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| Lavender in late fall |
Sunday, November 1, 2026
Well, we are still experiencing warm weather here in our Zone 7 area. We are seeing highs in the 70's-80's and lows in the upper 40's-50's. Our normal highs are the 60's and lows in the 30's and there are no 30's in the forecast for the next two weeks! It's like we moved to Georgia. My summer veggies are still producing and the cool season crops are growing quickly.
So far, I'm still harvesting summer lovers tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, goji berries, blackberries, raspberries, zucchini, okra, cucumbers, basil, oregano, sage, Red Malabar and New Zealand spinach. They all have flowers and baby fruits on them. They have slowed down as the daylight hours are so much shorter now.
My yard long beans appear to have stopped producing. My 1500 Year Old Cave bean vine is still producing. I haven't seen pods on my Christmas Speckles lima bean. The cave bean can be used as either green beans or dried beans. I got plenty of green beans from the year long bean vines so I am going to let the cave bean dry and use those in chili.
The winter squash is still flowering. As the older fruits ripen and the stem starts to turn tan, I remove the fruits and put in a sunny spot to harden. Before the first good frost, I will go and remove all that are left.
The cold season crops like parsley, celery, lettuce, onions, mustards, chard, carrots, garlic and many herbs are nice and green and growing quickly in the warmth. When the mercury dips, the cold season crops will get sweeter. Cold season crops for your edible garden
I resowed lettuce, spinach, chard and sweet mustard in my Earthboxes. The seedlings I transplanted from sowing last month didn't all make it. I'll cover them with a portable greenhouse as soon as the low's start dipping into the low 20's.
If you are gardening in pots, move them up against a wall that gets southern exposure. This will move your effective climate zone up a full zone and prolong the harvest. If they are on stands or coaster, remove from their stand and set them onto the ground. They will stay much warmer on the ground than suspended off the ground. Putting the pots into the mulch will help keep them warmer still. I also add water jugs to put around the pots I put under my portable greenhouses to help keep the temperature more moderated and warmer during the cold months.
Now is a fun time of year to experiment in the kitchen with all the fresh herbs that are still available. Parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, bay, lavender, chives, oregano, celery, lemon balm, and dill are all hardy herbs in November even when Jack Frost comes. I have had many Christmas dinners with herbs fresh from the garden.
You can also bring tender perennials like basil, rosemary and bay into the garage or house for the winter. Other veggies I bring in are my pepper plants, dwarf tamarillo tree, medicinal aloe vera, citrus trees and tropicals. I keep them in our unheated, insulated garage or heated basement with a 4' grow lights over them. We did finally transplant my Morton Citrange into our southern exposure garden bed up against the fireplace. It is hardy down to 0 F, but being on the south side up against stone just helps give it winter protection. It's fruit is supposed to taste like a cross between an orange and grapefruit. The upper part of the graft died but the lower part survived. I should have planted it out in the spring instead of the fall to give it a season to get a better root system and hardiness.
I have a couple of rosemary plants that I put in our front bed up against the stone wall that gets southern exposure. I am going to leave them in the ground to see if they survive the winter on the warmer side of the house. When we get our first late winter warm up, I'll cover them before the next deep freeze hits. My rosemary always survives until that second cold spell. Maybe covering them before that will help them survive..
Last year, I moved the pepper plants, eggplants and tropicals into my walk in, portable greenhouse. I chose clear plastic to maximize the sunlight that gets through since I will primarily be using it during the cold seasons. When it started getting down into the teens, I moved the tropicals to the basement. Plants just don't do as well under artificial light as they do outside. My eggplant didn't do great in the greenhouse. I need to put straw around the greenhouse to hold the warmth in at a higher level, up where the leaves and fruits are. The natives I put in to overwinter did great.
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| Walk in, portable greenhouse |
You can also take a look at all the tomatoes you have put up in freezer bags. If you have more than you know you need, this is the perfect time of year to do some water bath canning. I go through and any left over from last year or more than will fit in the bottom freezer bin, I make into sauce. Time to make homemade tomato sauce!
Right before deer season, I go through everything I have in the freezer to see how much we used over the past year. With this information, we see how many deer we need for the coming year and how much I should plant next season. This year will be the first year that I have frozen fruit left over from the previous year that I will try and make some jams and preserves. Both tomato sauce and jams can be done just with a big stock pot; no canner needed.
As even more freezing weather comes our way, you can extend the season for lettuce and greens through the winter by using a portable green house or making your own hoop house. I'll put my potted lettuce, chard, arugula, celery, kale and mustard under my portable greenhouses to keep salads going the entire winter. Extend the season with protection for plants
The biggest killer of veggies in greenhouses? Getting too hot! Make sure you crack open your green house when the temps get above freezing and the sun is shining.
I have pulled the seed heads of my zinnias, cockscomb, Cardinal basil, Christmas Speckles lima beans, garlic chives, Shiromaru eggplant, Red Burgundy and Heavy Hitter okra, the mammoth bell pepper, and the cherry tomato that is still producing. After they dry thoroughly, I will separate the seeds from the petals/hulls and package in small plastic baggies for next year and for the local seed library we are starting in the community next spring.
I usually save my extra garlic cloves for peeling and pickling in the late fall. If you have a large harvest or have soft neck, it can take a while to peel. I stick with hardneck as they are larger and their skins are easier to remove. I also grow Elephant garlic whose cloves are huge and very easy to peel. This year, I harvested my garlic a couple of months ago. I let them harden, then cleaned them up some. As soon as the first frost kills back the celosia in the bed, I will separate out the biggest cloves to plant and pickle the rest.
The spring season did well. The summer heat storms were brutal on the tomatoes, but the warmer fall is lengthening the harvest time.
