamphlet “Steamliner Pressure Cooker-Instructions for Cooking and Canning.”  Success!  It was great fun browsing the pamphlet.  It was also very thorough in its instructions on how to use the old fashioned canning jars.

I went on line and ordered a variety of seals, sticking with ones that were not made in China and were natural rubber.  I wasn’t able to find any that fit well with my cool, old fashioned jars.  I also learned that the glass lids needed very tall rings to seal properly to modern Mason jars.  The modern rings you can get today were just too short to close properly.

I went antiquing again to get tall rings.  I found some in antique stores and on eBay.  The rings are harder to find than the lids as they do rust.  I probably have twice as many glass lids as I do tall rings.  They can be used on any regular mouth sized jar.  Wide mouth jars were not being made at that time so I haven't found any wide mouth glass lids..

Then, I ran across an advertisement for these beautiful glass jar with glass lid made in Germany-Weck’s (it is the second from the right in the pic).  Finally, a modern non-toxic canning jar!  They come in a variety of sizes.  I have pint (half liter) and quart (liter) size jars.

Later I discovered a plastic lid that is also BPA free that can be used with modern jars made by Tattler, made in the USA since 1976.  They are a seamless replacement for the metal lids with today's canning jars and shorter rings.  I stick with the glass lids.

The Weck’s work great.  Easy to use, easy to know that the seal is good, and beautiful to look at.  I highly recommend them.  Since I started using these glass jars, I have seen other European makers of all glass jars and lids available, like Terrina Ermetico and Bormioli Rocco.

The antique glass lids with tall rings work well but are a little more finicky in the proper way to tighten and loosen the seal before and after canning.  I use both the antique glass lids and Weck glass jars since I have so many of the antique lids.

Happy canning!

A fall tradition-fried green tomatoes

 

Sunday, October 19, 2025

Tomatoes will survive a light frost, but not a freeze.  If you still have green tomatoes on the vine, make sure you pull them before the first killing frost.  You shouldn’t harvest tomatoes from a dead vine.

There are a few techniques you can use to prolong your tomato harvest: 

*You can cover your plants with a sheet when calling for frost and removing when it warms in the morning.  

*You can keep them going even longer if you put a portable greenhouse over them.  Be careful to vent your portable greenhouse very well when it is in the 50’s or warmer and sunny.  It will be a scorcher inside and you’ll have roasted tomatoes.  

Extend the season with protection for plants

*You can bring any potted tomatoes indoors and they will continue to produce in a sunny spot.

There are several things you can do with your green tomatoes: 

*You can make green tomato relish.  I just love all the fun flavor combo’s I see folks coming up with, from spicy habanero to sweet sorghum.  Your imagination is the only limit!  Easy, low tox canning of summer's bounty

*You can wrap them individually in newspaper and store them some place dark to ripen.  I have had tomatoes keep until February.

*Or, you can go all out and have fried green tomatoes!

I remember my Granny making them each year.  I don’t have her recipe, but you can use a spicy fish breading, like Andy’s Cajun.  You simply slice your tomato, dip in the breading, fry in oil, and enjoy!

Even if you have a small space, you can grow tomatoes in a small garden spot or in a pot.  There are lots of varieties out there developed to stay compact.  Compact tomatoes for small spaces and pots

It is garlic, perennial onion and shallot planting time!

Overwintering onions

Sunday, October 6, 2024

There are many perennial alliums.  Alliums include garlic, chives, leeks, and onions.  Fall is the time to plant perennial alliums like potato onions, walking onions, shallots and garlic.  

Garlic, leeks, shallots and onions will continue coming back year after year unless you pull them.  If they are not big enough the first year, leave them and they will come back bigger the following year.  For the biggest onions and cloves, fall is the best time to plant.  You can plant in the spring but your garlic cloves will be much smaller and your shallots and onions will have many fewer and smaller bulbs.

There are also Egyptian walking onions, potato onions, and shallots which are considered “multiplier” onions.  They continue spreading out from the single bulb you plant.  As long as you leave a few bulbs behind, they will come back the following year.  Egyptian walking onions are usually pulled and used fresh, but they can be conditioned for a couple of weeks and stored for months like potato onions.  Egyptian walking onions  

If you grow garlic, you will likely find that the following year you have garlic sprouting again even after harvesting the bulbs.  Many garlic bulbs will have little “bulbils” that become detached from the bigger bulb when you pull them.  These babies come back up the next spring.  I also had many bulbils from my hardneck garlic flower tops.  I will plant them this fall too.  It'll likely take at least 2 years for them to get large enough to harvest.  From the bulbs I harvested this summer, I will take the biggest cloves and plant those for next year's harvest.

Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

In my Zone 7a, here is the recommendation on fall planting times:

September through October plant Egyptian walking onions

Mid-October until mid-December plant garlic, potato onions and shallots

Plant about 1" deep in soil rich with organic matter and well-drained, 6" apart for individual cloves or bulbs.  I already added the phosphorous and potassium my soil test said to add this spring so I will put a handful of blood meal for nitrogen under each bulb at planting.  If you haven't done a soil test, you can add a balanced fertilizer in each hole as you plant.  In the spring, continue to side dress with nitrogen every 2-3 weeks when growing resumes.  If using blood meal, use 1 cup per 10 feet of planting.  Alliums prefer a soil pH of 6.5-7.

I have issues with voles in my garden.  They are supposed to be repelled by blood so I am going to use blood meal as my nitrogen source when planting to see if that helps.  I have also planted daffodils and creeping thyme all around my beds as they re supposed to deter voles.

To protect against a severe winter freeze, apply a few inches of mulch over the bed.

I ordered potato onions from Southern Exposure last summer and them last fall.  Since they did not grow much, I did not dig and divide them.  I will add compost this fall to see if that gets more growth next season.  The Dutch Red Shallots they substituted for half of the potato onions did pretty well so I have dug them, will divide and replant here in the next month.  If my shallots are happy in the bed, I should get 4-12 shallots from each bulb come spring.  Potato onions increase by 3-8 fold in weight from fall to spring, but mine were very small when I planted them last fall and did not do much.  Since mine are still on the small size, I will likely get a larger bulb and a smaller bulb from each one planted if they are happy with the garden bed conditions.

There is a risk if there is a really hard winter that you can lose many or all of your fall planted potato onions and shallots.  Using mulch can help protect against the loss.  Southern Exposure recommends planting the biggest bulbs in the fall and saving the smallest bulbs to plant in the spring as an insurance policy.

In our Zone 7a, I have not had an issue with an extreme winter killing my bulbs, but I do use mulch in all my gardening beds.

I wanted potato onions since they multiple underground and have a long storage life.  I'm guessing that it will take a couple of years to get the potato onions really going so that between them and the Egyptian walking onions, I should not have to buy cooking onions any longer.  

Sweet onions do not store for long so I will still buy one of those every month or two for burgers.  I did also order sweet Egyptian walking onions that I have not gotten.  I had only 1 survive the first year.  They'll be an experiment to see if I can substitute them for sweet bulb onions for burgers.  It's fun to try new things in the garden!

I have many, many bulblets from my existing Egyptian walking onions that I will also plant.  These walking onions have the taste of a white onion.  Each bulblet with produce a full size Egyptian walking onion bulb (about the size of a leek) if planted individually so they have room to grow.  You can plant them 2-4" apart.  Since I have so many top sets, I am going to plant each topset instead of breaking them apart.  I'll plant them around 12" apart since they will grow a cluster of onions.    

For more on growing onions,  

Onions-everything you need to know to grow 'em

Alliums are very nutritious, easy to grow, and tasty.  Try some in your garden this year!

Fall garden checklist

 

Sunday, October 12, 2025

As summer comes to an end and the cooler temperatures of fall start moving in, let's not forget to give some attention to our edible garden.  

There are a few things to tend to in the fall decorative, edible garden.  It's not as exciting as spring but very appreciated for the health of your garden and to make sure you are ready for next season.  Here are some items to consider for tidying up and getting ready for your next edible season:

-Save seeds from your best producers.  Seed saving will help your plants adjust to your specific microclimate and have the most abundant harvests.  I keep mine in plastic baggies, labelled with the variety, year saved and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.  Add any other helpful information for identifying and growing.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

-Take cuttings from any of the plants that you want to start indoors for the winter.  Basil is an edible that you can easily start from a cutting to have handy for cooking.

-Be sure to prepare any tropicals you had outdoors for pests before bringing indoors.  I spray well with an insecticide a day or so before moving indoors.  Since the light will be less indoors, pruning before bringing indoors will help minimize leaves dropping.

-Cut back herbs and dry herbs to make spice mixes mix.  Harvesting and drying herbs

-Keep harvesting your veggies and fruits as long as they continue to produce.  Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant will continue to give you fruits until the first hard freeze.  If you can't eat them all, preserve them for winter and spring eating!  Preserving the extras from the summer garden

-If you haven't already, remove any dead or dying plants from the garden.  Any that are diseased should be burned or put into the trash; don't compost these.  For the rest and any trimmings, put in the compost pile or bin.  Composting is possible in small spaces or even indoors

-Keep your garden weeded.  You want to be sure to keep weeds from going to seed otherwise you will have lots of the little buggers to pull next spring!  I add weeds to the compost pile as long as they don't have seeds.

-Clean, sharpen and weatherproof your tools.  Make a list of tools and supplies that you would like to add to your repertoire for next year's gardening season. 

-If you have clay pots, be sure to empty them out or place under cover so they don't freeze and crack.  You can either revitalize soil next spring with added compost and fertilizer or can add to the compost pile.  Re-energize your potting soil!

-Take a soil test to see what amendments to add.  Enriching the soil now will have it in top shape for the spring season.

-Take a look at your garden journal and make notes of what went well or not so well, what varieties did well in your garden, what you want to plant in next year's garden, how many you want to plant, etc., etc.  I always try to put together my plan for next year's garden at summer's end while everything is fresh in mind.  I will make additions to it or maybe some switches in what varieties to try, but the bulk remains the same.  Reflections back on the 2024 garden and the 2025 garden plan

-For fall edible planting, look for empty spots in the garden to put winter veggies, like leeks, onions, carrots, cabbage, kale.  I get pots going with lettuce and greens that I will keep under my portable greenhouse for fall and winter salads. 

A fall edible garden

Winter edible garden

 

Many like to clear all debris from the garden, but I leave flower and edible seed heads for the birds over the winter and for volunteers next spring.  Come spring, I clear away all debris.