Vegetables
Peas can still be sown and dwarf varieties, such as Novella, will produce plump pods in nine to 11 weeks from sowing. Greenfeast takes 11 to 13 weeks.
Peas do best in trenches filled with rich soil and compost topped with ordinary soil. Add 50g of superphosphate for every metre of the row and keep the top of the filled-in trench a little below ground level. This will help keep the peas’ roots moist longer after watering if conditions become dry later in the season.
If the trench method is not used, good garden peas can be grown in any rich, moist soil.
Like peas, celery and leeks can be planted in heavily fertilised trenches topped with soil.
Brussels sprouts plants put in now will give an early crop for picking in late autumn. Another planting at New Year will mature over the winter and through to early spring.
Late-season potatoes such as Rua, Moonlight, Red Rascal, Heather and Agria should go in as soon as possible.
Choose a sunny, moist not wet spot with plenty of compost to feed the potato plants. Animal manure that has not rotted completely will give potatoes scabby-looking skins.
Main-crop carrot and beetroot seed can be sown. Water dry soil liberally the day before sowing carrot or beetroot seed.
Cucumbers and pumpkins can be planted now throughout the South. These plants demand extremely rich soils and warm situations.
Late November is usually the last chance to sow sweet corn, french and butter beans to get reasonable crops.
Lettuce, radishes and other salad crops can be sown now.
Flowers
Violas and pansies will flower over a longer period and the quality of the blooms will be better if deadheaded regularly. This also prevents hundreds of seedlings later, often of so-so colour. When the flowers start losing their quality, cutting the plants back a few centimetres above ground level can prompt new growth and more flowers in a surprisingly short time.
Wallflowers, forget-me-nots and other spring-blooming plants that have finished flowering can be pulled up and spaces made for summer annuals.
Eschscholzia (Californian poppy) produces single or double blooms in shades of cream, crimson, yellow and orange and is a useful plant for poor soil that gets lots of sun. As well as the common single orange, Eschscholzia varieties include double silvery pink Appleblossom, semi-double Milkmai (cream) and two-tone Apricot Chiffon.
Calendula, nasturtium, Cosmos and cornflower plants also do well in poor, dry soils as long as they get plenty of sun.
Hyacinths, tulips and narcissi can be lifted now and, keeping the yellowing foliage intact, planted in pots to ripen off. When the foliage has completely died, bulbs can be lifted, cleaned and stored.
Fruit
Russian Red, Black from Tula and Purple Russian are cold-tolerant tomatoes that can be grown without protection, although they do best if sheltered from cold winds.
When the fruit begins to swell, mulch the ground under the tomato plants with straw to keep the soil warm overnight.
